Sunday Sermon: Judges 10:6-11:40, How do you related to God?

From chapter 6 to chapter 9, we considered the story of two generations, Gideon a judge and his son Abimelech, a self-appointed king. We saw how God delivered the Israelites through Gideon, a timid and insecure, skeptical and doubtful man of weak faith. And, we saw the tragedy unfolding when Gideon and his son Abimelech sought to be their own kings while rejecting God’s kingship over them.

Today, we are going to consider the life of another Judge, Jephthah; he was used by God to deliver the Israelites from the oppression, but his legacy too was marred by the serious troubles.

1. Do you treat God like he is a convenient store owner?

Before the story of Jephthah unfolded, chapter 10 briefly mentions two minor judges, Tola and Jair. We are not given too many details about them; both of them are said to have led Israel 23 years and 23 years respectively. Tola is said to have saved Israel.

After this brief description of these two minor judges, 10:6 begins with the familiar indictment, “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD.” How extensive was their sin in doing evil in the eyes of the LORD? Verse 6 says they served not just few, but many gods of the seven nations: the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines.

And, because they sought after the gods of neighboring nations while forsaking God of Israel, he was angry with them; he sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites. Another word, God allowed these two nations to oppress Israel; God removed his protective and guiding shield from the Israelites when they no longer sought after his protection and guide.

Verse 8 describes the Israelites as being shattered and crushed by the oppressions from the Philistines and the Ammonites for 18 years.

This past week, I was helping getting dinner ready for our family. Being clumsy and careless, I knocked down two bowls that were piled together. They hit the countertop. And, the bottom bowl that first hit the countertop shattered and crushed by the impact of the fall and by the weight of the bowl on the top of it. What a mass it was. It was a small bowl, but its broken pieces covered the whole kitchen; some flew into the bathroom and even into the portion of the dinning room. All I can do was to have all our children out of the areas covered by the debris to sweep and vacuum the mass.

In their miserable, shattered and crushed state, verse 10 tells us that they cried out to the LORD, “We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.” We see God’s response to them in verse 11-14. He answered them unfavorably. Unlike the unfaithful Israelites, God delivered them from the seven oppressors, only to see the Israelites forsaking him for the gods of other nations. God told them, “I will no longer save you. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!”

Daniel Block describes their cries to the LORD as “purely utilitarian and manipulative” in nature.[1] They assumed God would act instantaneously to them because they cried out to him. They were crying out not because they were genuinely sorry for what they’ve done, but only because the pain was intolerable. They sought God, not because they wanted to return to God to worship him, but because they wanted God to remove the pressure, the misery, the hardship, the oppression from them. To them God existed for their convenience.[2]

And, God being God, he saw this attitude of manipulation right through; he didn’t allow himself to be reduced to an emergency insurance policy for them; he cannot be manipulated for convenience.
He won’t respond favorably to us when we seek him for our own good, for our convenience, for our ego. Instead, he lets us suffer in our own misery, hardship and pain, until he can make us sensible. Jonathan Edward said in his sermon, God makes Men sensible of their Misery, “it is God’s manner to make men sensible of their misery and unworthiness before he reveals his saving love and mercy to their souls.”

Verse 15 indicates that deeper work was taking place in the hearts of the Israelites. They said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” They didn’t just talk about their sins. They backed their confession with action. Verse 16 says, “Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD.” And God’s response was, “he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.”

We know when people are insincere in their apology. We know when people say, “Sorry,” but they have no intention to change their offensive actions. We know when people say, “Sorry,” to get us off their back, to ease the consequences of their offenses, to get what they want. We also know people who come to us to ask for our help, but after giving them our help, they are no where to be seen. It is as though we are mere convenient stops for them; it upsets us when people treat us like we are 7-Eleven stops for them.

Think this through now. Do you approach God as you would with a local 7-Eleven store, a convenient store to stop by when you want a quick fix for your thirst with a 40 oz Big Gulp? You would never stay at a 7-Eleven for hours. You go in, get what you want, pay for it and get out, all under less than 5 or 10 minutes. That’s what you do at 7-Eleven!

I am sure none of you would like to be treated like this by others. Yet, why is that you see God as your convenient stops?

God knows when we approach him like this. It grieves, saddens and angers his heart when we treat him like a convenient store owner. He won’t be anything less than our God, our sovereign King, our Judge.

2. Do you really know God as the only true God?

Now let’s turn our attention to the story of Jephthah. 10:17-18 tells us that Israel, specifically the Israelites living in the area of Gilead was facing another impending attack from the Ammonites. So, the leaders of Gilead called for a brave soul to lead the attack against the Ammonites and promised that person would become their head to govern them in Gilead.

The area in discussion was located in the east of the Jordan River between the Arnon and Yarmuk River, especially the district surrounding the Jabbok River. This would be the western portion of modern day Jordan that borders Israel.

The story gets briefly interrupted in 11:1-4 to introduce Jephthah. Verse 1 says he was a mighty warrior whose father was Gilead. Great qualification! But, then it says that his mother was a prostitute. His father Gilead apparently had one wife, with whom he had his other sons. When these sons got older, verse 2 says that they drove Jephthah away; they told him, “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family.” He Jephthah whose mother was a prostitute had no one to count on. So, he fled to a placed called Tob about fifteen miles east of Gilead, a desolate place. There, being a natural warrior, he quickly gathered around him a group of followers.

Now, 11:4 connects back to 10:17-18 where the Ammonites staged the attack on Israel. Having no leader to lead them to defend them, in desperation, they turned to Jephthah. They asked him to be their commander to attack the Ammonites in verse 5 and 6.
Jephthah questioned their sincerity, rightly so since they were the one who drove him out of the family. After a series of interchanges between them, Jephthah felt good about their promise, so he sealed the deal to be their head and commander.

