Judges Series - Week 6 - “A Good Work”

 What do Star Wars, The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, and Terminator 2 all have in common? They are are what’s known as hero journey stories. See in literature and film, some of the most iconic stories that are told are about a hero going on a journey to become something greater than they were at the beginning. From the movies and books I just mentioned to video games like Super Mario Brothers, all tell stories of the hero’s journey.

We as a society love to see people who seem like they have nothing to give, become the greatest hero who saves the day. From a lowly baby from another planet in Superman, Aladdin and his Genie, to d’Artagnan in the Three Musketeers. Hero Stories are some of the best stories ever told, because someone who appears weak or unimportant at the beginning of the story, becomes great in the end. It’s whiny Luke Skywalker, the backwoods moister farmer, who is really a powerful Jedi. It’s Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit which is the least of all the races of Middle Earth, defeating a Dragon with his wits. It’s the unemotional robot killing machine who becomes a father figure to the boy he was originally sent to kill, and ends up giving his life for the boy. Stories about a hero’s journey are compelling for so many people because we live in a world where so many feel like they’re at the bottom of the food chain, but could be destined for more. 

And it’s a hero’s journey that brings us back to our study in the book of Judges where we’ll be picking it back up in Judges, chapter 6, verse 25, and as we open back up to Judges 6:25, let’s look back at the big themes that we’ve covered so far. 

So far we’ve seen three big themes in the book of Judges.

The first theme is how Judges is a condensed version of the overall theme of Scripture, which is: even when humanity is unfaithful, God is always faithful. 

This leads into the second theme, which is: God desires to be in right relationship with his creation, this is done through obedient acts by humans. In the case of Israel it’s keeping the covenant they agreed to in the book of Deuteronomy, for people today, it’s acceptance of Jesus as Savior, putting his words in practice.

The final theme we’ve seen is that when we are disobedient, our sin doesn’t just effect us, but also the relationships and the society around us.

With these three themes in mind, we jump back into Gideon’s story, where we pick it back up in Judges, 6:25. Let’s read it together.

“25 That night the Lord said to him, ‘Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.’ 27 So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.

“28 When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. 29 And they said to one another, ‘Who has done this thing?’ And after they had searched and inquired, they said, ‘Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.’ 30 Then the men of the town said to Joash, ‘Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.’ 31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, ‘Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.’ 32 Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.

“33 Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him. 35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.

“36 Then Gideon said to God, ‘If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, 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 next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, ‘Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.’ 40 And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

“1 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

“2 The Lord said to Gideon, ‘The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, “My own hand has saved me.” 3 Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, “Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.”’ Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.

“4 And the Lord said to Gideon, ‘The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, “This one shall go with you,” shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, “This one shall not go with you,” shall not go.’ 5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, ‘Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.’ 6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. 7 And the Lord said to Gideon, ‘With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.’ 8 So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

“9 That same night the Lord said to him, ‘Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. 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 outposts of the armed men who were in the camp. 12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance. 13 When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, ‘Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.' 14 And his comrade answered, ‘This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.’

“15 As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, ‘Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.’

“16 And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars. 17 And he said to them, “Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. 18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”

Now, what we just read, was a snippet of Gideon’s hero’s journey. From when we first met Gideon last week, he hasn’t changed much. He’s still in that initial fear, both from the Midianites and from his encounter with God. But this doesn’t stop God from sending Gideon out to fulfill his calling. Yet, God works within the limitations of Gideon’s fear. Remember last week when God showed up, he addressed Gideon as, “…mighty man of valor (v.12).” And that’s one of God’s goals in Gideon’s life, to bring him into being a mighty man of valor. 

So God doesn’t send him to the Midianites right away. No, instead, God sends this newly christened judge to his own people in his own town. This judgment by God on Gideon’s town is consistent with God dealing with his people’s sin, before dealing with outside nations. We actually see this even in God’s Church when Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:17, “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” And what’s that sin that God is dealing with in Gideon’s town? It’s Israel worshiping other gods. So Gideon is tasked with breaking down the alter of Baal and the Asherah pole. Yet Gideon, though obediently completes his task, does so by choosing to follow God’s command at night when no one is around.

He does this at night because fear still weighs on Gideon. 

