Gideon – Judges 6 and 7 (which one are you?)
“You are a mighty warrior; the Lord is with you…” Judges: 6:12
Gideon was anything but a mighty warrior when the Lord’s angel spoke that over him. In-fact he was closer to resembling a weak, terrified, confused and self-conscious man. He was hiding in some cave somewhere, threshing wheat in the bottom of a wine press. Basically, hiding food from the oppressors of Israel so they wouldn’t steal it. The Midianites had made a habit of destroying and stealing everything that enabled the Israelites to eat. Let’s face it, most of us would probably find ourselves reacting the same way when faced with those circumstances. An unstoppable force stealing life and all things good from us, whilst giving us no room to breathe or live, leaving us with no choice other than to hide away and do all we can to just to survive. Gideon’s nation was in a desperate situation and the Lord came to him to ask for his help. This is Gideon, “the least in [his] family…from the weakest clan’ (6:15) the very ‘normal one’. Yet, it was that Gideon that the Lord asked to partner with Him. It is that Gideon that the Lord declared was a mighty warrior and had strength to go a defeat the Midianites (6:14) but not only defeat them but to defeat them as if he was only fighting against 1 man.
In 6:17 Gideon asks the Lord to prove Himself, he doesn’t believe it, why would he?! Look at the evidence. How was he going to defeat the cruel and mighty Midianites? Gideon makes an offering and is convinced it is the Lord talking to him (6:22). His initial reaction is that he is doomed and will perish but the Lord comforts him and tells him not to be afraid.
Now here’s the point, Gideon has a choice. Now that he is convinced that the Lord is asking him to fight on His behalf, he can choose to operate from the circumstances he is in and has known his entire life OR he can take the Lord at his word and operate out of the things the Lord speaks over him (mighty warrior, strong, I’m with you). I believe that God speaks to all of us all the time. He is not a quiet God. If we can lend our ear and hear His voice over us, then we will be able to hear what He says over us and our situations. What’s He saying right now? What is He talking to you about right now? I’m writing this as we start week 3 of lock down in the UK due to Covid-19. An ‘unstoppable’ force that is robbing us of loved ones, community and leaving us fearfully hiding in our homes, sound familiar? (Does anyone have a wine press I can burrow?).
Thankfully, in the story of Gideon he chooses to listen AND act out of what God says over him. The very same night that he realises the Lord is speaking to him, he goes and tears down his families alter to Baal, a false god of the time, and builds an alter to the one true God! In doing so, he realigns the head of his family as the God of heaven, smart move. Judges 7 is an immense story of how Gideon and God partner in overcoming the ‘unstoppable’ force that had the Israelites pinned in fear. Judges 7 is a story of a normal man who chose to hear and act on God’s word over his life. Judges 7 is a story of hope and inspiration.
During this time, and indeed for the rest of your life, will you choose to be a Judges 6 Gideon or a Judges 7 Gideon?
Are you choosing to operate out of your perception of the circumstance, or will you choose to listen and act on what God says over you? How will this story unfold?
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This is such a crucial message to hear, whether you’re in the middle of a global pandemic or sailing through life, the message Derek shared from Judges is a powerful one. For me, learning to listen to the things God said over me rather than the things I thought about myself or perceived of my performance changed my life. It shifted my perspective from seeing what the world sees to seeing through the eyes of Heaven and birthed greater faith and courage in me.
Some of the fruit of operating like Judges 7 Gideon and not Judges 6, has been to recognise that God speaks to me (God speaks to all of us in various different ways but that’s something to explore in another blog) and one of the ways He speaks to me is in my sleep. I wanted to take this opportunity to share a dream I had in the early days of the U.K lockdown. Our prayer is that it will encourage you and give you hope, that it will rally you to pray with greater clarity, that it will increase your faith and in doing all that it will enable you to partner with God to bring about a miracle.
25/3/2020
“I had a dream last night where I saw an Angel going all around the world. (It reminded me of the Passover in the Prince of Egypt in the way it moved around, not really physical but clearly powerful). The Angel was going into every household and hospital and hotel all around the world, wherever there were people, it went. Inside these places, while people slept, it would breathe out this pure white breath over the people and the people would breath out dirty grey mist that the Angel would breath back in before it moved on. It went all over the world in the night, breathing out and breathing in over everyone. And when the sun rose people got up out of their beds, ventilators were taken off, patients were extubated, others walked out of hospitals, people left their houses and greeted their neighbours. It was sunny.”
The morning after I dreamt it, I woke up and was graciously challenged by God to remember my authority to intercede for the world. I didn't have to have the mindset of the rest of the UK in terms of holding tight in our homes for the next few months and waiting to see the curve flatten. I had a role to play in seeing this virus end and that God is a miracle working God. We don't have to wait months; we could wait minutes. But we have to ask.
But also, later that day, unrelated to the dream, I was reminded by someone that Passover falls at a similar time to Easter and this dream reminded me so much of the first Passover. I know God gives us dreams to communicate specific things but recently been 'forgetting' that a bit so it took me a while to realise that there might be more to this dream then just a rally to pray for a miracle. That the blood of the lamb that saved the Jews at the first Passover, and the whole of humanity on the cross at the first Easter, might also be at work in this season. Then I just got excited about Jesus being raised to life and the world waking up on Easter Sunday to find that they had also been physically raised to life. How glorious would that be?
If I'm super honest it scares me a little bit to channel our prayers for the end of this virus towards one point/date. Super honestly because I don't want to lead people into a place of false hope, and I don't want to be disappointed. But I gave up seeing the world through my own eyes a while ago (Judges 6) and instead opted to trust Heaven’s perspective, take the Lord at His word and partner with His plans.
So, my desire to see revival for the world and to see the impact of this virus reversed is stronger than that fear. God is a miracle working God and He never disappoints us. So, sharing that dream with you, asking you to join us in declaring a miraculous end to COVID19 in the next week. That angels would pass over the world and breathe out life and the Spirit over every single one of us and breathe in Coronavirus, and our fears and sin and let's just say all sickness while we're at it.
Lou Callaghan & Derek Garner