Now, as officially the head and the commander of Israel, he confronted the Ammonite king in verse 12, “What do you have against us that you have attacked our country?” This sparked a contentious argument for the territorial claims with the king.

The King of Ammon argued that the Israelites took away the area of Gilead that belonged to them. He said in verse 13, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably.”

To this, Jephthah sent back the message defending Israel’s territorial claim for Gilead from verse 14 to verse 27. From verse 15-17, he recounted how Israel traveled out of Egypt to Kadesh under the leadership of Moses. From there, Israel sought from the king of Edom and the king of Moab for their permission to go through their countries. Well, they didn’t comply. We see in verse 18, Israel went around Edom and Moab, not entering their territories; and they made it to the other side of Moab, by the Arnon River. From there, Israel sought Sihon the king of Amorites to allow Israel to pass through his country to get into Canaan. Just like the kings of Edom and Moab, Sihon, the king of Amorites refused, but he didn’t stop there. He mustered his army and came out to fight Israel. But, Verse 21 tells us that God gave Israel the victory against him and Israel got to posses the land of the Amorites.

Jephthah argued further for the territorial claim against the Ammonites. Jephthah argued that the Ammonites didn’t do anything about this land that Israel had for three hundred years.

He also argued for the territorial claim on the ground that God gave the land to Israel. And then he said in verse 24, “Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the LORD our God has given us, we will possess.”

This reveals something troubling about Jephthah. Although he knew the history about God, he didn’t really know God. Because if he really knew the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he would have known that there is no equal to God, that there are many false gods but there is only one true God.

Are you like Jephthah having some factual knowledge about God, but not really know him as the King, your King who is the only true God? Is God indisputably the only true God in your heart?

3. Do you try to manipulate God by making vows?

He ended his argument with verse 27, “Let the LORD, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.” Well, if his implication for God being among many gods was off, he got this one right. God is the ultimate Judge who has the right to discern and declare what is right from wrong. And, so he was going to decide who was on the right side.

However, Jephthah’s argument went no where for the king of Ammon. He wasn’t going to back down. At this point we see very clearly God working to advance his purpose. Verse 29 says “The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead and from there he advanced against the Ammonites.” God’s Spirit was upon him to give him the courage, to have the skill, to have the energy to go and fight the enemies.

While being led, equipped, empowered by the Spirit of the Lord to do his work, he paused and made a vow to the LORD. It went like this, “If you give the Ammonites into the my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” What was he doing making a vow to the LORD? Let’s come back to this later.

After his vow in verse 32, we see the LORD granting him the great victory to subdue Ammon. In high spirit, glorying in the victory, he returned to his home, and can you imagine who met him first? Verse 34, it was his daughter; she came out to greet her victorious father, dancing to the sound of tambourines. The only child for Jephthah walked out and Jephthah’s vow now locked her into the despicable consequence.

He tore his clothes and cried out, “Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break.” Numbers 30:2 says, “When a man makes a vow to the LORD or take an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.” And, Deuteronomy 23:22-23 says, “If you make a vow to the LORD YOUR God, do not be slow to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vows freely to the LORD your God with your mouth.”

Because taking oath, vows to God is serious matter, the Bible warns us not to take vow lightly. Proverbs 20:25, “It is a trap for man to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider his vows.” Ecclesiastes 5:4-5, “When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.” In stead of making rash vows and regret later, the scripture tells us to make vow very carefully; and better yet refrain from even making it.

Then, there are scriptural references that point to things that were unacceptable as vows. Deuteronomy 23:18, “You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God to pay any vow, because the LORD your God detests them both.” Another word, you cannot make vows to God with materials gained with wicked means.

Then, there is Leviticus 22:17-25, which details the animals that were not acceptable to God for making vows. How about human sacrifice? Was it ever acceptable to God? Jeremiah 32:35 says, “They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech, though I never commanded, nor did it enter my mind, that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin? Leviticus 18:21, “Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.” Deuteronomy 12:31, “You must not worship the LORD your God in their way… They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.”

All these scripture passages inform us that Jephthah didn’t think seriously through before making vows to God. He was haste in making his vow.

Not only did he not think seriously before making the vow, he also didn’t consider what would be acceptable to God to fulfill his vow. If he had known the instructions from God on making vows, he would have known that human sacrifice was not acceptable to fulfill one’s vow. He was ignorant of God’s word. He didn’t know what God desired of him. This is consistent with what understood about him earlier; his bad theology of thinking God existing among other gods when he alone is true God.

Even before he made his vow, God was already on the move to deliver the victory to Jephthah. It was the Holy Spirit who led him in the first place to go up against the Ammonites. The vow was completely unnecessary. God was already on the move out of his compassion to save Israel.
Jephthah made the vow to God thinking that it would somehow increase the chance of God working in favor for him. He was trying to manipulate God to get him to what he wanted. And, when he found out it was his daughter who came out first, he could have turned to Leviticus 27, which details God’s instruction on how to substitute for vows. He said in verse 1, “If any one makes a special vow to dedicate persons to the LORD by giving equivalent values, set the value…” And, God follows with his detail instruction on material substitute. According to verse 7, the substitute could be made by a ten shekels of silver, about 4 ounces of silver. But, he didn’t. He didn’t know God’s word. And, he was set on winning the war at all cost, even giving up his own daughter.

What can you learn? Don’t try to bargain with God! Don’t think you are going to make him do what you want him to do by making vows to him. I have learned these principles concerning making vows to God early on in my Christian life. How? I read God’s instruction on making vows. And, for this reason, for 19 years of my Christian life, I have not made vows lightly.

The proper manner in making vow to the LORD is not to make him do what we want him to do because we cannot. Instead it is to be a tool to devote ourselves more to God. It is also tool to give our appreciation for God’s goodness towards us.