But in the aftermath we are confronted with a theological reality. When the men of the town come looking for Gideon, his father makes a very important point. He tells the men that Baal should be the one who deals with Gideon, if indeed Baal is a god. See the Israelites had both a monotheistic and polytheistic worldview called Monolatry (Mo-no-laa-tree). Basically the idea is that Israel, like a lot of Near Easter religions, believed that their god was the best god, which some in the modern world claim to be a type of monotheism, but they also believed that other deities existed. So you worshiped which ever god was the strongest, or required the least from you with the maximum return. In other words, deities were like the stocks of their time. When a deity was the best, you worshiped him, but when he was defeated, you sold out to another one. 

So when the men show up to get Gideon for breaking down the alters, Joash speaks biblical truth, by challenging this idea that the other gods, who are believed to be out there, are actually real. 

Later on in Israel’s history, God would make the definitive statement in Isaiah 43:10, “‘You are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord, ‘and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.’” This let’s us know that other modern Monolatry religions, such as Hinduism, Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses are also false, because, just like the people of Gideon’s day, who believe in multiple gods, there is only one God and no others.

This challenging of the reality of other deities is then contrasted with what happens in verse 34, where states, “…the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon…” The contrast is that where Baal does nothing against Gideon, proving he doesn’t exist, Yahweh, the God of Israel, clothes Gideon as a sign that he is God’s man. This is really interesting because if you remember back to the good judges section of the book, there was a lot of ambiguity within the Hebrew. Who saved the people in Othniel’s time? God or Othniel, well it was ambiguous, relaying the idea it was both.

In Gideon’s case, who is clothed with whom? The ESV takes the position that it’s Gideon who is clothed by the Spirit. But in the NIV they take the approach that the Spirit is clothed by Gideon, in a similar way that the Christian is in dwelled by the Spirit. But the ambiguity is there to help us see that what is about to happen blurs the line between God saving and his use of humans in that saving work. 

But in the very next action of Gideon, we see that the lines are not so blurred that God overrides a human’s choice. We see this in Gideon’s fear and mistrust rising up again to where he tests God to again make sure that the Lord is sending him. The first time was back in Gideon’s first meeting with God, where he hade God wait around so that a meal could be prepared. This time, it’s a double test with the fleece. Once with the fleece being wet and the ground being dry and then the reverse of the fleece being dry and the ground being wet.

Yet, this shouldn't’ have happened. See back in Deuteronomy 6:16, God told the Israelites not to test him. In fact Jesus used that verse in his temptation by Satan. But it’s fitting that Gideon tests God in spite of what Deuteronomy 6 says, because the surrounding verses in Deuteronomy are actually being played out in Gideon’s and Israel’s story. Listen to Deuteronomy 6, starting in verse 13, “It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— 15 for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers 19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.”

Doesn’t that sound like what has happened in the book of Judges. Don’t worship other gods, do not test, be obedient and the Lord with give your enemies into your hand, yet the opposite happens in each of these cases. Israel does worship other gods, they do test God, they are not obedient, and their enemies conquer them. It’s a fitting thing for Gideon to test God, because it contrasts with what God had already said.

But here’s another point in the book of Judges that shows us that God has humor. See Gideon has two major problems, he is mistrusting God and he is afraid. Both these things keep popping up and so what does God do? He stretches Gideon. 

Gideon calls for the men of Israel to come out and fight against the Midianites, and 32,000 show up. To put that into perspective, that’s three times as many men that showed up to help Barak defeat 900 iron chariots. 

But God tells Gideon, “no, that’s too many, you’re not going to think you did this by your own strength, so we need to get rid of some of these guys.” And what’s ironic about this, is this is exactly what Gideon thought he wanted. When Gideon met God, he wanted the miracles of the Exodus today. So God is going to stretch Gideon with a miracle. 

God proceeds to take almost 95% of Gideon’s men away. He goes from three times as many as Barak to 3% of Barak’s forces. In other words, God is putting Gideon into a position where his mistrust and his fear need to be checked at the door. 

And what’s Gideon’s response? Well, by reading between the lines, it’s fear. How do we know that? In verses 9-10  of chapter 7, God tells Gideon to go take the Midianties camp with the 300 men, but if Gideon is fearful, then he should sneak into the enemy’s camp. And that’s exactly what Gideon does, he goes into his enemy’s camp, and by doing so, we know that he still has fear.

