After having struggled long and hard without the least result (with our own logic), sometimes we realize that the battle is first of all spiritual. Once more, this is what is being taught in the story of Gideon.
Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
The first spiritual thing to do
The first thing Gideon did was to re-establish his relationship with God. He didn’t feel he was the right choice but maybe God was talking to him (and not his imagination)
17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you. (Judges 6.17-18)
When he came back the angel was still there. And he allowed a personal altar of worship to be established in winepress where Gideon was threshing wheat to hide it from the Midianites. All of that to say that God will come to meet you even in the place where you are hiding out.
Gideon called this altar « The Lord is Peace”. And there is a peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4.7) for those who are on the road of obedience.
Even if the angel called him « Mighty Warrior » Gideon didn’t feel ready to run a war against a physical enemy. And he was right! The first step of faith was to lead in spiritual warfare.
When the people turned away from God, the spiritual enemy of idolatry entered into this spiritual vacuum. And God’s shield of protection that they benefited from was withdrawn.
Take a spiritual position in this battle
Take a “spiritual” position in front of your family and city.
So the next task was to take a position for God in front of his family and town.
25 That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. 26 Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.” (Judges 6.25)
We prefer that our spiritual stand remains private.
We prefer that our spiritual faith remains private, but God asks us to take the risk to make it public. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime (6.27)
Of course, the townspeople discovered the next day who did this sacrilege. And they immediately proclaimed the sentence. “He must die because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
31 But Joash (his father) replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” (6.31)
A real god does not need humans to defend him.
His father, though idolatrous himself, said something that applies today. A real god does not need his worshippers to defend him. He should be able to defend himself…
But whatever religion, it will always find violent men to protect the honor of their gods. In reality, these gods have no power in themselves but only the power that men attribute to him.
16 Half of it (the wood) he burns in the fire; over this half, he roasts meat, eats it, and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Ah, I am warm, I can feel the fire!” 17 The rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, bows down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god!”
18 They do not know, nor do they comprehend; for their eyes are shut so that they cannot see, and their minds as well, so that they cannot understand (Isaiah 44.16-18)
So what is the definition of an idol? The dictionary says: « A person or thing that is the object of veneration ».
We could say an idol is “whatever activity of passion (veneration), that occupies our thoughts and desires in the place of a personal relationship with the only true God.”
What prevents men from consulting with God are the idols rooted in their hearts.
Men carry idols in their hearts
Ezekiel 14:7 For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity…
So Gideon obeyed and defied the religious system in place. But his strength to do so came from a real encounter with the Almighty God.
So we see the faith in his God by the actions he took.
Thinking through :
God can intervene in any situation where all seems to be lost.
- He is looking for a man even if he is afraid and in hiding
- If He chose you, He did not make a mistake. He knows in advance that you will believe that “God is with you”. And will act with this assurance in mind.
- The spiritual war must be engaged (including among your family and friends) before leading the physical war.
- It is not that God cannot defend you. But the enemy was given permission to enter and destroy you because an idol has taken the place of God in your life.
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