So, if you do make want to make special vows to the LORD for asking his favor, think seriously what you vowing to the LORD because the LORD will hold you accountable for it.


Today we asked three questions,

1) Do you treat God like he is a convenient store owner?
2) Do you really know God as truly the only God?
3) Do you try to manipulate God by making vows?

May the LORD direct you to consider these questions as we begin our new week.



[1] Daniel Bock, Judges, Ruth, p. 348.
[2] K. Lawson Younger, Judges, Ruth: The NIV Application Commentary, p. 244.

Cold season?

Miki's been telling us for few days that her left ear's been hurting. Lyn took her to see her doctor and found out her ear is infected. She is just getting over her cold and now an ear infection... Well, this doesn't seem to slow her down at all. Audrey? She too has been under the weather; lots of post-nasal drips, runny nose, coughing, fever. This does slow her down quite of bit! She is getting used to her daddy and mommy racing to get to her nose before she gets to it first. Don't know what we will do without Puff Plus with the touch of moisturizers for our precious little noses. Well, the signs of winter approaching are hard to miss in our household.

Yesterday morning, looking out the window, I saw the tall trees around our house shedding their leaves; for a moment, they gave an illusion of winter snow flakes, just bigger with the colors of brown and pale green; a gentle reminder of God's creative touch. Although this season change brings colder days to come, I hope and pray that my heart will be ignited with deeper delight in God's way. "Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statues and not toward selfish gain... I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. I will speak of your statues before kings and will not be put to shame, for I delight in your commands because I love them. I lift up my hands to your commands which I love, and I meditate on your decrees." (Psalm 119:35, 36, 45-48)

Sunday Sermon: Judges 9, Learn from the bad example of Abimelech’s life!

Let me begin this morning by quickly recapturing what we observed from Gideon’s life last week. During the period of Judges, unlike the neighboring countries, Israel had no physical human kings to rule them over. So, when there was a stunning victory against the Midianites with mere 300 men of Israel, they came to Gideon the leader of the 300 men and asked him to be their king because they believed that Gideon had saved them out of the hand of Midian (8:22). This was of course wrong thinking. It was not Gideon, but God made it possible!

We saw how Gideon rightly turned down their request to be their king. He said to them in Judges 8:23, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.” Gideon appeared to be on the right track.
But, we saw Gideon gave only lib service to God’s rule over Israel and his life. He said God was the king, but in reality, he lived as though he was the king. Gideon robbed God’s glory when he took the credit for the stunning victory with just 300 men instead of correcting Israelites’ wrong belief. He took the credit for the victory for himself when he asked people to give him earring from their share of the plunder.

And, with this share of the plunder people gave to him, some 43 spounds of gold, he made an ephod. He made it in complete dishonor to what God said in Exodus 28. There, God gave a specific instruction about making ephod. It was to be made by priests, for priests to use for worshiping God and inquiring his will, to be used in tabernacle or temple setting. Gideon made his ephod violating God’s specific instruction; he was not a priest; he didn’t follow the specific details on making it; he didn’t place it in the tabernacle to be used for worship by priests, instead he placed it in his own town, perhaps in his own home. He went about it against God’s will.

Do you remember what the result of Gideon’s action was when he robbed God’s glory and made an ephod in violation to God’s word?

8:33-34 tells us, “No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.”

When he gave only a lip service to God’s rule over him and Israel, he, he left the legacy of undermining God’s rule, God’s kingship over Israel.

Now, we are going to see the destructive result when Gideon undermined God’s glory and God’s rule over him, his family and his nation. And, the question that I want you to keep in mind is, “How does your choice, to follow God as your king or be your own king, affect the legacy you leave behind?

1. Abimelech’s treacherous and murderous rampage to become the king of Shechem.

In chapter 8, we were introduced to one of his son, Abimelech. I highlighted him last week because of his name, which means, “My father is king.” My father can either refer to God or Gideon, Abimelech’s physical father. But, from what we see in chapter 8, Abimelech’s name indicates Gideon’s unspoken, but lived out life choices to become his own king.

Abimelech grew up watching his father Gideon saying he was not a king, but living as a king. But, Abimelech was not like the rest of Gideon’s other sons. 8:31 tells us that Abimelech was born to a woman who was not Gideon’s wife, but his concubine, his mistress. So, although he was born into a prestigious and influential family of Gideon, he was a sort of outcast an illegitimate son, unaccepted by his own half brothers.

Also, what we notice about Abimelech is that his mother was not an Israelite. We see this from what Abimelech said to his mother’s relatives in Shechem in 9:2. He said to them, “Ask all the citizens of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you: to have all seventy of Jerub-Baal’s sons rule over you, or just one man? Remember, I am your flesh and blood.” Abimelech was telling his relatives of his mother’s side that he should rule over them because he was related to them by blood. This meant Abimelech’s relatives from his mother side were not related to Gideon, an Israelite, by blood. This makes Abimelech’s mother, Gideon’s concubine, a non-Israelite. God strictly forbade his people, the Israelites from having this kind of relationship with the non-Israelites who worshiped the idols and the other gods.

A case in point, when God’s people ignore God’s mandate, God’s purpose for their lives, what could they expect? What could Gideon have expected when he got himself a concubine, a Shechemite woman, a non-Israelite who worshiped not the God of Abraham, but Baal-Berith, a pagan god? Certainly not what his rogue illegitimate son, Abimelech did to his other seventy sons!

For the unspecified reasons, Abimelech had tremendous hatred and anger toward his half-brothers and against his father Gideon. As an illegitimate son, he didn’t have the legitimate claim to rule over the Israelites like Gideon’s seventy sons would have. Not being content of low status compared to his half brothers, having this pent-up anger and hatred against them and Gideon his father, he devised a wicked and brutal scheme to rule, to become a king!