But it’s there in the enemy’s camp that he overhears two men talking. One man shares a dream and the other interprets it as God giving Gideon the victory over the Midianties.

And it’s hear that we see the biggest change in Gideon that we have ever seen. In this moment Gideon becomes the man of valor that God spoke to him at their first meeting. We’re told this in verse 15 of chapter 7, “15 As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, ‘Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.’” 

Did you hear that? Gideon heard the interpretation and he worshiped. He really hasn’t done this up to this point. Sure he built an alter to God, but that almost seemed ritualistic and religious in nature. The alter came more from an appeasement mindset than a worship experience. But in this moment, when he hears the dream and it’s interpretation, Gideon worships the Lord in a spontaneous way. 

And then? Well Gideon gets Israel together and he leads the 300 into battle and he tells them that their rallying cry is, “For the Lord and for Gideon.” Why is it this? Because the lines of who saved Israel have been blurred once again.

In the end, when we reach chapter 8, verse 21, we see all that God accomplishes through Gideon. God moved him from a man of mistrust and fear, to the prophetic man of valor, who no longer hides in caves. 

And here’s what God wants us to walk away today with, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” That comes from Paul’s opening words to in the letter to the Philippians, chapter 1, verse 6. When God calls us, his work will be finished in our lives. God saw the completed work of Gideon and so he called him a man of valor. God looks at every believer in Jesus through the lens of Jesus’ blood, as a completed perfect sin free person and he is working to bring us into that reality.

When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are put on a path in an action called justification, in this greater thing called salvation, that will be accomplished. This path is called the sanctification, which is the cleansing process of bringing us to the person God saved us to be and how he sees us as in eternity. Each of us are on different points as we walk this path, and so we see each other dealing with different issues while God brings us along. 

In Gideon’s process he tested God and so God brought him to a point where he had no choice but to trust. That can happen to us too. God can bring us to the precipitous where we have to jump, but that usually happens because, like Gideon, we drag our feet and test God. 

The way to avoid or to minimize those gigantic leaps, is to be obedient. To put into practice what God has already said. And those huge leaps for those who are not living in obedience become everyday potholes that we navigate by obedient living through the leading of the Holy Spirit. 

Gideon is a tale, to let us know that when we follow God, we should just do what he says. Then no matter if we have 32,000 or 300 with us, we know that God will accomplish his purposes either way. 

So my challenge for you this week, is to re-read chapters 6:25-7:18, but also to read on from verse 19 of chapter 7 all the way to chapter 8 verse 21. That way you’ll not only see what leads up to the victory, but also the victory itself.

Then, in addition to that, I want to challenge you to make Philippians 1:6 your prayer everyday this week when you wake up. Saying something along the lines of, “Lord, you began a good work in me when I trusted in Jesus as my Savior, so I know today you’ll be working on completing that work. Make me be obedient to the Holy Spirt’s work in my life.”

And let each of us be graceful to our brothers and sisters as they have God’s work in their lives carried out. So that together we might be built up by our Savior, to be presented to him in eternity. Amen.

Judges Series - Week 5 - “Not I, but Jesus”

  Let’s have some Elvis Presley trivia this morning. Which two songs were written by songwriter Mark James, that Elvis made huge hits out of? The answer is, “Suspicious Minds" and “Always on My Mind.” 

Out of the two songs, “Suspicious Minds” hit the #1 spot in 1969. Mark James wrote the song in 1968 and released it that same year, but it never took off. So when Elvis began recording for his comeback album in the early part of 1969, James began urging producers to get Elvis to hear his song. The reason for this was because James thought Elvis needed a mature rock and role song. When James heard the initial recording, he thought it was too slow, but after the song was released, he said it blew him away. 

The song itself came from James’ own life experience, where he was married to his first wife, but still had feelings for his childhood sweetheart. His wife became suspicious of the two, and out of that situation, James wrote the now famous song.

Mistrust and suspicion within a romantic relationship is one of the hardest things to overcome, because it can become a gnawing voice that finds the smallest of problems and builds animosity between two people.

This idea of mistrust is what brings us back to our study in Judges, where we’ll be picking it back up in chapter 6. And as we open up to Judges 6:1, let’s connect the dots of what we’ve studied so far in our summer series.

