God's Strength - Our Weakness

Have you ever gotten in a situation where you found yourself stuck going in circles? Maybe you were literally going in circles. Maybe you were having a debate with someone and it was going nowhere and so you were just going around in circles. Whatever the case, unless you are on a merry-go or some kind of park where you are supposed to be going in circles, it can be a frustrating and discouraging kind of experience.

This week we see the children of Israel and they are stuck going around in circles. Amazingly enough they are not going around in circles in the wilderness. They are not even going around in physical circles. They stuck in some bad cycles.

They have now finally settled in the promised land. Toward the end of the book of Joshua we read, (Joshua 21:43-44) “Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers.”

Here we see the fulfillment of God’s promises and of God’s faithfulness as the nation that came from Abram is now settled in the land that God promised to Abram. But the people are stuck in an unhealthy cycle. They experience time of prosperity and peace. This leads to their forgetting about God and going after other gods. This leads to their rebellion, which results in punishment. The punishment is usually in the form of being oppressed by philistines or the Midianites. Then the people repent and cry out to God. He raises up a judge to deliver them. And they are rescued from their enemies.

By the way, the term “judge” here does not refer to one who makes decisions about laws. These judges are not the kinds of judges that you would find in a court room. Instead the judges were military leaders. This does not necessarily mean that they were members of the military, but once they are raised up to deliver the people, we see them fighting in military battles. So as we are talking about the judges here, think more along the lines of G.I. Joe than Judge Judy.

Neither where they always the greatest of characters. In fact, if you wanted to pick a group of people out of the Bible that you would not want to emulate or be like, then you would do well to pick the judges as one of those groups to stay away from.

Gideon is one of those guys and we read his story beginning at chapter six of the book of judges. We find the Israelites are hiding out in caves for fear of the people of Midian. The scriptures tell us that they were brought very low. It was absolutely miserable. They would try to plant food and the Midianites would come up and destroy it all, along with the animals too.

So they cry out for help. And the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon. And says to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” At the time that the angel appeared to him, Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. He was not acting very much like a mighty man of valor.

Which is good for us. Because what we really see in this story of Gideon, in fact what we see throughout this book of Judges, is that the people that God works through are not perfect. It is easy to get this idea in our heads about the people in the Bible that they were somehow perfect people. They never messed up. They never did anything wrong. If only we acted more like them, then God would allow us to see and experience some of the amazing things that they got to see and experience. We ask as if they are the top notch professionals. So we compare our faith life to their faith life in the same way that we would compare our own basketball skills, to the skills of an athlete in the NBA. But that is not how it is with the people in the Bible.

We are more like them than we might realize. Now whether or not that is a good thing, you make the call. But what this means for us, is that if God works in the lives of these less than perfect people. Then he certainly can work in our lives, in spite of our shortcomings, our sin and all the things that make us feel like we simply don’t have what it takes.

I know that God wants me to be a certain kind of husband, father, brother, friend, mother, sister, wife, daughter, son… you get the idea. I know God wants me to be this way, but I just don’t have what it takes. And I think that might actually be the point. Because in our weakness, God’s strength is made strong.

Gideon is not someone you pick for the role of Judge. He would not be your first choice for Mighty Man of Valor. I mean he was hiding in fear when he was found by the angel. His father had an altar to the false god Baal in the backyard. And yet God works through him. So Gideon hears what the Lord is saying to him and asks for a sign.

Let the dew be on the fleece only. And it was so. In the morning, the fleece was wet and the ground was dry. Wow. Pretty good proof there. This is the first time that we see Sham-Wow in the Bible. But Gideon asks for a second sign. It’s kind of like when you try to do something on the phone with your credit card account, they ask for information to identify you. You give it to them. Then they ask for more information. Same thing here with Gideon. Let the fleece be dry and the ground be wet. And it was so.

Gideon finally gets it, and he follows the Lord’s instructions and he ends up taking an army of 300 men to battle against, and easily defeat a much bigger army. Not because they were more skilled than the army they were fighting. But because God was with them and wanted to make sure that everyone who heard about this knew, that the only way they could win was because God was with them.

We might find ourselves faced with situations in life where we feel like Gideon. We might feel like we are being beaten up. Like we have to hide. Like we are pretty far from being mighty people of valor. And yet our God graciously, lovingly and mercifully comes to us and makes us so.

No matter what we are facing in life, no matter what is going on in the world around us, our God has healed our souls. Jesus paid the price with his sinless life, death on the cross, resurrection from the dead. All the deliverance that we see performed by Gideon and the other judges in this book pales in comparison to the deliverance that is yours and mine in Jesus. The judges delivered the people from oppression by neighbors. Jesus delivers us from sin, death and evil. The judges brought peace that was temporary. Jesus brings us peace that lasts forever. We get to experience it now, in this life, and for all eternity as well.

Gideon had less than a stellar record. Even after this amazing victory he later goes on to build a golden Ephod, which is like an idol. And he leads the people astray. He leads them back into idolatry. But lest we think this is a story about Gideon, we remind ourselves that it is really a story about our God.

This is God’s story and here we see God’s power and might. We see God’s faithfulness, even in times when the people are less than faithful. And we can know that this is also how our God deals with us. His faithfulness is part of our lives, because of who he is, not because of anything that we do to deserve it.

He pours out his blessings and grace and forgiveness in abundance in our lives. We hear his word receive the gifts he gives to us in the sacraments, and that is way better than any fleece.

So what is it that you are facing right now? What are you wrestling work and working through? Where are you in the cycle? Whatever it is know that our Faithful God is with you. He is able to do awesome things. And he certainly does so. May your eyes be opened to see it in your own life, and may that be for you a constant source of hope, joy and strength. Now and always. Amen.