We see in 9:1-6 how he went about doing this. He went to his mother’s relatives in Shechem to rally them to back him up and to make him their king instead of Gideon’s other seventy sons. Being convinced by him, his relatives gave him seventy sheckels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, which was about 1 and ¾ pounds of silver. With this silver, he hired reckless adventurers, thugs. And, he went to his father’s house and sought to murder seventy of half brothers one by one by crushing them to death with one stone. He successfully, brutally, in cold blood murdered all but one of his half-brothers, Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon. And, when the people of Shechem and Beth Millo got together in Shechem, they crowned Abimelech a cold and brutal murderer as their king.

2. Jotham, the sole surviving half-brother curses Abimelech.

And from verse 7 to 21, we see the account of the sole surviving half brother, Jotham bringing indictment, a lawsuit against the citizens of Shechem by telling them a fable. He told them in verse 7, “Listen to me, citizesn of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.” Herbert Wolf says that Jotham was asking citizens of Shechem “to present to God a response to his arguments,” and that “God is viewed as the judge in Jotham’s lawsuit against Shechem.”[1]

His fable went like this. The trees seeking to anoint a king for themselves asked the olive tree, the fig tree, and the vine to become their king. But, all of them rejected the offer because they did not want to abandon their roles; the olive tree producing olives used for food, ointment, and medicine, one of Israel’s most valued crops (Deut 11:14), the fig tree yielding its good and sweet fruit, and the vine producing grapes to make fine wines. Then the trees asked the thornbush to be their king.[2] To this thornbush answered in verse 15, “If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!”

Jotham then explained and applied the fable to Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem in verse 16-20. If they acted honorably and in good faith made Abimelech their king while treating Jerub-Baal, Gideon, and his family well, he would wish that they would be glad for making Abimelech their king. But, this was not the case at all. The trees are analogous to the citizens of Shechem, seeking to make someone their king. And, the thornbush is analogous to Abimelech. In verse 20, Jotham cursed for that the citizens of Shechem and Abimelech would turn against each other and destroy each other.

Having cursed Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem, Jotham took of to a place called Beer to find safety from his half-brother.

3. The revolt against Abimelech and Abimelech’s revenge and his own demise

And, from verse 22 to 25, we see the unraveling of the relationship between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem. Verse 23 makes it clear that it was not happening randomly; it says, “God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem, who acted treacherously against Abimelech. God did this in order that the crime against Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the citizens of Shechem.” Their hearts having turned against Abimelech, they now rebelled against his rule by setting ambush and robbing indiscrimately.

And, when a new guy Gaal son of Ebed showed up in Shechem, the people of Shechem put their confidence in him and they cursed Abimelech. Then, Gaal went on to dismiss Abimelech because he was after all the son of Jerub-Baal, Gideon, an Israelite. Gaal asserted that he was better fit to rule over Shechem than Abimelech because he was not an Israelite. He said in verse 28, “Serve the men of Hamor, Shechem’s father!” Genesis 34:2 says that Shechem’s father Hamor was the Hivite prince. Gaal was instigating the people of Shechem to revolt against Abimelech.

And, now in verse 30-41, we see how Abimelech defeated and squelched the revolt against him. Abimelech placed Zebul to rule over Shechem. And, when Zebul realized what Gaal and the people of Shechem were up to, he secretly sent a messenger to Abimelech to warn the impending danger. Zebul encouraged Abimelech to preemptively strike Gaal and Shechemites. Abimelech successfully ambushed Gaal and the revolting Shechemites, defeating them soundly.
Abimelech was still thirsty for revenge. It was not enough to drive out Gaal and his accomplices. In verse 42-45, when the people of Shechem went out to the fields unarmed to bring in the harvest, Abimelech went after them and struck them down. And, he attacked Shechem until he had captured it and killed its people. He destroyed the city and scattered salt over it to symbolize that the city was utterly destroyed with prospect for life.
There yet remained a stronghold of the pagan temple of El-Berith. There the remainder of the people of Shechem locked themselves in. But, Abimelech led his men to set the temple on fire. And, verse 49 says that about a thousand men and women died.

Apparently, the resistance against Abimelech spread to the adjacent city Thebez about 10 miles northeast from Shechem. The people of Thebez all fled to the strong tower hoping to defend themselves against Abimelech. Abimelech again tried to the same thing he did against the stronghold temple of Shechem. But, while he was approaching the tower to burn it down to the ground, a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull, verse 53 says.

Having mortally wounded, he didn’t want to be known as having killed by a woman who dropped a millstone on him. So, he ordered his armor bearer to finish him off, which the armor bearer did.

With their leader killed, the rest of the Israelites simply retrieved and went back to their home.

And, the story ends with verse 56 and 57: Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. God also made the men of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.

4. Application #1: Think twice before you set out to make yourself your own king!

Abimelech’s father Gideon did great thing for the kingdom of God. In spite of his doubts, fears, skepticism, Gideon rose to God’s challenge and led 300 men to witness God’s deliverance.

But, the story didn’t end there. Instead of continually adoring God and worshiping him, Gideon did whatever he wanted to do without regard to God’s will, God’s concern, God’s opinion.
His revenge was not of God’s will; Making an ephod was against God’s will; marrying a Shechemite woman, non-Israelite was against God’s will, naming his son Abimelech, “My Father is king,” betrayed his confession of God’s kingship.

Just like the father, Abimelech learned to walk the same destructive path. To become his own king was so important that he murdered all his seventy brothers except one. Once he secured himself the position of a king by committing evil sins, maintaining the power as a king was so important that he turned into tyrant.

When the people revolted against him, he mercilessly killed his own people and burned them alive, only to meet the death in shame without any honor.

As a father of three daughters, I often think about what kind of legacy I am going to leave behind me. I take the warning from God seriously. The way I relate to my wife, the way I related to them, the way I relate to other people have huge influence on what kind of character they develop. The kind of person I am also influences you as I pastor you.