By connecting the dots from week one through last week we see a message start to develop. God wants humanity to know his deep love for them, and so even when they’re at their worst, God is there to return them to a right relationship with him. All that’s needed from us is to turn back to him and cry out for his saving work.

But God is seeking his people to stay in right relationship with him. They do this by being obedient, trusting in his plan, utilizing their gifts, and walking as the Spirit leads. When God’s people do these things, we experience the blessings of God in the way he intends for us to experience them. God’s desire is that his people be a part of his great work, and in this present time, that great work is the sharing of the Gospel.

When God’s people don’t do these things, we begin to see fractures, not just in our own lives, but it has a ripple effect out into society.

And it’s this breakdown that we started to see with Barak last week, which will continue into our fifth Judge, Gideon. So let’s start reading at the beginning of Gideon’s story, in Judges 6:1.

“1 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 3 For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 4 They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. 5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in. 6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord.

“7 When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, 8 the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. 9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 And I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed my voice.’

11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress 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, O mighty man of valor.’ 13 And Gideon said to him, ‘Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, “Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.’ 14 And the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?’ 15 And he said to him, ‘Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.’ 16 And the Lord said to him, ‘But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.’ 17 And he said to him, ‘If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.’ And he said, ‘I will stay till you return.’

“19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.’ And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, ‘Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.’ 23 But the Lord said to him, ‘Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.’ 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.”

There are two parts to what we just read. The first is the set up to the cycle. In the past stories of the judges, we’ve been given basically the same introduction: Israel sins, they are conquered as a result of that sin, they cry out after a period of time, God raises up a judge and then we usually see how that plays out.

But here we get something a little different. Yes, we find out that Israel sins again, and yes we find out that they are conquered for that sin, but what happens next is unique. Instead of being told that Israel cries out to God, we’re told that Israel begins to hide from the their conquerers. They find caves, and make strongholds in the mountains to keep their food and cattle safe. It’s only after these things don’t work that they cry out to God. This is important to notice, because it shows us the mindset of Israel. They have a mindset that, they’re first response to a crisis is to do whatever they can to fix it. 

It’s a mindset that we can easily fall into too. In fact there’s a religion (LDS) out there that teaches, “For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do (2 Nephi 25:23).” That last part, “after all we can do” is exactly what Israel is thinking. It’s an attitude of, “I can fix this.” It’s an attitude of, “I don’t need God, until I choose to need God.” It’s an attitude of, “After I have exhausted every other avenue, that’s when I’ll turn to God.”

But what does that lead to? For the Israelites, it led to a complete decimation of their land by these conquerers. Their sin is compounding upon it’s self, and the consequences are getting worse, because they have a me first mentality.  They have a, “I’m strong enough to accomplish this on my own” attitude. But that’s just pride, heaped upon the sin of idol worship that they’ve committed already.

And so, instead of God jumping right into the saving action that we’ve seen so far, he doesn’t send them a judge to free them, but rather he sends them a prophet. And the prophet does his job. The prophet points them back to how God has freed them from captivity in Egypt with the express purpose of not following the gods of the people of the land that they now live in, but that’s exactly what they are doing. 

The implication is, why should God save you now, when you are not doing what he has already told you to do? It’s almost like Israel is thinking of their relationship with God as a method. It’s almost like their mindset is like this: “Once we’ve exhausted everything we can do in our own strength to overcome our situation, then we can call on God and he’ll save us without any change in us.”

A modern day equivalent of this mindset might be, “I’m saved, now I can do whatever I want.” Or, “God and I have an understanding.” No, God has his boundaries and when we do not follow those boundaries, what we’re saying is, “I don’t care what God wants, it’s about what I want.” It’s the first sin of, “Surely God didn’t mean…”

And yet, even in the unfaithfulness of the nation of Israel, we still see the faithfulness of God. We still see that, even when Israel’s heart just uses God as a method for their own wants, the overarching theme of Scripture that God is faithful even when humanity is not, still shines through in this moment. When any other person who has been cheated on and used and tossed away by another, would turn their back on that user, God keeps on being faithful. 

So we see the second part of this introduction, the raising up of a new judge, Gideon.

But God doesn’t just call Gideon, he shows up to the man himself to direct this new judge. See before this, the angel of the Lord has shown up once. Back in chapter 2, the angel of the Lord, speaks to Israel about what he had done for the nation in bringing them out of Egyptian captivity and how they are now to enter the land and drive out the people.

