Lessons from Gideon

Lesson 1: God sees us as what we will be not as we are now.
The angel of the Lord appears to Gideon and says “The Lord is with you, O Valient warrior.” At the time Gideon did not feel like a valient warrior, he was beating out wheat in a wine press hiding from the Midianites.

Lesson 2: God’s answer to our excuses is that He will be with us.
The angel of the Lord tell Gideon that he is to go defeat the Midianites. Gideon has all sorts of excuses like being the least in his tribe and his family. The Lord responds “Surely I will be with you and you will ….” To me this is encouragement. What greater gift then God being with us in the task He has for us.

Lesson 3: Worship comes first.
Gideon had a task of setting up an altar for the Lord but first he had to take down the altars of Baal. He decided to do this at night for fear of his neighbors but he did it. He set up worship for God in his city. It was after this that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in Judges 6:34. Gideaon declared his allegiance and so did God. Another act of worship comes in Judges 7:15, it says Gideon bowed in worship. God has let him hear a dream and interpretation of a midianite that confirmed what God was going to do through him. Gideon’s response was worship. I like that.

Lesson 4: God’s ways are not our ways.
God uses 300 instead of 32,000 to defeat Midian. Sometimes we feel like the odds are against us in ministry or even just life. Gideon’s story reminds us that when God is for us who can be against us.

Dear God, You delivered the Israelites time and again from their own mistakes and now you do it for us. Thank you for coming to us when we cry out. May our first response be worship. May your Spirit be upon us as we go out to do your will. Amen