I certainly do not want to raise Abimelech kind of children. So, I take God’s call to lay down my pride before him, my king, to trust him, to humbly follow him and serve him. I know I don’t always succeed in imitating Jesus in the way he lived. But, I press on to become more like him.

5. Application #2: Ask God to increase and overflow your love.

When you and I try to be the king of our own lives, what happens is we become selfish, we try to use people for our own gain, for our own happiness. When we make ourselves kings, we subject others to serve us. We loose the ability to compassionate. We loose the ability to put ourselves in others’ shoes. We want to win the arguments. We want to conquer the relationship. We want to manipulate people, gossip, swear, yell and scream. We want to have our ways at all cost.

These days God has opening my eyes to see the kind of person I become when I set him aside and try to make myself as the king of my own life. Are you aware of the capacity to become like Abimelech if you insist on being your own king? Are you aware how your love gets cold and it gets replaced by anger, bitterness, resentment and hatred when you insist on getting what you want?

This past week I’ve been mediating on Apostle Paul’s letter to Thessalonians. He always prayed for people whom he ministered to. And, one particular prayer stood out to me. It comes from 1 Thessalonians 3:12, where he prayed, “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as our does for you.” This prayer has revealed my spiritual state. Is my love increasing for my wife, my children, and for you guys? Am I overflowing? My self-assessment was negative. That discouraged me.

But, what really encouraged me was the fact that I have something I can do about that! That is I can ask God to increase my love to overflow just like Apostle Paul prayed. So, this past week, I’ve been praying this for myself, for my wife, for my children, and for you guys.

Can you imagine how our church, our relationship with each other would be like if our love for each other increases and overflows?

God desires this for us. And, to see that happen, we are given the pathway. We got to ask God for it! And, our God is the perfect person to train us in love. Philippians 2:5-11 says this about our Lord Jesus Christ, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on across! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knew should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
When we ask God to increase and overflow our love for people, what God does is he first takes us to the cross and has us learn the way of Christ, his Son.

Would you join me asking God to increase and overflow our love by imitating the attitude of our Lord Jesus?


[1] Herbert Wolf, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Judges, Judges 9:7.
[2] Ibid., “In recognition of Israel's lowly status, Jotham began, not with a cedar, but with an olive tree (vv. 8-9). Olives were used for food, ointment, and medicine. They were one of Israel's most valued crops (Deut 11:14). Olive oil kept the lamps in the Holy Place burning constantly, thus "honoring" the Lord. In view of its important functions, the olive tree declined the offer to become king. 10-11 The fig tree likewise passed up the opportunity to rule. Like olives, figs were a key agricultural product. Israel's picture of the ideal age was for every man to sit under his vine and under his fig tree (Mic 4:4; cf. 2 Kings 18:31). 12-13 Predictably, the vine also refused. Its fruit was the main beverage of the land, and libations of wine accompanied many sacrifices at the sanctuary (Num 15:10). "Wine makes life merry" (Eccl 10:19).”

1 Thessalonians 3:12, "May the Lord make your love Increase and overflow"

It has been a while since I enter any entry to my blog. I see that it takes a measure of discipline to journal and to upload it to the blog. Since I am hoping that my blog entries can be useful for people who follow McCheyne's Bible reading schedule, I am hoping to update the blog more frequently.

My heart was greatly encouraged by God's word this morning from 1 Thessalonians 3:12, "May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you."

I am always humbled by the way apostle Paul prayed for people. The fact that he asked the Lord to make Thessalonians love increase and overflow underscores how hard it is to love like Jesus loves on our own. When I look back each day, often I feel discouraged for having failed to love. In the little things that I forget to do for my wife, the harsh tones I often use to get my kids to behave certain ways, people that I forget to think about and to pray for...

I have this sincere desire to love people, so I try to squeeze hard as I can to extract any little love I might have for others. Sad to say I often find myself empty. It is so much easier to put me first in everything. A case in point... when it is lunch time, my biological need to fill my empty stomach intensifies. Since my office is practically attached to where I live, I often come home to eat. I go straight to get myself something to eat and quickly I am meeting my biological needs. Then, I realize that my wife and my three, sometimes two of my daughters have not had anything to eat yet. Well, it has been crazy at home. Do I stop to help? Well, not before I can get some food in my mouth. Sad, isn't it?

Well, being disgusted by how selfish I can be, when I read how apostle Paul prayed for love to increase and overflow for others, I began to pray this for myself,for my wife and children, and for my church family. Wow! I am not kidding you when I say how different I felt praying for my wife, my children, my church family. There was so much energy and passion in my prayer for people; it was driven by deeper and genuine concern and care for them. My prayer was filled with hope knowing that God can and will increase and overflow my love, my wife and children's love and church family's love.

When I came back home from the morning prayer, I was excited to share this scripture verse to my wife. I apologized to her for being so selfish... something to that line... Then, we pray that our love for each other will increase, and for our children. What a great way to begin the day! I will again begin tomorrow morning asking my Lord Jesus to increase and overflow my love for his people!

Sunday Sermon: Judges 8:3-35, God is your King!

Today, we are going to consider Gideon’s life written from 8:3-35. Last week, we learn our God is God who does impossible things and he does them through us. And, although we are often unwilling, timid, and distrusting of God doing impossible things through us, he deals with us compassionately and patiently to help us come to trust him deeper.

Today’s heart response question is, “Who is your king?” “Who do you trust the most to set the example for you to live, to lead, guide and rule your life?” Well, we all know the appropriate Christian answer is God.

But today, through the story of Gideon in chapter 8, we are going to be under the subject of God’s word, which according to Hebrews 4:12, “is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Every thing is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” May God examine your heart through his word in answering the question, “Who is your king?” And, may God help you make him your true king!