Here in chapter 6, the angel of the Lord appears again, to commission a new judge in the midst of Israel’s unfaithfulness. And if you weren’t convinced that this angel of the Lord is God by this time in Scripture, we see in verse 14, where it states, “And the Lord turned to him.” That word Lord, is the English translation of Yahweh. So God is standing in front of Gideon and speaking.

But the conversation has a little tongue and cheek to it. This is how we know God has a sense of humor. When God shows up to speak with Gideon, he says to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor (v.12).” But Gideon is far from a man of valor at this point; he’s hiding away in a cave trying to avoid the Midianites, that’s not something a man of valor would be doing. Yet, what God is saying to him is two fold: first, you’re not a man of valor by the evidence that you’re hiding in this cave, and second, but if you follow me, you will be a man of valor. God is speaking to Gideon’s situation and his future. It’s the same call to courage that he gave to Joshua way back in the first chapter of his book. Following God is a call to courageous living, where lives are laid down for those who don’t deserve it. 

But Gideon’s response is telling of his personal spiritual state. He accuses God of giving up on Israel in verse 13. Of doing great things in the past and doing nothing in the present. Sam Harris, a famous atheist speaker said the same in a debate he had with a Christian back in 2011, where he is quoted as saying, “If you lived 2000 years ago there was evidence galore, performing miracles, but apparently he (God) got tired of being so helpful.” This is the same attitude that Gideon has in his first encounter with God. God you might have worked back then, but you’re not working now. First, this is where we can see that Gideon is either willfully ignorant of what has happened recently with Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, and Barak, or he is just ignorant of those situations, either way, it shows how God can be working and people just don’t either want to see it, or can’t because they’re caught up in their own selves.

It’s here though, when God tells Gideon that he is sending him to do something today. And it’s here that Gideon gives excuses of being the least in a family which is the least of all the tribes of Israel. 

But when excuses fail, Gideon turns to treating God as an idol. Gideon wants to provide food for God and so asks that the Lord stay while he goes and prepares it. You can almost here the exasperation in the voice of God when he says in verse 18, “I will stay till you return.”

When Gideon returns, God does something unexpected. Instead of receiving the food, he consumes it in fire. By doing so, God is sending a message to Gideon. He’s telling the newly commissioned judge, I’m holy and I’m not like these lifeless gods you worship, so get in line. And in a moment of clarity, Gideon becomes afraid. But if he really knew his God, he would know that the kind of fear he should be feeling is reverent understanding of who God is. But instead, the fear he’s experiencing is that of being scared.

That’s why God speaks one more time, and tells him, “Shalom,” “Peace.” 

So what can we take way?

Israel’s state of suffering, is because of their sin and self trusting attitude, coupled with the mistrust of God that we see in Gideon’s life, all comes from lives that are mired in disobedience.

Scripture states in 1st Peter 2:20, “For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.” What this tells us is that there’s a difference of suffering from sinful acts, and suffering from righteous acts. When we suffer from doing the good God calls us to, the blessings of being in God’s will follow. But suffering from sinful acts, just leads to suffering.

When we are disobedient, it’s easy to turn to God and accuse him of bringing suffering on us, but it’s us who have brought it on ourselves. When we do not love like we have been called to, when we engage in sexual lusts, when we gossip or back-bite, or slander, or indulge in addiction, we are walking straight into the suffering of our own design. And that suffering left alone, will lead to nothing but more suffering.

The cure for that is a repentant heart turning to God. Israel isn’t repentant, they’re just thinking God’s their last resort. But a truly repentant heart from a believer, always begins with God. God should be our first choice, not our last. He should be the first person we turn to, not the final one. 

And when we get into the depression at the hurts that surround us, we should remember Jesus’ words in John 20:21, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

As we are called to obedience, we are also called to be in the peace of God. God desires us to rest and trust in him, and experience the peace in the middle of the world’s sin and destruction. But that is only accomplished when he is our first harbor from that destruction. That happens when we courageously walk in the call he has for us. And it only happens when we are obedient to his word, and seeking relationships that are based on passages like 1st Corinthians 13, where Paul states, “4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

And when we falter and when we fail, in our obedience, we must seek forgiveness and reconciliation, both between us and God and us and those who we have hurt. But it always starts with us. One of the things we try to instill in our children is this simple truth: The only person you can change is yourself, so to fix any problem I must begin with me. And real change only comes when I submit to God. People can be influenced by me, but unless they take it upon themselves to seek change in their own lives, I can’t fix them.

