Lessons from Gideon Part 4

In this final episode of lessons from the life of Gideon, Crystal shares a couple of cautions to keep in mind when you "get off the sidelines" and into the spiritual battle. 

First, whenever you make a decision to start growing in your walk with the LORD and trying to do more for Him, opposition will come and sometimes it even comes from within your own family and/or church family.

Second, be careful not to be lifted up in pride after a great spiritual victory. Keep the LORD in His proper place and stay humble!

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Transcript

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Hi there, welcome to Wisdom for Wednesday, your midweek pause for truth, encouragement, and practical faith. I'm your host, Crystal Ratcliffe, author, speaker, and fellow traveler on this journey of growing in God's Word. Each week we'll dive into Scripture together and have the opportunity to be encouraged in the truth that never changes. If you're able, grab your Bible, a cup of coffee, and let's seek God's wisdom together. Hi there, welcome back to the podcast. We are going to pick up our little mini-series we've had here talking about Gideon from the book of Judges. So if you have not listened, I would recommend you go back and start at the beginning. But we're going to review some of the things we've talked about so far, just so you can remember with me. One of the first things that I pointed out that the Lord showed me and I was so excited about was that God saw Gideon's potential. Because remember, God called him a mighty man of valor while he was hiding in the wine press. And God sees our potential. He sees our potential when we're completely surrendered to him. And then the second thing was that Gideon had to believe God could use him, not because of who he was, but because of who God was and is. There's a Wearsby quote that I like that says faith means obeying God in spite of what we see, how we feel, or what the consequences might be. And I just love that. That's what true faith is. You are obeying God and trusting him despite what you can see, feel, or what the consequences might be. And then the third thing that we talked about was chastening is not forsaking. It was evidence of God's love for Israel. And when we disobey or when we get away from the Lord, he will chasten us to try to bring us back into a right relationship with him. And then the fourth thing was fear and discouragement is catching, but so is courage and strength in the Christian life. So we should be trying to encourage and edify one another. And then finally, we should be available, willing, and obedient. We should be faithful in the fundamentals of the Christian life and realize that we're all in the midst of spiritual warfare. We want to get off the sidelines and we want to get in the battle. And then we can let God fight for us. Now, at the end of last week's episode, I cautioned you that when you decide to step out and you move forward with God for the cause of Christ, you will face opposition. Because as long as we're on the sidelines, we're not a threat to the enemy. We're not doing anything to bother him or for him to be concerned about. So if we're on the sidelines, he'll leave us alone. But as soon as you get in the battle, as soon as you attempt to grow in your relationship with the Lord, be on guard. Maybe you could say we're coasting through life, and that is when the attacks are going to come. So be careful with that. So here we are with Gideon. We're going to pick up in Judges chapter 7, verse 22. I want to start there. I should have already been there. I'm sorry. Judges chapter 7, verse 22 is where it says, and the 300, this was the 300 men. Remember, we had whittled down the army there. It says, and the 300 blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host. And the host fled to Beshitta in Zerat, Zarath, and to the border of Abela Mahoa and to Tabith. Oh, I need to get my pronunciation Bible out. I'm being completely serious. I do have it now. I switched. I have one Bible that has pronunciation marks, and so we have a lot of names to read today, and I'm going to try to do my best. But well, you know how that is. It's just difficult sometimes, even with the pronunciation marks. But anyway, we see here in this verse that now Gideon and his 300 men, they have the Midianites on the run. Okay? So we're going to pick up in verse 23 and continue to read. And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali and out of Asher and out of all Manasseh and pursued after the Midianites. And Gideon sent messengers throughout all Mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites and take before them the waters unto Bethbara and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together and took the waters unto Bethbara and Jordan. And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeb, and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeb they slew at the wine press of Zeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan. And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus that thou callest us not when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply, and he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abbeizar? God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Orib, and Zeb, and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him when he said that. And Gideon came to Jordan and passed over, he and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them. And he said unto the men of Sakot Sokoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me, for they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zeba and Zalmuna, kings of Midian, kings of Midian. And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Ziba and Zalmuna now in thine hand that we should give bread unto thine army? And Gideon said, Therefore, when the Lord hath delivered Zeba and Zalmuna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briars. And he went up thence to Pinuel and spake unto them likewise, and the men of Pinuel answered him, as the men of Succath had answered him. And he said, and he spake also unto the men of Pinuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower. So Gideon goes on to pursue these kings, and he eventually takes care of them. But what I want you to note here is that the attacks were coming from within for Gideon, from