Fleeces, Fear, and Faithfulness | Sunday, March 17, 2024

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord... (Judges 6–7)

Out of weakness made strong: how God uses fearful, ordinary people to do the impossible.

The Dumpster Fire of Judges

If you've been with us over the last several weeks, we've been in the seventh book of the Bible, the Book of Judges. I'm calling this series "Dumpster Fire," because in this fascinating book the people of Israel just go from one dumpster fire to the next. The storyline revolves around a statement that shows up seven times: the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. Those words mark the beginning of cycles that happen throughout this period of Israel's history about 3,300 years ago.

During this time the children of Israel drifted away from God. They drifted toward idolatry and immorality. Just as God had warned them through Moses in Deuteronomy, obedience to His word brings blessing, but departing toward idols and immorality brings the consequences of sin—a curse.

So in Judges, every time the children of Israel had a good and godly leader, they would follow the Lord—until that leader died. Then they would do evil in the sight of the Lord, bow down to the idols of the surrounding peoples, and slide into distress. The nations around them would oppress and conquer them. In that place of oppression, they would cry out to God. And because God is gracious and merciful, He would hear their cry and raise up another judge to deliver them and lead them back to righteousness. Then that judge would die, and again we read those words seven times: and the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord.

Gideon, One of the Greats

So far we've been introduced to a number of godly leaders—Othniel, Ehud, the brief mention of Shamgar, and then Deborah and Barak. Last week in chapter 6 we met one of the greats, really a standout: Gideon. He's a standout among the judges, even into the New Testament. In the book of Hebrews, when the author writes about those who had great faith, the first judge he names is Gideon:

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... who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

"Out of weakness were made strong"—I think that's one of the things we'll see about Gideon this morning. Certainly Gideon was in mind when the author of Hebrews wrote those words.

Yet, as we saw last week, though Gideon is marked out as a great judge, he wrestled with fear and was definitely marked by hesitancy and reluctance. I can relate to Gideon, because there have certainly been times in my 25 years of seeking and serving the Lord where I too have been fearful, hesitant, or reluctant. I'm grateful that God inspired the author to record not only the highs and victories of individuals like Gideon but also the lows.

Warts and All

One indication that this is God-inspired Scripture is that the Old Testament heroes are given to us warts and all. There's a well-known Jewish historian who lived in the second century AD named Josephus, who recorded the history of the Jews. It follows closely to the Old Testament, but Josephus has a way of glossing over the lows—spinning them as highs, very patriotic in that sense. The Scriptures, by contrast, show the weaknesses of individuals like Gideon.

I'm grateful for that, because what we discover is that the people God chooses to use are really just regular people with normal fears and failings. They are not super-Saints or extraordinary powerhouses. God uses them to accomplish great feats, but they were just ordinary, often fearful individuals. He chooses to use those who were nothing, the weak, the despised, the defective, the dejected, the rejected. Maybe you feel just like that this morning. That means God can choose you and me to accomplish great things for His kingdom.

Why does God do this? Paul answers in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29:

God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.

God uses the weak and the despised because God is most glorified when His strength is made perfect in our weakness. When God uses the feeble and the foolish for great things, there's no way for them to say, "Look what I did." Instead they say, "All glory goes to God." That's the way it ought to be. The chief end of man is to glorify God, and He wants to glorify Himself in and through your life.

Point One: Sometimes I Need Help Believing

The problem is that when we sense God wants to use us, we tend to see the task as too big and ourselves as too small. Point number one: sometimes I need a little help believing before I step up and step out.

That's exactly what we saw with Gideon in chapter 6. God came to him while he was threshing wheat in a winepress. We don't fully understand that in our day—he was separating wheat from chaff, normally done on a high place where wind carries the chaff away. But he was doing it in a winepress, where there's little wind, because he was trying to hide his harvest from the Midianite army that came every season to steal the fruitfulness of the land. He was in a fearful, frustrating position.

God came to him and said, you are the mighty man of valor that I have chosen, and I am going to deliver Israel by your hand. His response was probably like yours or mine would be: "Lord, how can that be? I come from the weakest clan in my tribe, and I am the least in my father's house. I am nothing." But God said, surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man. That's an awesome statement. We'll discover that the Midianite army numbered around 135,000 men, and God tells Gideon, "I will deliver them into your hand as one man. I'm going to work through you."

Gideon wasn't entirely sure it was the Lord speaking, so he asked for proof. He made a meal offering, and by a miraculous event the meal was consumed by fire arising out of a rock. So he said, "Okay, I guess that's You, Lord."

