11/5/23 Judges 6:30-40 “You Can Go to Him Any Time!”

02 Nov 11/5/23 Judges 6:30-40 “You Can Go to Him Any Time!”

11/5/23    Judges 6:30-40         “You Can Go to Him Any Time!”

I think that no matter where you are in life, at some time you have to make a hard decision.  It’s probably not that big a deal in the scope of things around the world, but it was big for you.  I remember that we had to get rid of our beloved Jeep and get something else.  The Jeep needed tires, a new battery, the transmission and the engine was not working very well.  Many of you know what these types of decisions are about.  Should I pour a bunch of money into the old vehicle or should we start over?  We decided that we would get a different vehicle and one of the reasons is that I’m not that good at fixing cars.  As a family, we spent many hours in that Jeep and it was hard to let it go.  We spent some time in prayer about this decision, after all, cars are not cheap.  So, I spent time in prayer and then we went and made the deal.  I asked God if we should do this.  One of the things about God is that you have to listen for the answer.  I didn’t get a direct answer but I never felt any apprehension during the whole time and I didn’t feel any guilt after we had bought another vehicle.  It seemed to me that God was giving me peace with this decision.  I have found, over the years, that when I’m making a bad decision, God has a way of making me feel bad about it or at least stop and think about it for a minute.  Today, we are going to be studying one of the judges of Israel, Gideon.  Let’s see if we can learn from the Bible how to make decisions.  How do you know the will of God?

Troy Brost tells of a group of scientists who found a new species of flower as they were exploring the Alps.  They first saw these flowers through binoculars and they figured that this find would be valuable to science.  The trouble was that the flower only grew on the side of a ravine that had a cliff on both sides.  They would have to lower someone down on a rope in order to get the valuable flowers.  There was a curious young boy who had been watching all this and the scientists told the boy they would pay him well if he would climb down there for them.  The boy took a look at the long, steep depth of the ravine and said, “I’ll be back in a minute.”  Soon the boy was back with a gray-haired man and he told the scientists, “I’ll go over that cliff and get that flower for you if this man holds the rope.  He is my dad.”  This boy wasn’t so sure he would trust these scientists but he would trust his dad completely.  One of the things that helps us to trust God, our Father, is to know the will of God.

I ran across something from Charles Jones where he said that there are 7 things that will help us determine the will of God in our lives so that we can have the total trust in God that this boy had in his father in our story.  These are all things that we have and talk about all the time.  The first place to always look to find God’s will for your life is the Bible.  I have been getting some positive feedback from our process of going through the Bible this year.  I hope it continues to help you and that you will be able to read what God wants to do in your life.  The Bible is the only book in the world where the message changes as different people read it.  The main message is always the same and the words are always the same but you get an entirely different interpretation than I or someone else might get.  This book we call the Bible is beyond remarkable.  Many people will call the Bible a living Bible or living book because of this.  So, the next time you think that God isn’t talking to you, pick up your Bible and read.

The second way to know the will of God for you, and I’m going through these rather quickly, is the voice of God.  This goes right along with the Word of God.  Have you ever been reading along in the Bible when all of a sudden, the passage or verse just jumps out at you?  It is like this passage is just for you and you have never read it before, even if you’ve read it a dozen times.  This is the voice of God directing you to His words for you.  Both of these first two ways are directly related to reading the Bible.

The third way of knowing the will of God for you is direct revelation.  This is where God speaks to you in a dream or prophecy or a vision or you hear His voice.  I don’t think these get noticed as much in modern times because we aren’t tuned in as well as they used to be in ancient times.  They didn’t have TV or radio or books to interrupt their time with God.  I also know that these things happen all the time in our modern world but often times we miss it.  Our lives get too busy and we miss messages, even me.  I have had all of these types of direct revelations made to me so I know that they are out there.  But you have to practice listening to and for God or you might miss Him.  Spend quiet time in prayer where you don’t say anything.  Let your mind go blank and concentrate on God.  We can all do this but it is hard and it takes practice.  So, as you go about your week this week, please try to spend some very quiet time with God.  The results are well worth it.  They are out of this world.

The next way to know the will of God is through Godly counsel.  When you need help knowing the will of God, go to another Christian.  Come to me or Sharon.  We are always willing to help.  We also have to be alert for open doors and closed doors.  God leads us if we let Him.  If there is a situation that is suddenly open, it just might be God leading you to something that He wants you to do.  Of course, right along with this we have burdens.  Many people including myself have come to know Jesus because of the burdens we have in life.  These are learning situations.  Don’t let your burdens get you down.  Go to Jesus and talk to Him about it.  Or use one of these other ways to know the will of God.

All of this brings me to the last way to know the will of God and this is the one that our Scripture talks about today.  This is called putting out the fleece or asking for a sign.  This can get really tricky because when we ask for a sign, we don’t want to be testing God.  So, let’s see how this works.

Gideon didn’t ask to be a judge.  As a matter of fact, he really argued with God about making him His choice.  He told God that his clan was the weakest of Manasseh.  Not only that but he was the weakest man in the clan.  And after rereading this section, I think that Gideon was bordering on a coward or a chicken.  He was afraid, but who could blame him.  The God of the universe is talking to him and making him a judge!