1. God’s patient and compassionate dealing with timid, distrusting, manipulative and fearful Gideon

Thus far, what immerges out of chapter 6 and 7 is the image of Gideon as a man who doubted God, who couldn’t believe the impossible thing God was going to do through him. He was a timid man who was easily driven by fear and anxiety. He remained this way even though God talked to him through the angel and directly as well.
He resorted to a form of manipulation, asking God to perform the signs of dry and wet fleece thinking this would corner God to really follow through his promise.
But, we learned last week God doesn’t subject himself to people’s manipulation.[1] God comes through his promises because he is God of covenant, the ultimate promise keeper, not because he can be manipulated by us.

We try to understand God in our own terms, to fit him into our limited thinking. And, if God doesn’t fit in our own terms, we demand that God work in the way we think he should work.
But, God is not subject to manipulation. God’s business is to have us come to terms with the reality that he is God and we are not. God did this with Gideon by reducing Gideon’s men from 32,000 strong to mere 300 men, to face 135,000 enemy troops, now that is the odd of one man against 450 men. 7:22 says, “the LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords.” This is how God gave the victory to 300 men against 135,000 men.

As for Gideon only after listening to God’s encouragement for him to go down to the enemy’s camp to hear two men talk about the dream and its interpretation, was he willing to trust God.

God patiently and compassionately worked with timid, distrusting, skeptical, manipulative and fearful Gideon.

2. Gideon’s impatient and harsh dealings with his own people unlike the way God dealt with him.

This is what we see since chapter 6 through chapter 8:3 about Gideon. But, in 8:4-21, we see very different side of Gideon emerging. Instead of being timid, fearful, hesitant, we see a man on the hot pursuit to get even, to revenge, to make things right by taking matters into his own hands.

On the pursuit of the two Midianite kings Zebah and Zamunna, he came across two cities some forty miles south from the original battle ground of Mount Moreh. He asked for some bread for his men from the fellow officials of these two cities Sucooth and Peniel. The leaders from the both cities rejected Gideon’s request for help. The men of Succoth and Peniel were acting out of fear against Midianites of what they might do to them if they regrouped and won against Gideon’s mere 300 troops. Just like Gideon was fearful and skeptical, the men of Succoth and Peniel feared the Midianites and they were skeptical of what Gideon and his 300 men could accomplish.

Now, having experienced himself the Lord’s kind, faithful and patient dealing with his doubts, manipulation, fear, you would think Gideon would be patient with the men of Succoth and Peniel as well. But, no, to the men of Succoth, he said in verse 7, “Just for that, when the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.” And, to the men of Peniel he told in verse 9, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower.” And, we are told from verse 13 that when he returned from routing the Midianite army, he executed his own form of punishments against the people of Succoth and Peniel. Verse 16 and 17 says, “He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Succoth a lesson by punishing them with desert thorns and briers.” Another word, they were tortured to death. And, as for Peniel, verse 17 says, “He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town.” He destroyed the protective fortification of the city. This would have greatly compromised the safety of the city. Not only that, the people in the tower got killed when it fell.

What’s missing in this account of Gideon’s punitive punishment against Succoth and Peniel is God. God was actively involved in chapter 6, 7 and through 8:3. But, in 8:3-8:21, we see no involvement from God. Another word, Gideon was acting mercilessly and vindictively against his own people of Succoth and Peniel, completely opposite to God’s compassionate and patient response to Gideon.

Here is the question that God is asking of you through his word. Are you dealing with patience and kindness to those around you who you find to be lacking in some ways? Or, are you dealing with harshness without compassion?

Colossians 3:12-14, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Now, we are not talking about being passive as in the sense of doing nothing. Instead, as Christians we are to actively live out the life examples of Jesus Christ. In dealing with the men of Succoth and Peniel, Gideon didn’t clothe himself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Instead, he let his flesh reign on him, by giving into the attitude of revenge, grudge, anger, hatred, bitterness. Our God, our king deals with us compassionately and patiently. And, we are to do the same.

3. Who is really your king?

When all was said and done, the Israelites said to Gideon in verse 22, “Rule over us-you, your son and your grandson-because you have saved us out of the hand of Midian.” The Israelites saw how other nations had their own kings and they wanted to be like them. We see this later in 1 Samuel 12:12. Samuel told the Israelites, “But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us’-even though the LORD your God was your king.”

The Israelites craved for the human king, thinking that would ensure the real security. They believed that not having human king made them substandard to other nations with their kings. And, when the Israelites asked Gideon to be their king, they were asking it because they thought it was Gideon who saved them out of the hand of Midian.

Having learned how God led timid, unwilling, skeptical, fearful Gideon to engage the 135,000 strong enemy’s army with mere 300 men, we know it was not Gideon, but it was God who really saved the Israelites out of the hand of Midian.
It was God who raised Gideon up to be used as a judge to rescue them. It was God who responded to the Israelites when they cried out to him for his help under the severe oppression.
Now, there are two parts to what they said to Gideon. First is their request for Gideon and his son and grandson to rule them over as their kings. And, another part is their reason for asking him to rule over them, namely they thought it was Gideon who saved them out of the hand of Midian.

Now, Gideon’s response to them appears to be a godly one. He told them in verse 23, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.” Kudos to Gideon for refusing to be their king! He had a good sense to realize that the people were to commit their allegiance to their true king, God.

It appears that Gideon was on the right track for refusing to be their king. But, then this is what he asked the Israelites in verse 24, “I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.” I mentioned already, the reason they asked Gideon to be their king was because they thought it was Gideon who saved them out of the hand of Midian. This was far from the truth. Here, Gideon had the chance to set the record straight by telling them really it was not him, but God who saved them. Instead of correcting Israelites’ wrong thinking by giving God the full credit for the deliverance, Gideon did completely the opposite. By asking the portion of the plunder from people, he affirmed their thinking that it was really he who saved them from the hand of Midian, not God.

