by David Gibson<\/p>\n
God called Gideon during a period called “the dark ages of Israel.” What can we learn from Gideon’s experience to help us through the encroaching darkness of our day? A lot!<\/p>\n
The angel told Gideon, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior<\/em>,” and “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?<\/em>” (Judges 6:12, 14).<\/p>\n Gideon believed Israel’s glory days were over (Judges 6:13), that God had forsaken his nation (Judges 6:13, 15), and that he himself was unequal to the task (Judges 6:15).<\/p>\n God went out of His way to bolster Gideon’s faith by providing him with four supernatural assurances and two hard tests.<\/p>\n The first sign involved the angel igniting Gideon’s sacrifice (Judges 6:17-24). God then gave Gideon his first test: to destroy his father’s pagan altar (Judges 6:25-32). Despite their fear, Gideon and his servants demolished the altar, replacing it with one dedicated to the true God.<\/p>\n The Spirit “clothed himself with Gideon<\/em>” is the literal translation of Judges 6:34, according to F. F. Bruce (The New Bible Commentary, Revised, 264). Gideon then mustered 32,000 troops. Facing the Midianite army of 135,000 (Judges 8:10), Gideon’s men were outnumbered 4-to-1. Gideon knew God promised him victory, but he requested two more signs-wet fleece on dry ground and dry fleece on dewy ground (Judges 6:36-40). God graciously granted both.<\/p>\n To his credit, Gideon always did what God told him. By obeying despite his fears, his faith grew. Obviously, there is a lesson for us in that!<\/p>\n Then the ultimate test: God told him he had too many men. “… Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me’<\/em>” (Judges 7:2). Gideon watched as his army shrank to a mere 300. Gideon lost more than 99% of his men!<\/p>\n God arranged for Gideon to overhear a couple of Midianites discussing a dream which one interpreted to mean, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon … God has given Midian and all the camp into his hand<\/em>” (Judges 7:14).<\/p>\n Hearing that, Gideon’s faith was now equal to the task. He “bowed in worship<\/em>” and announced to his men, “Arise, for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands<\/em>” (Judges 7:15). At last, he was ready. Then followed what T. DeWitt Talmage called “the strangest battle ever fought.”<\/p>\n Gideon had to do some pretty scary things, but he did them, and everything worked out fine, because God was with him. Warren W. Wiersbe said, “Gideon is a great encouragement to people who have a hard time accepting themselves and believing that God can make anything out of them or do anything with them” (Be Available<\/em>, p. 49).<\/p>\n We too can enjoy victory if we do whatever God requires of us, no matter how unreasonable or intimidating it may seem.<\/p>\n “For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight<\/em>” (Hebrews 11:32-34).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n “… from weakness were made strong<\/em> …” This aptly describes Gideon, and it can describe us too if we, like him, truly live “by faith<\/em>.”<\/p>\nGod powerfully used Gideon during a very dark time. In our dark time, can God use us too? by David Gibson God called Gideon during a period called “the dark ages of Israel.” What can we learn from Gideon’s experience to help us through the encroaching darkness of our day? A lot! Weak Faith The angel told Gideon, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior,” and “Go in this your strength and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1655,1210,1113],"class_list":["post-99144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-gideon","tag-strength","tag-weakness"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-support-conscientious-objection\/","url_meta":{"origin":99144,"position":0},"title":"Do you support conscientious objection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you or your church support selective conscientious objection and conscientious objection? Answer: Registering for the draft is a government law that does not violate any teaching of God. \"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1296,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-boy-girl-relationships-not-advisable-at-a-young-age\/","url_meta":{"origin":99144,"position":1},"title":"Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age Answer: Youth is a time of impatient desires. They want the things available to adults, but adulthood seems so far away. The typical teenage boy enters puberty around the age of 11. The typical teenage girl enters puberty around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32196,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-to-take-out-insurance\/","url_meta":{"origin":99144,"position":2},"title":"Is it a sin to take out insurance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it a sin to take out medical insurance or legal insurance? Are we rather expected to put our faith in the Lord to take care of those things? Answer: We were taught to pray, \"Give us this day our daily bread\" (Matthew 6:11), but God still commands us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37138,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-lost-the-surprise-somewhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":99144,"position":3},"title":"We Lost the Surprise Somewhere","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I remember watching Mayberry RFD and related shows most of my childhood. Poor ignorant Gomer Pyle who worked as an auto mechanic was a notable character. But I can still recall my shock when I found out that Jim Nabors, who played Gomer, could sing --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Gomer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":61889,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-book-of-my-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":99144,"position":4},"title":"The Book of My Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Job 19:23-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Each week the paper publishes its list of top selling books \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes the books are biographies, fictional stories, or fiction placed in historical settings. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They hope that others will also purchase the books, if for no other reason than curiosity. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many author\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6988,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-passages-that-refer-to-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":99144,"position":5},"title":"Are there passages that refer to THE Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have been studying the Lord's supper issues and one of our main concerns is about a second offering in which only a few partake, for the reasons you listed in your article (not doing it together). We have been questioning the idea of everyone taking it a second\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99144"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99149,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99144\/revisions\/99149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Growing Faith<\/h2>\n
Strong Faith<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
\nTo use us, God must prod us, test us, stretch us. He offers His great promises and His great help. Anything God tells us to do is doable. Believe it!\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"