As we will study in future chapters, God revealed Himself in a marvelous way to Gideon. What was it about Gideon that caused God to reveal so much to him? Gideon saw himself as a very poor candidate. He said, "So he said to Him, 'O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house'" (Judges 6:15).

Why did He not choose a religious person or a military leader? What did Gideon bring to the relationship? What can we learn about God? What did God bring to the relationship? Why was God able to reveal Himself to Gideon in such a mighty way? What can we learn from Gideon so that God will reveal Himself to us in a marvelous way? It was enough for Gideon just to have God reveal Himself! That was life changing! It was history changing!

I submit that God with His foreknowledge foresaw some characteristics in Gideon that He knew He could work with. Do you possess these characteristics?

God does not look for the high and mighty, the ones who are strong in personality and worldly success. He loves to work with those who do not feel like that they are worth much. He can take those people and show them their true worth in Him.

I believe that what God saw in Gideon was:

1. Honesty and transparency with God. "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom" (Psalms 51:6). "and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved" (2 Thessalonians 2:10).

2. Meekness. "Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).

3. A willingness to listen to God and to quickly obey Him. "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him" (John 14:21). The more you see of Jesus the less fear and the more faith you will experience. That is why obedience is so important. You will not know how God is going to do the impossible in your life any more than Gideon knew how God would wipe out an army of tens of thousands with a mere three hundred. But if you are experiencing God and His very person on a daily basis, you will have peace.

Meekness is often misunderstood. Meekness is not "sissy." I have heard it said that meekness is like a large strong Arabian horse who can be led by a silk thread. Power under control!

The definition of meek according to the Strongs Concordance is:

"mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, meekness. Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting. In the OT, the meek are those wholly relying on God rather than their own strength to defend them against injustice. Thus, meekness toward evil people means knowing God is permitting the injuries they inflict, that He is using them to purify His elect, and that He will deliver His elect in His time. (Is. 41:17, Luke. 18:1-8) Gentleness or meekness is the opposite to self-assertiveness and self-interest. It stems from trust in God's goodness and control over the situation. The gentle person is not occupied with self at all. This is a work of the Holy Spirit, not of the human will. (Gal. 5:23)."

"The common assumption is that when a man is meek it is because he cannot help himself, but the Lord was meek because he had the infinite resources of God at His command." Described negatively, meekness is the opposite of self-assertiveness and self interest; it is equanimity of spirit that is neither elated nor cast down, simply because it is not occupied with self at all."

As we go through the first parts of this story line by line, look for these attributes in Gideon, and then determine to line up your life with God in much the same way. See how God worked with Gideon and expect Him to relate to you in a similar way.

Also notice that Gideon changed the more he related to God. Faith was building, and Gideon's speech was changing. It is good to give God all of your doubt and unbelief, but it is not good to stay there. After the fleece experience in Judges 6:36-40 Gideon no longer expressed negative thoughts and words. His relationship with God was deepening. Faith is the result of communing with God.

The Lord asked Gideon to do some very bold spiritual and military tasks, and Gideon never wavered. These same requests would have been met with Gideon's doubt and fear in the very beginning of the story. I submit that just hearing God speak and being with Him changed Gideon. It will change you and the things in your life.

Judges chapter 6.

"1 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years,

2 and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains.

3 So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.

4 Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey.

5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it.

6 So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD.

7 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the LORD because of the Midianites,

8 that the LORD sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage;

9 'and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.

10 'Also I said to you, "I am the LORD your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell." But you have not obeyed My voice.'"

Not obeying God's voice is where they missed it. Did they even hear His voice?

11 Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites.

12 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, "The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!"

The Lord always calls those things that are not as through they are. He sees our potential and calls us that in advance, calling them into being, Romans 4:17.

13 Gideon said to Him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites."

How often have believers asked these same questions? "If the Lord…then why." God honored Gideon's honesty and realness. God wants the real you, not the religious fake. It is safe to be real with God. He can only deal with people who are honest from their hearts. But the Lord loves us too much to allow us to stay in our fear and doubt. Look how He answers Gideon.

14 Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?"

Notice the Lord did not give him a direct answer to his question, but rather took a path that would eventually reveal who He is to Gideon. When we see Jesus, we don't need so many answers.

15 So he said to Him, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."

Gideon saw God's suggestion to save Israel as absurd in light of his own condition.

16 And the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man."

How many of us would be bold enough to believe a word from God like this? But hearing God speak builds faith. Faith comes by hearing the Word.

17 Then he said to Him, "If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me.

Here is Gideon's realness again. Doubt in the midst of faith. But he confessed it.

18 "Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You." And He said, "I will wait until you come back."