Although in words Gideon turned down the offer to be their king, but in actuality he lived like their king. Like the kings of other nations would, 8:30 says that he had 70 sons of his own from his many wives. To support such a large family, he had the means of a king. 8:26 tells us that he gathered a great fortune, 17,000 shekels of gold, which was equivalent to 43 pounds of gold without counting the ornaments and the pendants. He also acquired the purple royal garments worn by the kings of Midian.

He also made an ephod out of the gold he received. An ephod was a vest that was especially made for inquiring God by the priest. God gave the instruction on how to make it and how to use it in Exodus 28. It wasn’t Gideon’s job to make the ephod to begin with; it was the job of the priest. We will come back to Gideon and his ephod shortly.

Another indication that he lived like a king comes from the way he named one of his sons. He named a son Abimelech. The meaning of this name is “My father is king.” “My father” could be understood as referring to God instead of himself. But, the fact that Gideon named his son that could be easily understood as to credit him as a king is puzzling.

Gideon told the Israelites that he wasn’t going to be their king because God was their king, but in reality, Gideon lived like a king. Instead of helping people to realize that it was God who saved them, he took the credit for God’s victory when he asked for gold from the people. Instead of glorifying God, he took God’s glory for himself.

The result was devastating. 8:33-34 says this, “No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.” Things could have been very different had Gideon made it very clear to the people that it was God who rescued them, gave them the victory against the oppression of Midian.

Now let me go back to the ephod that Gideon made. In Exodus 28, God gave the Israelites a very specific instruction on how to make the ephod for the priest to wear. It was to be worn by the priest in their ministry at the tabernacle, or temple later. The fact that Gideon made an ephod on his own initiation out of gold that he received from people, the fact that he placed it in his home town of Ophrah, likely in his own house tell us that he didn’t know the word of God. If he knew the word of God, if he had read Exodus 28, he would have known that making the ephod and having it in his own town, in his own home was against God’s will.

What happened when Gideon went ahead and made the ephod without the knowledge of the scripture that is without the knowledge of God’s will? 8:27 says, “Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.” People believing that it was Gideon who delivered them focused their attention now on this unholy ephod Gideon made against God’s will. The ephod became an idol to people, but also to Gideon and his own family.

Gideon and the Israelites struggled to fully trust God as their King.

Applications

What is the connection between Gideon’s story and our story? The connection is the universal experience of the tension between God’s kingship and our own insistence to rule ourselves.
The struggle for Gideon was to acknowledge God as his king not only in words, but in how he actually lived out his life. He had the vague sense that it was not right for him to claim the kingship over the Israelites, but without the knowledge of God’s will revealed in the scripture, he didn’t know how to live out his daily life following God as his king.

Only if he had intimately treasured the word of God in his heart, he would have known that making the ephod was wrong; he would have known that asking for the gold from people was wrong because it didn’t give credit to God for the victory; he would have known that harshly and vindictively punishing his own people was wrong instead of dealing them with compassion and patience God showed him. Without the knowledge of the scripture, he didn’t know the will of God. Without knowing the will of God, he sought to make his own determinations and decisions as he saw fit with the tragic outcomes.

This ought to compel you to desire to dig into the word of God. When you neglect intimate reading of God’s word, you end up like Gideon who had the vague sense of God’s will, but had no clue as to how to live day and day out according to God’s desire and will. Without faithfully hearing, reading, studying God’s word, he didn’t have the faith to deeply trust God as his King!
Again, we face the same struggle as Gideon did. We may give the lip service that God is our king, but our actions betray our words. It is really the battle of the heart. Can you trust God as your king? Can you trust that God can run your life far better than you can? Can you trust that God as your king can provides you what you need? Can you trust that God as your king can protect you? Can you trust that God as your king wants to use for his kingdom purpose? Can you trust that God as your king wants to make radical differences in the way you relate to people? Can you trust God as your king who wants to impossible things through you?

If you go halfhearted about this, what you are going to end up is building your own idols, not only for yourself, but for your families and for your friends, all the while not remembering God and forsaking him. Instead of being positive contribution in the kingdom of God, you become stumbling blocks to yourself and to others.

So, would you renew your commitment to see God as your king! In order to see God as your king and to trust in him as your king, you will need to know who he is. And, how do you get to know who he is?

Many of you have this vague feeling you know God! And, you are content with knowing him as you know him now. And, you feel confident about knowing God without having to read his word everyday. Don’t believe it for a second that you can really know God without God’s word! You can not get to know anyone without engaging in deep conversation and interaction with them. Without getting to know someone’s character, you will have very difficult time or even impossible to trust the person.

Reading the word of God is like engaging in deep conversation and interaction with God. When you read, you discover who God is like, what he likes, what he dislikes, what’s important to him, how he wants to relate to you, what he wants to work in you, how he wants to change you, what he promises you, how he works in the world, how he works in people, and he speaks to you through his word! God uses his word to help you trust in him, his kingship over you!


[1] K. Lawson Younger Jr. The NIV Application Commentary: Judges and Ruth, Zondervan, 2002, p. 192. “the emotional and psychological assurance that God will really give the victory.”

Sunday Sermon: Judges 6, The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.

Normally it was Midianites and Amalekites who lived a nomadic lifestyle. Nomads are “a group of people who have no fixed home and move according to the seasons from place to place in search of food, water, and grazing land.”[1] It was Midianites and Amalekites who lived this way. In contrary, when the Israelites finally came into the Promised Land during Joshua’s period, they were no longer people who wondered through the desert. They were the people of the land, each person belonging to the inherited portion of the inherited land from God.

But in chapter 6 of Judges, we witness something was very wrong. Verse 2-6 says:

Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.

