God, give me a sign

 Hello to the person reading this. It took a little longer than I thought, but I am back with part two of the Gideon blog. Please read part one if you haven’t. Here is a very short recap for you. Gideon is a man who lived in the time of the Judges. This was a frantic period in the history of Israel. It was a downward spiral of negativity for the people of God; they were in a terrible place. God would often use a judge to rescue them from their evil. Gideon was one of twelve judges. In the last blog I wrote about how Gideon was in a pit when God found him. Despite this God planned to use Gideon to rescue Israel this time, he is the definition of the ‘unlikely hero’ but God wanted him. So, God is in the middle of asking Gideon to redefine what strength means to him and that is where I will pick it up today.

So, Gideon’s response to God asking him to go in the strength he has is: “my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” He cannot see past his weakness. It’s so frustrating for the reader. However, many of us do the same. “I’m nothing but a sinner” “I’m wretched and depraved.” We then characterise this way of life as a humble way of life. This is definitely not humility. God definitely does not want us to live as though we are the main characters of a Shakespearean tragedy (but maybe this is a different blog). God responds to Gideon, and he again reminds him that the Lord is with Gideon. In the face of the Lord’s strength Gideon’s weakness means nothing. Gideon has the Lord so he is strong. But Gideon is still not convinced. So, he asks God for a sign, and now it gets interesting. He asks God to not go away until he returns with his offering and God says, “I will wait for you”. How wonderful is the Lord’s patience?!  Gideon returns with the offering; The Angel of The Lord consumes it with fire and Gideon is in fear because he has just spent face to face time with the Lord. But God tells him not to fear and instructs him to tear down the altar to the foreign god Baal and build a proper altar. Gideon obeys the Lord and then it kicks off. The Baal worshipers are incensed. They cannot believe someone would have the gall. They demand that Gideon’s father Joash bring him out so they can kill him, in response Joash makes a snarky comment about how Baal is a god so he can defend himself and then they re-name Gideon ‘Jeru-Baal’ because Baal will contend with him. Spoiler, Baal never contends with Gideon.

The story moves on and Gideon is filled with the Spirit, and he calls the nation to arms so that they can take on Midian. However, Gideon is still not convinced, seriously!? As a result, he asks for another sign. Gideon asks God for something so arbitrary. His request to the Lord Almighty is as follows; ‘If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised- look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing-floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.’ SURELY THIS IS BLASPHEMY.  God does exactly what Gideon asked, it is a stunning display of patience. Then Gideon pushes the boundary, it’s like watching a four-year-old operate. He knows he’s pushing it now because he starts off by saying “Do not be angry with me.” This time he uses the fleece again and he asks God to now make the fleece dry and the ground wet. God does what he asks. This is an unbelievably jarring interaction; it forces us to consider what has just happened. 

God is trying to rescue Israel. The person he is trying to use is asking him to do magic tricks. It is mind-numbingly frustrating. But the beauty of God has just been displayed to us. God knows that this is what Gideon needs. As frustrating as it is Gideon will not move until God responds to him in the way that he needs God to respond to him, So God does just that. God meets Gideon in the place that Gideon is in. Why? Because God is faithful, the word faithful is a religious word, which simply means trustworthy. God is trustworthy and he shows that to Gideon by performing the magic tricks, because that is what Gideon needs. God is trustworthy for us as well. We often think that we need to be in a certain place to receive God, that couldn’t be further from the truth. All we need to do is allow God to display his faithfulness to us, in the place that we are in. It challenges us to think about how we treat each other. We often need people to be in certain places or to get over certain struggles in order for us to be faithful to them. The faithfulness of God shows us that we can, and we should meet people where they are and exist with them there. God does this for Gideon and finally Gideon is convinced.

The story then continues. Gideon takes his men towards the Midianites and God stops him. He explains to Gideon that there are too many men. This is another head-scratcher. The Midianite army is massive, and they had joined forces with other armies, so the Israelites were severely outnumbered. God knows this but he also knows the Israelites and he’s aware that this kind of victory will make them prideful and unable to recognise that God has given them victory. So, God instructs Gideon to tell anybody who’s scared that they can go home. Gideon does this and twenty-two thousand men leave. They now have ten thousand men left. God says it is still too big and so he tells Gideon to send more men home and now only three hundred remain. From here God gives Gideon the victory.

It is such a contrast to how God had previously treated Gideon. This time he is not indulgent at all. In fact, he’s actually quite hard on Gideon. But I believe that this is still a display of God’s faithfulness. It’s quite simple. At some point God will ask you to grow up. That’s just how it goes. God will show you that he is trustworthy and then he will ask you to trust him. This is what happens with Gideon. God has patiently endured every request Gideon has made. Now Gideon is in a place where he is no longer able to claim that God has abandoned him. All that he can do is trust that the Lord is still with him. It requires him to grow up, he now needs to see beyond himself. The same is true for us. Life can get grim, and we can experience some dark stuff. And it is okay to wonder if God has left. It is okay to be in the pit. God met Gideon in there and he will meet you in there. But we also have to be open to the possibility that God is doing something bigger. Maybe God is bigger than what I am currently suffering through? Maybe God is faithful enough to give me a victory that I cannot even imagine? Maybe God wants to give me that win? Growing up is a scary thing but maybe that’s what God is asking of us. And if we can learn anything from Gideon, it is that God will ask us to grow up but he will be there as we grow.

It is like the Apostle Paul says in Romans 8:28; “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

I hope that this helps you thrive in your life and in your faith. Thank you for reading.