Now, the Midianites controlled their land and all of the harvest.  They would have to hide their crops or the Midianites would take them away.  They were in constant fear for their lives.  They were living in severe oppression and now God has come and tapped a farmer to lead the Israelites on to victory in their fight for freedom.  Who could blame Gideon for these feelings of inadequacy?  I would be scared to death if I was told to lead our armies against another country, especially a country that was already occupying our territories.

So, Gideon is a reluctant hero at best.   God sent an angel to talk to Gideon.  When Gideon first realized that he was dealing with an angel of the Lord, he became afraid.  I think this would be normal.  What I’m trying to say here is that Gideon had a history of being afraid.  Then the Lord told him to build an altar to God and tear down the altars of Baal and the Asherah pole.  Please understand this, the people of Israel had fallen far away from God again to the point that they were worshipping these worthless idols.

Now Gideon was supposed to tear these down.  That would be like us being told to tear down a church because they don’t follow the Bible any more.  They don’t honor the word of God and there are many of these types of churches out there.  People would be furious if we did this.  They would want our heads.  However, it would be the right thing to do.  So how does Gideon take care of this situation?  It’s easy.  He gets some men and they do it at night under the cover of darkness.  After all, Gideon is not the bravest of men.

Now we get to our reading.  The Midianites had teamed up with some of their neighbors and they crossed the Jordan into the valley.  I think that their intent was to rob this rich agricultural area of all its crops.  It doesn’t tell us that they were necessarily there to invade.  They already controlled the area so why should they invade, but they send an army because there could be resistance to their thievery.  Can you imagine someone trying to defend their land when it is occupied with a fierce army who are trying to steal their crops?

Anyway, now we have Gideon saying to God that if Gideon is to lead the Israelite army with the help of God, then Gideon will lay out a fleece of wool over night.  If there is dew on only the fleece and not the ground around it in the morning, then Gideon will know that it is God who is talking to him.  So, God does this and then Gideon asks God to make the fleece dry with dew on the ground all around the next night.  God does it again and now Gideon knows that this is God.  He can’t get out of it.

So, the question has to be ‘should we be doing this?’  There are many people who tell me that we shouldn’t because this is a form of testing God but I’m not so sure it really is.  When we read this section, we find that Gideon had severe doubt twice.  The first time was when God first came to him to tell him that he would lead the army.  Gideon tried to get out of it.  The second episode is where we read today about the fleece.

The so-called experts are a little split on this.  One side tells us that we are not to test God and this is blatantly testing God.  In Deut. 6:16 we are warned, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”  It is pretty obvious here that Gideon is testing God.  But I think the bigger question is, ‘where is the heart of Gideon?’

Is Gideon testing the Lord in the same way that Satan tested Jesus?  If Gideon was trying to gain for himself, this would be all wrong.  If he was just trying to prove something at the expense of God, it would be wrong.  If he was playing games or not serious; this would be wrong.  Some of the experts feel that just because Gideon was showing doubt, he was wrong.  I don’t know if I can quite go along with this last assessment.  I think we all have doubts at some point in our lives.

Now don’t get me wrong here.  This is just the opinion of an old country preacher because the experts don’t seem to agree.  We need to remember who Gideon was.  He was a farmer in a much-oppressed area.  He didn’t really want to lead an army because he probably knew nothing about it.  Some of his skepticism might be because Satan has been in the area for so long and things are so bad.  So, he wants to make sure that this is God.

The other thing in play here is that Gideon believes in God.  This man is not a non-believer.  He is a believer who doesn’t believe in himself.  This might be the crux of the whole matter.  I don’t think that he is testing God so much as he is testing himself.

In our world today we have many non-believers who want all sorts of tests because they don’t know God and they really don’t want to know God.  These people are always wrong when they demand tests from God.  But for the average Christian, I think that it is ok to ask God these types of questions.  We have some of the same problems that Gideon had.  Satan is roaming this world and he is everywhere.  We get so bombarded with Satan that it gets to the point where it is sometimes hard to tell if the message we are getting is from God or Satan.  We are not that good at discerning the message.  Just as a tip, if the message is against what the Bible says, then it is false and from Satan.  But Satan is good and sometimes we just have to ask God for a sign.  I’ve done it a couple of times and Jesus has helped me with a sign.  I think that it is ok to ask for a sign if your heart is in the right place.  I didn’t ask for a sign to buy another car but Jesus gave me peace in the decision.  If you don’t have a daily prayer life, then get one so that you will be able to discern what God is saying to you.  He loves you and wants to talk to you every day.  Develop a prayer life so that you can get all the benefits of being a Christian.

There are many ways to question God that are wrong, but there are a few legitimate ways also.  If we read on, we find Gideon trusting God as He trims Gideon’s army from 32,000 to 300.  Then they go out and win the battle with God on their side.  God loves us beyond what you will ever know in this world.  It is ok to ask God questions, sometimes.  If you love Jesus, then you can ask.  He will not turn you away.  I have never met a person who Jesus has turned away.  You can go to Him with questions, you can go to Him in anger, and you can go to Him for any reason at all.  The important part of all this is just that you go to Him.  He can take a dark life and give it light.  He can turn troubles and sorrows into a bright day.  Go to Him.  You will never regret talking to the King of kings and the Lord of lords.  Praise the Lord.  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us. Let’s pray.