19 So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them.

This was a major financial sacrifice in light of the poverty Gideon was living in. God loves it when we "waste" ourselves on Him! Stinginess ties God's hands.

20 The Angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so.

Quick obedience by Gideon. Remember John 14:21 says that God reveals Himself to the obedient.

21 Then the Angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.

22 Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the LORD. So Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face."

This ritual was a sign of the blood covenant with deity to Gideon. When we see and appreciate the revelation of the blood covenant, we see God face to face. To see a God who would accept our sinful condition as His own, and suffer with it is awesome. But then to see that He also gives us His very own life in lieu of ours, His resurrection life, that is enough to make us fall down and worship.

23 Then the LORD said to him, "Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die."

Seeing God face to face is enough to make one fear, and indeed fear unto death. But God gave him peace instead.

24 So Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it The-LORD -Is &endash;Peace (Shalom). To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

25 Now it came to pass the same night that the LORD said to him, "Take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it;

26 "and build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down."

We are called to tear down our own idols as well as those of our forefathers that might be bringing a generational curse upon our lives. An idol is anything that we feel can provide for our needs other than God. This was a bold move by Gideon! He was risking everything. He was burning his bridges behind him and moving forward trusting in the Lord.

27 So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the LORD had said to him. But because he feared his father's household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night.

28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built.

29 So they said to one another, "Who has done this thing?" And when they had inquired and asked, they said, "Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing."

30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, "Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it."

31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, "Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!"

Gideon's boldness even affected his father.

32 Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, "Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar."

33 Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.

When we tear down idols and are obedient to the Lord, the enemy will always attack. But look how the Lord counters the attack. He clothed Gideon with the Holy Spirit and took possession of him!

34 But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with Himself and took possession of him; and he blew a trumpet, and the clan of Abiezer was gathered after him. (Amplified version).

35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

Here is the story of the fleece. Fleecing God has its place only when totally led by the Holy Spirit. It is not to be our normal means of communicating with the Lord. Notice as Gideon matured and even encountered more difficult circumstances; he did not continue to put out fleeces.

36 So Gideon said to God, "If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said--

37 "look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said."

38 And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water.

39 Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew."

40 And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.

Judges Chapter 7

1 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley."

"2 And the LORD said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'

We should always remember that when things look overwhelming, not to evaluate our own abilities, but His.

3 "Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.'" And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.

4 But the LORD said to Gideon, "The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' the same shall not go."

5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, "Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink."

6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water.

Why this test? I submit that the people who fell to their knees most likely also put down their weapons and took their eyes off of the enemy. They were more interested in their own comfort. The people who "lapped" stood tall, stood alert, and just took enough water with their hands to stay healthy.

7 Then the LORD said to Gideon, "By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place."

8 So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

9 It happened on the same night that the LORD said to him, "Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand.

Here is faith talking again. Calling those things that are not as though they were. But God is compassionate. He said to Gideon, "But if you are afraid…"

10 "But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant,

11 "and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp." Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp.

I feel that the name Purah represents the Holy Spirit in our lives. Purah means green bough, a glorious plant. God knows our weaknesses and if we stay connected to Him we will allow Him to meet us where we are. He knew that Gideon needed more information, more faith.

12 Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.

Notice, when we enter into warfare with the Lord, the enemy does not give up quickly, on the contrary, the Midianites came without number, as locusts, as numerous as sand.

13 And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, "I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed."

14 Then his companion answered and said, "This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp."

15 And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, "Arise, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand."

The above story is awesome to me. If we could overhear our enemies speaking we would see that it is they who are in fear. What do we have to fear? The people in Jericho were afraid of Joshua and his army, and God revealed that to them.

16 Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers.

No swords, just trumpets and pitchers! The trumpet is the sound of praise and war, the pitcher is we as earthen vessels filled with the glory of God, His light!

17 And he said to them, "Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do:

18 "When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, 'The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!'"

19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.

20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers--they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing--and they cried, "The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!"

These people were in unity. When you need to overcome a situation, line up with people who can agree.

21 And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled.

22 When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the LORD set every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled to Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.

This may sound absurd, but God is able. He did this in modern day Israel when the Arabs and the Soviets were attacking.

23 And the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites.

24 Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the mountains of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against the Midianites, and seize from them the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan." Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and seized the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan.

25 And they captured two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan."

Does this sound like the same Gideon who said, "So he said to Him, 'O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house'" (Judges 6:15)?

God used Gideon's realness, his meekness and his quick obedience as the raw materials. God added Himself as a real person into Gideon's life, and you see the results!

This life should not be about just "making it" with as few problems as possible. We should be looking for opportunities to take our perplexities and turn them into victories for the Kingdom of God. Junk to jewels! This is purpose; this is real life. The rewards are eternal!

Larry Chkoreff March 2003