Anyone Like Gideon

Background: Israel is going through a tough time, they've forsaken God, the younger generations never heard of God who rescued their ancestors from the Egyptian slavery and brought them out into the Promised Land. Israelites, now in the promised land, mingled with the Canaanites and others staying in the land instead of driving them out.They've now been through many judges whom God raises up every time they are in trouble and call upon Him. However in Judges 6 we see a different story. In the midst of all this trouble Israelites were in. There is someone who had atleast heard of God from his ancestors. His name is Gideon.

I wonder in this time when all of the Israelites were in disobedience and defeat, God finds a man threshing wheat in a winepress, Gideon. I wonder what was special about Gideon? One thing that impressed me when I read this chapter in Judges after reading all the ones before it was that there was something different about this man. If we read Judges 2:10 it says "10After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the LORD or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel", we find that once the generation that was with Joshua and saw the miracles had passed away, the new generation did not know God. However in the midst of such a people, there is Gideon to whom the angel of the Lord appeared. When the angel of the Lord appears to him, here's what happens "12And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Lord is with you, you mighty man of [fearless] courage.
13And Gideon said to him, O sir, if the Lord is with us, why is all this befallen us? And where are all His wondrous works of which our fathers told 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."(Judges 6:12-13)
Gideon remembered that his fathers had told him about a Living God who rescued them and wanted to know where God was now and why God wasn't helping them. Here's what I found about him

• He was in a bad situation too, as were the other Israelites, however he remembered God's works, his fathers told him about
• He wanted to know, about this God, who helped his fathers with all the miracles, atleast wanted to know why God wasn't helping any more

God's response to this was

• I am sending you Gideon

Lesson: This is so much like our times now, as the Bible says in

2 Timothy 3:1-4 -"1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—" Isn't it a time when everyone is doing as they please, not respecting another human being, abortion rates, weird marriages, pleasures increasing, strange diseases mankind has never faced like before. What a time is this??? Even in the middle of such times, God has an answer for all of us who seek Him.

We too have examples (like Gideon did) of people who have followed our Lord righteously and have been a blessing to many in their generations and even in the generations to come and more so our Bible-the Word of God. People who have been the key either in prayer or preaching and have changed so many lives, just by following the Living Lord. God did mighty things through them.

If you seek the Lord, you want to know, God why aren't you doing something? What happened to all the good things God said he could do, like , healing the sick,raising the dead, bringing hope to the hopeless, joy of the Lord to the mourning, God's power of giving peace to His children, to give them an answer to finding a fulfilling life.

To this God says: I send you. You might not think, you're the one, but God thinks so. God tells Gideon " 14The Lord turned to him and said, Go in this your might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?" (Judges 6:14)

I always thought, telling others about my Saviour was a thing I could not do, because it was not in me to do such a thing, I could never do what God has written in the Word of God, however later I realised, God would like me to know some things, before I go. That you are His precious child, now a child is a member of the family, as God has said in John 1:12 "But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name"-"You are God's children" meaning, that child has his family traits, family heritage, family property, family benefits. So know this and go. Be bold because its the Lord who has sent you. How would they know about God's family, until they see one of God's family members and that member is you. Get onto the Word of God, find out your family traits, your family heritage, your family property and get going. Represent your family, the best you know how, God has empowered His children already.