But it’s easy to try and fix ourselves by ourselves. Let us not look to ourselves in our own strength, but rather let us rely on the Lord for his, so that we might accomplish his work, for his glory.

My challenge for you this week is to read Judges 6:1-24 again and as you do ask the Lord, what relationships have you sent me into that I have not done well in showing the love you have for them. Then ask for forgiveness and to speak with that person to seek their forgiveness in that suffering. Knowing that I must seek God to change my life, and allow God to change their’s. 

Let us all seek to live in the strength of our God, who calls us to his courageous life. Amen

Judges Series - Week 4 - “The Jonah Judge”

  In one of the numerous biographies of A.B. Simpson, the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, his time as a seminary student is described. Simpson would write about the other men going to school to become pastors. From his writings, the majority of those entering into vocational ministry were doing so because of the prestige it brought to themselves or their family, or as an easy job. Few were actually called to the work of leading a local church.

A few years ago I was talking to an older pastor who had transitioned from back east to out west. He brought up his son, who at the time, had just quit his position of Children’s Pastor. The older pastor said how it was never a good fit for his son and he was almost forced into the position by a friend of his, simply due to his son’s extroverted and charismatic personality. I mentioned that it sounded like he might not have been called to the pastorate. The older pastor paused and said, I think you’re right.

As we looked for a pastor here, in the last four years, we have received over two-hundred applications. Discounting those applications from outside of the US, I would say 80-90% of those who applied did not seem to be called to vocational ministry, because their desire was to run a youth program, or a rec center. 

A calling for ministry is something that God places on an individual’s life. It’s a call to love God’s Church as he himself does. A calling of vocational ministry in a pastor’s position, is not merely a job, it’s a life given up to God for his purposes of showing his people, his Bride, sacrificial love. 

But God doesn’t just call people to vocational ministry, he calls them to all sorts of things. Teachers of the next generation, presidents, and kings, family men, and stay at home moms. The calling of God, is where the obedience of God’s people meet the gifting of God, with the purposes of God in view. And its when people meet God at this intersection, a job becomes more than a job, it becomes a calling.

And it’s this idea of calling that brings us back into our summer series where we will be picking up in the book of Judges, chapter 4, starting in verse 1. As we open up to Judges 4:1, lets see where we are so far in our summer study.

The first week we talked about the introduction to the book of Judges and how it was unique to this writing. The introduction sets up the overall theme of Judges, which is that though Israel turns their back on God, God doesn’t turn his back on them. This book then becomes a microcosm of the whole story of the Scriptures, in which, though humanity turns their back on God, God pursues humanity, because God is faithful, though we are not.

In addition to the overall theme, chapters 1 and 2 set up the spiraling down cycle of Judges. Israel sins, they experience the consequences of that sin in subjugation, they repent of what they have done and turn back to God, God acts in a saving way by raising up a judge to overthrow their captivity, and the people experience a time of rest. 

This then leads us into the first section where we saw the good judges of the book. Othniel is the ideal, while Ehud and Shamgar are right up there with him. These three are seen as doing what is good in the sight of the Lord. They walk in obedience and give the glory to God who achieves the victories. This is God’s desire for us as well. He desires that we are people who walk in obedience to his word, utilizing the gifts he has given us for his work.

With the good judges established, we begin to see the cracks of the judges’ role show. That’s where we pick up in the book of Judges 4:1.

“1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. 2 And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. 3 Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.

“4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment.

“6 She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, ‘Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘“Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. 7 And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand?”’ 8 Barak said to her, 'If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.’ 9 And she said, ‘I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.’ Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.

“11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

“12 When Sisera was told that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 Sisera called out all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. 14 And Deborah said to Barak, ‘Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you?’ So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. 15 And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. 16 And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.

“17 But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, ‘Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.’ So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19 And he said to her, ‘Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.’ So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. 20 And he said to her, ‘Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, “Is anyone here?” say, “No.”’ 21 But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. 22 And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, ‘Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.’ So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.”

