GIDEON - AND HOW HE STILL SPEAKS

There are some great characters in the book of judges who are worthy of careful study. We pick out Gideon for mention to show how these characters can speak to us today.

Gideon, who was the fifth judge of Israel, is one of the outstanding heroes in Israel's early history. We need to realize that his heroism was not a product of his nature , but the outcome of a transforming spiritual experience. It is this, which gives him a living significance to us today.

When first we see Gideon he cuts a pathetic figure of unbelief (6:11-23). He is a furtive, nervous young man secretly threshing wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the marauding Midianites. What pathetic exclamations of unbelief escape his lips when the Lord suddenly appears as a Mighty One of valour! The reading of verse 12 as "The Lord is with thee, even the Lord mighty in valour" is the correct one, rather than that which makes Gideon the mighty one of valour instead of the Lord. Mark unconverted Gideon's reaction. He gasps - "Oh, my Lord, if Jehovah be with us why then is all this befallen us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us of, saying: Did not Jehovah bring us up out of Egypt? But now Jehovah hath forsaken us ..." This all sounds rather dismal. "Oh! ... if ... why? ... where?... but ..." Verse 14 continues, "And Jehovah looked upon him and said: in this thy might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?” These may seem strong and reassuring words to us, but Gideon can only moan, "Oh, my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel ...?" The Lord replies still further, "Surely I will be with thee, and you shall smite the Midianites as one man." Yet  this only evokes another stammering "if" - "If now I have found grace in Thy sight, then show me a sign." In these replies of Gideon we have a fair sample of the vocabulary of unbelief. In his successive exclamations we have the sceptical surprise of unbelief, then its uncertainty and its questioning and its complaining and its false humility and its seeking for signs. Unconverted Gideon presents a sorry picture of the paralysis, which always accompanies unbelief.

Gideon's Transformation

But now look at Gideon's transforming experience.

In the first place he was converted. We use the word with care. By the time the "Angel of the Lord" had completed his visit to him he had become quite convinced regarding the true God of Israel. Note verse 24, "Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-Shalom. "There is vital significance about that altar. The altar is ever the place where God and man meet. It is the outward symbol of an inward transaction between the human soul and God. When Gideon built that altar to Jehovah he turned his back on false gods and became a worshipper of the one true God. Moreover he gave that altar a significant name - Jehovah-Shalom, which means, "Jehovah my peace." For the first time in his life this young Hebrew came into a sense of peace. That is always a first product of true conversion.

But Gideon went further. He consecrated himself to Jehovah. He yielded his own will to the will of God. Read verses 25-27. We only need to think our way back into the circumstances a little, to appreciate what an acute challenge to Gideon's new faith and obedience this test was. The command that he should "throw down the altar of Baal" reminds us at once that Gideon lived in a time of widespread religious apostasy. Israel's. religious leaders were "modernists," and had caused the people to err. To wreck Baal's altar was to run counter to the popular will, and to invite death. But Gideon did it. And how remarkable was the result! Read again verses 28-32. Gideon's father became converted too! Maybe the old man had secretly sighed for the "good old ways" and had longed for some brave champion of the old-time faith to arise and call his fellow-countrymen back to Jehovah; and now, when his son stood up for the old-time faith Joash was immediately by his side. We may apply this to ourselves. In nine cases out of ten, the reason we have so little influence for Christ among our own kith and kin is that we ourselves are not prepared to go the length of full consecration to the will of God.

Finally, Gideon became controlled, by which we mean that he became controlled by the Spirit of God. See verse 34, "The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet, and Abi-ezer was gathered after him." He became at once a leader and a saviour of his people. The people recognised the transforming power of God in him, and flocked to him when he sounded his clarion. The story which follows in the Scripture account tells of Gideon's marvellous victory over Midian, and his freeing of Israel from the alien yoke.

What a transformation had now taken place in Gideon! The man who had first been converted and had then become consecrated had now become controlled by the Holy Spirit. That thirty-fourth verse is noteworthy. A near translation would be: "The Spirit of Jehovah clothed Himself with Gideon." Gideon's personality became, so to speak, a garment in which God moved among men. What a sermon, then, is this man to us! Like Abel, "he being dead, yet speaketh." This soul-saving, life-changing, character-transforming experience through which he passed may be known by ourselves - not in its outward accidentals, of course, but in its inward essentials. We may become truly converted to God, truly consecrated to His will, and really controlled by the Holy Spirit. And we may be taken up and used by God as definitely as Gideon was. Converted, consecrated, Spirit-controlled-God grant that it may be true of ourselves! We must get our eyes away from doubt-provoking circumstances, and fix them on the word of God Himself. "Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it" (1 Thess 5:24).

Doubt sees the obstacles,

Faith sees the way.

Doubt sees the darksome night,

Faith sees the day.

Doubt dreads to take the step,

Faith soars on high.

Doubt whispers, "Who believes?"

Faith answers - "I."