within the tribes of Israel. So Ephraim, and we see this again in Judges 12. I think it's so interesting that the tribe of Ephraim were very concerned that they had not been called to the battle at the beginning, which of course remember God had a way of whittling down that army. He wanted the one, he wanted to get the glory for the victory over the Midianites rather than having a large army. But Ephraim, they wanted, they wanted the glory, they wanted pride in the battle. And we might remember Proverbs 13:10, only by pride cometh contention. So they're first, they're upset with Gideon because they weren't called down to the battle. Now I want you to notice how Gideon diffused the situation in his response. He he kind of built them up a little bit, didn't he? He said, God hath delivered uh the princes of Midian into your hands, Oreb and Zeb. And what was I able to do in comparison of you? He says that in verse 3. And that was the anger when their anger was abated toward him when he said those things. And so I think it's a good reminder that we can remember Proverbs 15:1: A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger, because Gideon could have fired back at them. He was doing the will of the Lord, he was doing what God had told him to do. So he could have fired back and he could have argued with them, but instead he defused the situation. And then you have these places called Sukkoth and Pinuel, which are in Gad, and they refused to help. They refused to get in the battle. So think about this. Their refusal was a rebellion against God's chosen leader. And actually, when they were refusing to get in the battle on the right side, and by doing nothing, they were assisting the enemy. Think about that for a minute. So remember we talked about we don't want to be on the sidelines. When we're on the sidelines, we're actually assisting the enemy because we're not doing things for the cause of Christ. We're just sitting back and just staying in our lane, don't want to upset anyone or ruffle any feathers. But as soon as you step out in faith and you try to be a witness, you try to do more for the Lord, you get off the sidelines, then you are working on God's side. But as long as you're on the sidelines, you're actually assisting the enemy. So his attacks came from within the tribes of Israel. And unfortunately, I think that is sometimes true for us. As we start to want to get more serious about the Lord and we want to grow in our relationship with the Lord, sometimes our families or even people in our churches are the ones who oppose us. They're the ones who start to question, well, why are you taking it so seriously? Or why can't you ever do this? Or oh, it's just gonna be, we're just gonna miss churches one time, and why do you have to be so serious about it? I know for us, raising kids especially, there were times when we wanted people to stand with us so that we could have a united, united front for our kids, you know, kids that our fri our kids were friends with, whatever the case may be, where if we stand together and say, no, we're not going to be out of practice on a Wednesday night because we have church, or being able to say, No, we're not going to be a part of that, we're not gonna be involved in that because it is not it's just not godly, it's not right, it's something that we don't want our kids to do. It would have been nice to have people standing with us, and so unfortunately, sometimes it's your own family, it's your church family who are the ones who Satan will use to attack you and oppose you when you're trying to grow in your walk with the Lord, or you start wanting to do more for the Lord. And so I guess I would just say expect the attacks to come when you get off the sideline. The attacks are gonna come, and they may even come from within, within your own family, within your own church, but you still have to do what the Lord wants you to do. And then we see in chapter 8, verse 10, that now Ziba and Zalmuna were in Karkor and their hosts with them, about 15,000 men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east, for there fell 120,000 men that drew swords. So 120,000 had already died, but there were still 15,000 on the run. So drop down to verse 12, it says, And when Zeba and Zalmuna fled, he pursued after them, and he took the two kings of Midian, Zeba and Zalmuna, and discomfited all the hosts. And then drop again to verse 21, and it tells us, then Ziba and Zalmuna said, Rise thou and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose and slew Zeba and Zalmuna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels' necks. Now, the first thing that happens after the victory, the people immediately cry and want Gideon to rule over them. So verse 22, it says, Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou and thy son, and thy son's son also, for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. But who delivered them from the hand of Midian? Was it Gideon or was it the Lord? Now Gideon has the right response. Verse 23, he says, And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you, the Lord shall rule over you. So Gideon gives the right response, but then as we keep reading, he goes on to act like and live like a king. Listen, verse 24. And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you that you would give me every man the earrings of his prey, for they had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites, and they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, beside ornaments and collars and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about their camels' necks. And Gideon made an ephod thereof and put it in his city, even in Ophrah, and all Israel went thither, a whoring after it, which thing became a snare unto Gideon and to his house. So I want to pause there and just say, An ephod was a priestly garment. It was costly and ornamented, ornamented with gems and gold. And so originally this may have been made as a way to celebrate the victory, but it became an idol to the people, as it says, and they went ahooring after it. Then we keep reading, Thus was Midian subdued before the i children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more, and the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon. And Jerubbal, the son of Joash, went and dwelt in his own house. And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten, for he had many wives, and his concubine that was in Shechem. She also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech. So note that he multiplied wives to himself, to himself, and concubines. And then here we see the name of his son, Abimelech, actually means my father is king. So he said the right words. No, I'm not going to rule over you. God is your king, but he went on to live like a king. Now, here's the deal: God was supposed to be their king. They were never supposed to desire an earthly king. But what happened was God knew, he already knew that when they got into the land and they started looking around at the other nations and how they all had a king, that Israel would want an earthly king. So in Deuteronomy 17, we find God giving the qualifications for a king. I want you to listen. Verse 14. If you're able, you could turn there. It says, When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me. Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose. One from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee. Thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses. For as much as the Lord hath said unto you, ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away. So just pausing here, remember the story of Solomon and even David. They multiplied wives unto themselves, and it was the wives who turned their heart from the Lord, especially Solomon. We know that to be true. It says, Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests, the Levites, and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them, that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel. So they were not to multiply wives to themselves, they were not to act like the kings of other nations, basically. And we know how this demand for a king works out in the end, because of course, first it was Saul, then David, then Solomon, and then years and years of fighting for the throne, and the killing of family that could challenge their throne and take away their power. And this even happens here with Abimelech. If you continue to read in this story, Abimelech ends up killing all of his brethren except for the youngest, Jotham, which, by the way, in chapter nine, it's a really interesting study of the trees, the vines, and the bramble that Jotham Jotham talks about, and how that compares to the types of leaders, potential leaders. Anyway that's not what we're talking about today. We're gonna go back. I want you to go back, I want you to think back to Gideon in the wine press. And his humility, his shaky faith to step out and do something for the Lord. And God gave the victory, God made him into a mighty man of valor. But once he got the victory, once the people began to praise him, his word said, I'm not a king, but his actions did, his son's name did. And we must be careful not to allow pride to creep into our lives. Proverbs 16, 18 says, Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall. There is a danger after a victory. We can we can see that in Joshua and the children of Israel when they were conquering the land. After a great victory, there is danger in thinking, hey, I'm doing all right. Maybe I don't need the Lord. Maybe I can handle this small attack, this small enemy on my own, or whatever the case may be. Or there's the situations where you are doing something great for the Lord. I think of people in ministry and they start to get built up in pride, and it's a danger because it can cause you to fall. So we must be careful that when God calls us to do something and we have victory in our life, that we stay humble. We remember who gave us the victory, who is the one that is leading us to victory? It is the Lord, it is all for his honor and glory. And I can tell you that even for me as a writer, as a speaker, and people want to say, Oh, I love your books, or you did so good speaking, or whatever the case may be. And I want to say, not me, please, not me. And I want to continually turn the attention to the Lord because I could do none of this without him. In fact, I have on my desk there is a sign that says, Stay humble. And that's where I think that we see something that Gideon could have done better. Now, with that in mind, I want to say Gideon is found in the hall of faith, just like many other flawed uh people from biblical times. We can find them in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11. I want to read that part to you. It says in Hebrews 11, verse 32, and what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak. Remember, I mentioned that he wouldn't even go into battle without Deborah, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, and of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought 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, waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Don't you just love that part? Out of weakness, we're made strong. This is Gideon. Remember, he was hiding in the wine press. This is us. God can take our weaknesses and make us strong in him. And I just love that. So I hope that throughout this, you've learned a lot from Gideon. And here in this section, maybe even a little bit of a caution to make sure that we're staying humble when God's allowing us to be a part of good things and things that are happening and advancing the cause of Christ, whatever the case may be, God's allowing us to be a part. We need to remember who is giving the victory and stay humble. And then I just love it. The Lord uses flawed people, He uses people who do not do everything perfectly. You could read through Hebrews 11 and be reminded of that if you wanted to, but it was just an encouragement to me, and I wanted to share it with you. And so I hope you've enjoyed this little mini-series out of Judges looking at the life of Gideon. And this is why I just love to study my Bible. The Lord will just give you what you need when you need it. As I mentioned, this was kind of all because of a change and what I was planning to speak on down at the Quiet Resting Places meeting. And so I've enjoyed the study, and I hope you have too. As always, if you have enjoyed the podcast episodes, please share it with a friend. I know I still am meeting people who don't even know that I'm doing a podcast now, which I think is so funny. But anyway, so please share it with a friend. Let people know about it, and that way they can be helped as well as they listen. And we will see you back here next week.