“23 So on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel. 24 And the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

From verse 1, we see that the cycle begins with the death of Ehud. From Israel’s disobedience a new king arises from the Canaanite people; people who were not driven out as the Lord Commanded. This follows the sin cycle and those who God uses to correct his people. From the first three stories of the cycle, we see that the first king we saw was a foreigner, the second king was a relative, this third king was a consequence of their own design. The first two kings came from beyond their borders, but this one is one that should have been defeated even before he could take a crown. But this king is stronger than the ones before. He is using modern weaponry, making chariots with iron. And with those advanced weapons, the king oppresses Israel.

But how long did it take for Israel to turn back to God? Twenty years. Twenty years they allowed their sin to keep them in bondage before they turned back to God. But though it took them so long, God was already implementing his saving work. 

 

It’s in verse 4 that Deborah is introduced. Now Deborah is the only female judge we’re given, but she is also the only judge who’s judging is qualified. Her introduction as a judge is different than the others because she seems to already be in the role before the people cry out. In addition, she does not fulfill the military role of a judge that we have seen so far and will see for the rest of the book. 

Instead her role seems to be less of a judge in the sense of the rest of the judges of the book, and more in the role of prophetess and counselor. She is judging disputes, but not on a macro level. Yet, her wisdom and role as a prophetess seems to carry a lot of weight, and seems to be the focal point of her role in this story.

And it’s here that I think we need to make an observation, especially where we are in our culture. I think this story gets misused in applying it to other facets of Scripture. Woman as prophetess are not exceptions in the Bible. This was a vital role that several women are said to have taken. Miriam in Exodus 15:20, the unnamed women in Isaiah 8:3, Huldah in 2 Kings 22:14, and Anna in Matthew 2:36, just to name a few. Women fulfilling the role of prophet shouldn’t surprise us since at Pentecost, when the Church received the Holy Spirit, Peter quotes from the prophet Joel, “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dream…(Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28-32)’”

So Deborah is fulfilling God’s calling on her life. But the calling of a prophet does not mean that a person has free reign over all other aspects. In fact, though Deborah is a prophetess and though she does judge disputes, she is not called to be a judge the same way that Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, and even Barak are. Her calling is different than the other judges, to where a judge in this book is called to military work and overall leading. Deborah doesn’t fulfill this role, though without her fulling her calling as a prophetess, Barak would not have fulfilled his calling.

In addition, I have had it said to me that Deborah’s story shows us that if a man won’t do what God calls him to do, then God will raise up a woman. That’s not what’s going on in the text. First, if we’re thinking God is raising up Deborah over Barak, we’re wrong, God already raised up Deborah before Barak was called and she was fulfilling that calling. Second, even though she goes with Barak, Deborah never takes the role of military judge. Finally, she isn’t the woman who gets the final glory of victory anyways, that’s someone else. 

Instead of making Deborah something she’s not, let’s thank God for the faithful woman of God she is. Because we see that she is faithful in her calling of prophetess when she summons, not requests, Barak’s presence. She is faithful in her calling of prophetess when she nails Barak for knowing that God has called him to judge Israel, and yet he has not done so. She is faithful in her calling as a prophetess when she tells Barak that the glory God was going to bring about through him, would now shift to someone else. And she was faithful in her calling of a prophetess when she went to the battlefield and counseled Barak when to attack.

Deborah is used in our modern day conversation of women in ministry as an example to say that woman should be elders in the local church. Without getting into that discussion and not caring at this moment where someone falls on that argument, Deborah’s role here is not comparable to an elder of a local church. The role of a prophet/prophetess is also not comparable to the role of elder in a local church. In fact the judge role in general is not comparable to the role of elder in the local church. It’s apples to oranges. Let’s not use Deborah as a pawn in the discussion of women in ministry and, in my estimation, diminishing her role in Scripture. Instead, let’s see Deborah as who she is. Deborah is a woman fulfilling the calling that God brought her to, not because a man didn’t walk in his calling, but because she was faithful even before this situation.

That being said, let’s talk about Barak. Barak is considered by Scripture to be the judge in this situation.  1 Samuel 12:11 reads, “And the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety.”  And Hebrews 11:32 reads, “32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets…” Both these passages attribute the role of judge to Barak, whereas after chapters 4 and 5 in Judges, Deborah is never again mentioned in the whole of Scripture. 