Why was this happening? This was the land that God promised to Abraham long ago, their forefather. After forty years of wondering in the desert, by God’s grace, they finally made into the land of Promise. How did they get to this point of impoverishment? How did they become a people of the land to a people being chased away from the land? Verse 1 summarizes what they did in the manner typical to the book of Judges: Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of Midianites.

I am certain that Israelites during this period did some deep soul searching, wondering what life was all about. Perhaps, you are doing the same soul searching trying to understand why your life is as it is. Is your life impoverished? Do you lack joy, peace, love, purpose? Do you feel like nomads dictated by life circumstances? Do you feel out of control?

Verse 6 says that after 7 years of misery and soul searching, the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help. I want you to listen carefully how God responded to them.

Verse 8-10 says that when they cried out for help to the LORD, he responded by sending a prophet. And, the prophet delivered the message from the LORD:

I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. I said to you, `I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.' But you have not listened to me.

Why did God allowed the Israelites’ life to become so impoverished, uprooted, anxiety filled, defeated, enslaved? It is so that they might turn to God for help!

1. God wants you to pay attention to the fact that He is the LORD, your God who alone can deliver you, free you, make your steps firm, help you to live the real life. He wants you to grapple again and again with his saving grace in Jesus Christ.

Does your life feel like something is missing big time? Turn to Jesus. Do you feel defeated by sins? Turn to Jesus. Does your heart feel cold? Turn to Jesus. Are you overcome by sadness? Turn to Jesus. Are you depressed? Turn to Jesus. Are you going through the motion of life and feel that life is meaningless? Turn to Jesus. God wants you to know that knowing him through his Son Jesus is the key to truly meaningful, fulfilled, satisfied life.

If we do not know this God, if we are not seeking to know him, if we are not drawing near to his son Jesus, if Jesus is not in the center of our thoughts, emotions, decisions, actions, we can only live substandard, unsatisfying, frustrating, defeated life.
God wants to take you to Calvary, to the cross where your savior, Jesus died for you, where he was killed to take the full blow of God’s curse against you in sin, where he forgives all your sins, so that you can have reconciled life with him and with others.

Is the death of Jesus for you a past act, irrelevant to you? Oh, I pray that the Holy Spirit come upon you to convict you of your need for the living Savior every day.

Now, I am going to speak on the life of Gideon, a judge whom God raised up. We are going to learn from the story of Gideon that God can and will use you mightily for his glory.

2. When God calls you to do his will, he promises you his enabling powerful presence now!

In 6:12, an angel of the LORD told Gideon, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” And from this point on, we meet Gideon not responding with faith and trust, but with whole lot of “buts.”

When God brings us to grapple with the magnitude of his sacrificing love through his Son two thousand years ago, he doesn’t just leave us there. He doesn’t have us grapple with his past act of death on the cross alone. He tells us that he is here with us now! That is exactly what God did with Gideon. God was raising Gideon up for his purpose to rescue and deliver Israel from the oppression. Our God is not God of past, but God who is present now! And, it is his presence of God that made Gideon a mighty warrior.

So, when the LORD said to Gideon through the angel, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior,” he was calling Gideon to place his trust in God’s enabling presence.

To this Gideon replied in verse 13, “But sir… if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt? But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.” When the LORD promised, “The LORD is with you,” to Gideon, God was promising his enabling powerful presence for Gideon to accomplish God’s kingdom works. But, Gideon’s response was not of gratitude, thankfulness. Instead Gideon couldn’t reconcile in his mind God’s promise of his presence and the current oppression. He conveniently forgot that God allowed the oppression because of the Israelites’ unbelief, to turn them to himself.

Verse 14, “The LORD turned to him and said, “God in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” God redirected Gideon’s attention to what God was going to do through Gideon. Now in verse 15, Gideon’s response seems to be of humble nature… “But Lord… how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” This is not true humility. Because true humility would say, in contrary to what I think and what I feel about myself and situation, I will trust in what you say! It was God sending him, with his abiding presence. God was going to deliver Israel out of the misery through Gideon. All that God was calling Gideon to do was trust what God had told him. Again, in verse 16 God affirmed Gideon, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”

And, from verse 17 to 24, we see how a beginning of Gideon’s quest for signs from God. Gideon wasn’t satisfied with God’s word of promise that he was going to be with him and that Gideon was going to strike down all the Midianites together. He wasn’t convinced by God’s word. He needed more proof. So what does he do? He hastily prepared sacrifices to offer to the LORD. And, what did God do? Verse 21 says, “With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared.”

And, we see this attempt to make certain of God’s promise by seeking signs by Gideon from verse 36 to verse 40. First, he asked only on a fleece, a peace of sheep skin, to be wet by the morning dew and not the surrounding ground. And, God did. Then again, Gideon asked for a sign, this time for the fleece to be dry while the ground surround it be covered with dew. And, God did the sign again.

In spite of Gideon’s unbelief, God graciously gave him the signs to turn his unbelief into belief in what God promised. The point is not that we ought to seek signs from God. Because Gideon asking signs was a sign of unbelief. Rather, it shows how much God wanted to use Gideon for his purpose. So, the story speaks of God’s patience and graciousness to convince Gideon that God was really with Gideon.

3. When God call you to do his will, he calls you to hack away any hindrance. (6:25-32)

Going back to verse 25 to verse 32, God called Gideon to destroy the Baal’s alter and to build the altar for God. Verse 27 says that Gideon was afraid of his family and the men of the town. So, he did it at night rather than in the daytime. Now, this isn’t exactly what you might want to put on the hall of fame of courageous acts. The altar to Baal and the Aherah pole were the idols that were dear to Gideon’s family and his clan. It is like going to someone’s house who have a shrine set up in their room to destroy it.

As coward as it might sound, the important thing is the fact that Gideon obeyed. In order to be used by God, you need to deal with any sinful stumbling block that prevents you from doing God’s will.


[1] Excerpted from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition Copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V.