A Stand Against Sin at Home

Then God said, "Before you can deliver your people from Midian, you must take a stand against sin in your own house." Gideon's father, Joash, had built an altar to a false Canaanite god, Baal, and another to a Canaanite deity, Asherah—both served in sinful, immoral ways, right in Gideon's household. God said, "Tear it down. Before I can deliver you and your people, you need to take a stand against sin in your own house."

When Gideon was confronted with this, he was fearful. Judges 6:27 says he did it by night because he feared his father's household and the men of the city too much to do it by day. We can chastise Gideon for having fear, but we still need to recognize that he was faithful. He did what God called him to do, even in spite of his fear.

Laying Out the Fleece

After this, Gideon was still unsure, still hesitant. That brings us to what Gideon is probably most well-known for. Maybe you've heard the saying, "I need to put out a fleece before the Lord." That comes from Judges 6.

So Gideon said to God, "If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said—look, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said."

The spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew the trumpet. The Abiezrites, his own clan, gathered behind him. Then he sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they gathered too. They all came to go against the Midianites. But Gideon said, "Lord, the Midianites have a big army, and I'm not so sure mine is big enough. I need to make sure You're really going to come through."

Now, some of you might say, "Wait—didn't Jesus say a wicked and perverse generation seeks after a sign?" Let me suggest these aren't an apples-to-apples comparison. In Jesus' day, the super-spiritual religious leaders refused to believe even though He was already performing signs—casting out demons, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead, feeding multitudes—and still demanded more. To them He said no sign would be given. Gideon, by contrast, says, "God, I think You're calling me to do something. I want to follow and trust You, but I need some support." And I'm so grateful that God is gracious and patient in those instances, because He actually wants to use you.

A Fleece, and Then Another

And when he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water.

The fleece was wet, the ground was dry. God did exactly what Gideon asked. You'd expect Gideon to say, "Let's go!"—but Gideon is kind of like me. He thought, "Wait, maybe it was a coincidence. That's just two out of three."

So Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece. Let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew."

It could have been a coincidence—maybe the fleece just soaked up the water—so let's reverse it.

And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.

So what do you do at that point, when God's purpose is before you, an open door is set before you, and God has been gracious, patient, and faithful with your requests? Now, Gideon, it's your move.

History, Not Fiction

Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.

It's worth recognizing how many place names are mentioned here. They remind us this is not fiction—it's history. These are actual locations you could identify. For several hundred years, archaeologists have read about places in the Bible, gone to find them, and uncovered carvings in stone and clay confirming, "This is that place." And they say, "Wow—just as the Bible said."

Point Two: Too Many People

God had said, "You shall defeat the Midianites as one man." Now Gideon had 32,000 men encamped against 135,000. He was ready. But remember the word: as one man.

And the Lord said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'"

"Too many"? The odds were stacked nearly five to one. The Midianites had harshly oppressed them for seven years, coming up like locusts to destroy everything. If I were Gideon, I'd say, "Look at them—I don't have too many people!" But God said, "If you win with 32,000, some of you will say, 'Look what we did.'"

"Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart.'"

I can imagine Gideon thinking, "Please, please don't go home." And 22,000 returned. Only 10,000 remained. He lost two-thirds of his army.

Point number two: sometimes God is teaching me to trust even when it seems insane and impossible. Years later, in 1 Samuel 14:6, Jonathan made a great statement of faith: nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few. God seems to enjoy putting us in insane and impossible situations to show Himself mighty on our behalf, to prove His power in spite of our weakness, to glorify Himself, and to prove that with God nothing shall be impossible.

From Ten Thousand to Three Hundred

But the Lord said to Gideon, "The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there."

Everyone who lapped the water like a dog was set into one group; everyone who knelt down to drink was set into another.

And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water.

Commentators have all kinds of theories—the kneelers were vigilant and watchful, or maybe just too old to get down on all fours; who knows. Whatever the case, Gideon now had group one with 300 and group two with 9,700. You can imagine him praying, "Please be the big group."

Then the Lord said to Gideon, "By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place."

You knew that was coming. Nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.

Point Three and Four: To the Brink

Point number three: sometimes God brings me to the brink to stretch and test my faith and faithfulness. Will I believe? Will I obey?

So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men... And it happened on the same night that the Lord said to him, "Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand."

Gideon must have been on the brink of losing his mind. If you were his friend, wouldn't you be asking, "Are you sure you're hearing from God?" But the Lord knew Gideon's heart:

"But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened."

It's like the man in Mark 9 who brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus and cried, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief." The odds were insurmountable: 300 versus 135,000. There's no possible way by human strength. There would be greater odds that my high school alma mater, the Orange Glen Mighty Patriots, could overcome Tom Brady's Patriots at their best.

Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.

Gideon and Purah snuck up to an outpost and overheard two Midianites talking. One said:

"I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed."

And his companion answered:

"This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp."

Imagine Gideon: "Wait—did he just say my name? How does he know who I am? I'm of the smallest clan, the least of my father's house." When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped—that word means he was in awe, blown away. He returned and said, "Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand."

Point number four: fearlessness is not a requisite of faithfulness. We often think we must have no fear before we can act. But a step of faith does involve fear—otherwise you're moving by sight, not by faith.

The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon

Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers.

He told them, "Watch me. When I come to the edge of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, you also blow, on every side of the whole camp, and say, 'The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!'" Why those words? Because that was the interpretation of the dream—the sword of Gideon, the man of Israel.

So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch... and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands... and they cried, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!"

They had a torch inside a clay pot and a trumpet in hand. At the signal they broke the pots, and the rush of oxygen made the torches flame up. They blew the trumpets and shouted. It's reminiscent of Israel marching around Jericho—another impossible feat.

And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled. When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp.

The Midianites woke, thought they were surrounded by a great army when it was only 300, and in the chaos turned their swords on one another and fled.

Point Five: God Has Proved Himself Trustworthy

There are times we need a little help to believe before we step up. It's true that God teaches us to trust when it seems insane and impossible, and that He brings us to the brink to test our faith. But point number five, and we'll close with this: God has always proved Himself trustworthy when I followed Him by faith.

Sometimes we wait and wait until we feel ready, and He's still gracious and patient. But He calls us to follow Him by faith—faithfully. That's what it is to be a disciple, and by His Spirit He enables us to do great things we couldn't imagine and certainly couldn't do on our own. As it's been said, one with God is a majority.

One Small Step

It's easy to look at the world and say the task is too big and I'm too small. To bring it home to March 17th, I wonder if St. Patrick felt that way. He was kidnapped at sixteen by Irish pirates and made a slave for six years in Ireland. He finally escaped and made it back home to Britain—and then became a missionary who returned to the very people who had enslaved him, preaching the gospel until, by the story, Ireland was converted from paganism to Christianity. You can look at the world and say it's too big and I'm too small, but one with God is a majority.

I can guarantee you, based on Scripture and on my own life, that God has called every one of you to greater things than you could imagine, and He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think. You may think, "I'm just passing out a donut," or "I'm just handing someone a bulletin." No—it's not just anything. It may seem small, but it might be far larger than you realize.

Within ten miles of this building there are nearly a million people, many of whom do not know God or the gospel. The only Christian they have any contact with may be you—at work, at school, in your neighborhood, in your own family. Research shows that eight out of ten people would come to church if someone invited them. You might just hand them a card and say, "Come to Easter—the services are 7:30, 9, and 11. I'll meet you in the parking lot." A lot of people are fearful to walk into a church; it might seem a small thing to you, but it won't be small in their life.

Here's what I've discovered: God always takes us from one small step to a bigger step, and a bigger step after that. Every person I know serving God in a major capacity started by handing a bulletin or a card to someone. It always starts with one small thing.

Our culture desperately needs the grace and power of the gospel. The culture has shifted significantly away from God, yet it was the truth of Scripture and the principles of the Christian faith that built the culture we so enjoy in the West. As it shifts away, many people who've never been to church feel orphaned, wondering, "What on earth is going on? Where am I going to go?" There are a lot of orphaned, lost people—sheep without a shepherd—and there's only one good place for them: Christ. You are His ambassador. He has called you, filled you, and poured out His Spirit upon you to be His light in a dark place, to sound the trumpet and say, "The sword of the Lord." There is much work to be done, but it starts with that one small step.

Closing Prayer

Father God, we need Your grace. I thank You that You are so patient with us. Sometimes it takes us a long time to listen and obey, to hear, hearken, and heed. But Lord, as we begin to take that single step of faith, You meet us with grace and strength. As we take another step, You meet us with more grace and strength. And when we reach out our hand or open our mouth to share the good news of who You are, You give us more grace, more strength, and the word to share. I pray that You would do that.

Lord, I pray for this town and community here in North County—for Escondido and Valley Center and San Marcos and Bonsall and Rancho Bernardo and all the surrounding areas. There are many people You are desiring to draw to Yourself, and You want to use us. So overcome our fears and our anxieties. Whatever way You need to prove Yourself to Your people, would You open our eyes to see, and strengthen our hands and feet to move. God, do a work, we pray, because without You we have no hope. But Lord, I thank You that we have great hope, because we trust in You and Your great power. We praise You, Jesus, and we thank You. It's in Your name we pray, and all those that agreed said, Amen.