But its with Barak where we start seeing the cracks in the judges’ role. Othniel, Ehud and Shamgar are the good judges that do what they’re called to. But Barak disobeyed God’s calling not once, but twice. And then, though the prophetess calls him out on it and tells him directly that God is guaranteeing a victory here, Barak will only go forward if the representative for God, Deborah, is right by his side. As I think about Barak, he’s very similar to Jonah. Both were called to a task, both disobeyed and choose not to go where God wanted them.

It’s because of Barak’s repeated rejection of God’s call, that Deborah tells him that he won’t get the glory that God intended for him, and instead that glory is going to go to a woman. It’s a shot at Barak’s ego that not only will he not get glory here, but that someone who, culturally speaking, shouldn’t even be on the battlefield, a woman, will win the greatest victory of the day.

It’s here that we see who the woman is that receives the glory that God had in store for Barak. Jael, like Ehud last week, is an unsuspecting hero. In comparison to Barak who had to be convinced twice and had to have his hand held in order to do what God called him to. Jael is put into a position where she takes the opportunity that is afforded her.  This is without any instruction.

Like most women of her day, she’s not on the battlefield, but when the battle comes to her, she takes action. That shows a lot of difference between the typical warrior Barak who is hesitant to follow God even after all the calls, and the housewife who does it without any prompting. She places a rug on Sisera, which after running from a war zone isn’t the best thing to put on someone if you tend to help them. She gives him milk when he asked for water, which against isn’t the best for someone who is overheated. Both these actions lead to Sisera to fall asleep and gives Jael the opportunity to strike. Her intelligence in dealing with this enemy of Israel is on full display.

So the glory of the victory moves away from Barak, the chosen judge, to Jael the housewife. In the song that follows in chapter 5, not only is Jael given the place of triumph in verses 24-27, she is also connected in verse 6 to Shamgar, one of the good judges. Though she doesn’t get a lot of the attention in the two chapters, her place in them and what is said of her, fulfills the words of Deborah that a woman would receive the glory from God.

Once God’s saving work is fulfilled, we’re told that the land then receives forty years of rest. 

This brings us to what God is desiring us to understand today. There’s two points of the passage. First, is the obedient aspect. The judges before Barak were obedient to God’s calling, and because of their obedience, God used them to bring about his glory, in turn they benefited as well. Barak stands in contrast to that. He purposefully rejected God, choosing sinful disobedience over righteous obedience. God still used him to achieve his goals, like he did with the begrudging Jonah, because God’s plans will always come to flourish, even when defied by sinful man.

But God’s desire is that we choose obedience. It’s from the foundation of the world, that God builds a universe in which he can interact with his creation for the very reason of his own pleasure (Colossians 1:16). When we are obedient, the blessings of God from that obedience flow on us. God intended that to happen to Barak. But when Barak rejected walking in obedience, though he eventually did do what God called him to, the blessings fell on Jael instead. 

God’s desire is that we experience his blessings, how do we do that? Through obedience. It’s not about being perfect in obedience, or being able to do more than what is asked of us. No, it’s about walking in trust, doing what God calls us to. It’s Isaiah’s response in Isaiah 6:8, “Here I am! Send me.” Deborah and Jael did just that, and they are inshrined in Scripture as faithful women of God.

God is calling us to his blessings, not because we earn it through obedience, but because our Father wants to lavish on those who return his love. This returning of love is shown through our actions of obedience. And when we are obedient, God is glorified, and through that, God brings his blessings upon us in ways that go beyond the prizes of this world, with its fading treasures. God blesses us with eternal treasures, that even now our beyond our wildest imaginations.

So my challenge for you this week is this, re-read chapter 4 and all of chapter 5. Then seek God’s calling on your life. Spend time in prayer with the Holy Spirit in seeking what God wants from you in this time of your life. If you’re retired, what does God want to do through you in your retirement? Maybe you’re a teen, what does God want to do through your teenage years? Maybe you’re struggling financially, or relationally, physical, mentally, spiritually, what is God wanting to do through you, during this time. 

The blessings of God come in many victories, let us seek to live obedient lives, not for the blessings in and of themselves, but for the God whom we love and who’s calling we desire to fulfill. Amen.