The Faith of Gideon

Articles

Derek Long
07/07/19 - Faith

The Faith of Gideon
By Derek Long
In the days of the judges, we find the nation of Israel
often departing from God and serving other gods. God would punish the nation of Israel for their unfaithfulness by allowing other nations to oppress them. When Israel would cry out to God for deliverance, He would raise up judges to deliver the nation of Israel from those who oppressed them. Several of these judges display great faith in God. Hebrews 11:32 mentions several of these men. It says, “And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets.” Let’s examine some things we can learn from the example of Gideon’s faith.
• Gideon did not have confidence in his own ability to strength to deliver Israel from the Midianites. Gideon relied upon God to deliver the Midianites. When God calls Gideon to the task of delivering Israel, “the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!’” (Judges 6:12). Gideon responds by saying, “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 assures Gideon, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one
man” (Judges 6:16). God provides Gideon with signs letting Gideon know He will be with him as he leads Israel against the Midianites. Our faith should cause us to not trust in our own strength, power, or abilities but to instead trust in God.
• Gideon’s faith led him to oppose sin in his own family. One of the first things God commanded Gideon to do is, “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; 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 offering with the wood of the image which you shall cut down” (Judges 6:25-26). Could you imagine getting a command to tear down an altar and image owned by your dad? Gideon is having to reject the worship of his father and acknowledge it as being wrong. Gideon is having to openly oppose the worship his father and perhaps others around him had been engaged in. Gideon follows through and obeys the command given to him by God although he does do so at night because of fear. Gideon shows us a great example of how faith in God should lead us to put our loyalty to God above our loyalty to our family (Matthew 10:34-37; Luke 14:26).
• Gideon is going to deliver Israel from an army numbering 135,000 men (Judges 8:10). Gideon’s initial force totals 32,000 men (Judges 7:3). God does not allow Gideon to go against the Midianites with 32,000 men lest Israel think it was their own strength which delivered them. God has Gideon dismiss those who were fearful and afraid and the army’s size drops to 10,000 men. God then has the men
drink water and those who lap water like a dog would are those God selects to compose the people He would use to deliver Israel. The final number of men Gideon is left with is 300 (Judges 7:8). Most people would consider going against 135,000 men with only 32,000 men as being pretty bad odds. Gideon trusts in God and recognizes it did not matter how many people were with him if God was with them. Gideon defeats the army of the Midianites through his
! faith in God.
Does our faith in God lead us to do his will, trusting in His plan, and knowing He will enable us to accomplish what He wants accomplished if we will faithfully do our part?