Looking For A Sign…Again
Judges 6:33-40
“Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet…” vs. 34
Headed For Disaster
This is the story of Jeff Patton. While attending Texas A&M, Jeff was a members of the Corps of Cadets. He is now Lt. Col. Jeff Patton and flew as an F-15 fighter pilot in Desert Storm. On the first night of the war, his mission was to escort a large formation of fighters in bombing a chemical weapons plant in northern Iraq. The date for Desert Storm was chosen because the absence of moonlight and the high clouds helped the attacking allied fighters from being detected by enemy defenses. Flying in total darkness, the pilots became completely dependent upon their instruments.
Shortly after crossing into Iraq, Col. Patton’s jet was “locked on” to by an Iraqi surface-to-air missile radar. He violently maneuvered his aircraft to break the radar’s lock on him. His maneuver successfully and broke the lock, but it created a new problem. Those radical movements in the dark threw off the balance in his inner ear (which is what happens when a person gets dizzy), causing him to become disoriented. His mind was telling him his plane was in a climbing right turn, but when he checked his instruments, they indicated he was in a 60 degree dive towards the ground! He was sure he was in a climb instead of a dive, and his mind was screaming at him to lower the nose of his F-15 to halt the climb. While his mind commanded him to correct the plane in one direction, his instruments instructed him to do just the opposite. Because he was flying in total darkness, he had to decide quickly whether to trust his mind or his instruments. His life depended on making the correct choice.
Even though it took everything within him to overcome what his mind was telling him, he decided to trust his instruments. He rolled his wings level and pulled his F-15 upward, which drew seven times the force of gravity, pulling the aircraft out of its dive. It only took a few moments to realize he had made the right decision. If he had lowered the nose of his jet like his mind had been telling him, he would have crashed the plane. Trusting his instruments saved his life!
Immediately he looked at his altimeter, which told him the elevation of his aircraft. He had narrowly escaped colliding into the mountains of Iraq by just 2,000 feet. Although he had made the correct decision by trusting his instruments, he realized if he had delayed just three more seconds his plane would have crashed into the mountains. Even right decisions can be wrong ones if they are made too late.(Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 17-18)
Ever had that happen to you? Your mind says one thing but there are other things that indicate just the opposite of what you are thinking. Which do you trust, your mind or the other indicators? Gideon is dealing with that very thing in the passage we are looking at today. Let’s see how he handles it. If you are able, please stand as we read God’s Word from Judges 6:33-40.
Read Passage – Judges 6:33-40
33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them. 36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— 37 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 said.” 38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” 40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
The Opposition Builds
Last week we saw God’s call on Gideon’s life and how he followed God’s call to tear down the altars built to other gods and re-establish the worship of God (Yahweh). Gideon met a lot of opposition from within his own people. As we pick up the story in this passage, the opposition is building, not from within, but now from the outside as well. Verse 33:
“Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.” vs. 33
When it gets tough, the pressure comes from within (his own countrymen) and from without. It can seem that you have no one on your side. The Midianites, Amalakites, and neighboring peoples on the outside join their forces together in anticipation of an attack. They even show up right at his door. We expect outward opposition but when it comes both inwardly and outwardly, it is not only frustrating and scary, it can really lead to doubt. We begin to question ourselves, our ability, and we question God and his ability.
Ex. We see that with Christianity today, there is inward discontent between denominations and outwardly we are being attacked by multiple religions. That is a tough place to be and a tough place to stand strong without doubt.
Outward Strength, Inward Doubt
Gideon does something that you and I can totally relate to, he shows an outward strength and yet he was doubting inwardly. By all looks on the outside, he is leading and looks strong, verse 34:
“Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.” vs. 34
Gideon moves forward and outwardly. He takes on the role of a strong leader or “great warrior” even though he is inwardly struggling with faith; he moves forward despite his fear and lack of trust in God.
You might be wondering why this is being brought up? It’s because we face opposition and we feel doubts, fear and, yes, we even doubt that God will come through at points. We get into “dark places” of lack of confidence, doubt of both ourselves and God, and everything in us wants to quit and give in. Gideon moves forward, even courageously, despite those feelings.
Ex. Johann Wolfgang Goethe1749 – 1832 a German writer and statesman who was a writer, poet, politician, literary critic, scientist, and a Christian. He is well known for his exploration in botany and anatomy and had numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings. He wrote:
“Give me the benefit of your convictions, if you have any; but keep your doubts to yourself, for I have enough of my own” – Goethe
Someone that accomplished and successful we would think to be very self assured and confident and yet here we see even he had doubts.
The Incredible God of…
Here is what I believe this passage is helping us to understand; Even though we face opposition and struggles and doubt, God see’s things much differently than we do. We can move ahead with confidence, even though there is opposition and doubt, if we can sees things differently. We serve an incredible God. What did he see in Gideon and this situation that Gideon didn’t? What does he see in our situations that if we can tap into just a bit, may help us move ahead with confidence and strength, even if we are struggling and have doubts?
- Potential
First, God saw potential. Gideon knew God saw that with God’s strength Gideon would find victory despite what it looked like on the outside. Notice verse 36:
“Gideon said to God, ‘If you will save Israel by my hand…” vs. 36
Gideon has great potential and God has promised him victory, he knew that, he stated it here. He had to fight the fear of his own inadequacy which is also manifested in his lack of trust in God.
Q: Why did God see potential in Gideon?
A: Because God created him. God knew him inside and out. He knew his strengths, he knew his character, that he can be a mighty warrior as his name stated, he even knew his weaknesses and downfalls.
Remember David’s words from Psalm 139:14:
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14
God made us and his creation is wonderful. If you are like me (and Gideon) we tend to focus on our inadequacies, God focuses on our potential. The great thing is that God still uses him and he still uses us. He is not limited as we are. As it states in Ephesians 3:20:
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” Ephesians 3:20
Fear can be paralyzing and can stop us and stifle us. It doesn’t have to. Fear can drive us back to God. To his strength and his power. You’ve got his power in you already.
Ex. Glenda and Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. She reminds Dorothy that she had everything she need to get home all along. She had the ruby slippers. She just didn’t realize it. We have everything we need to get through our situations, we have the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of that.
- Promise
The second way God saw this situation differently was he promised Gideon victory. Again, verse 36:
“Gideon said to God, ‘If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised…” vs. 36
Get this, even Gideon realized that God had promised this victory. Gideon acknowledge that. But God gives us freewill. Freewill to believe him. Freewill to trust him. Freewill to doubt. Even the freewill to fail.
Here is what Gideon does, and you might want to circle this in your outline, he claims God’s victory through his doubt. Circle “as you have promised.” It is good to remind ourselves of God’s promises to us. When we claim it, we can live in it. It doesn‘t take away the doubts, it assures us that we serve an incredible God who will do what he promises. He has the ability, he has the power, he has everything you need. And he has promised you that too! Phil 4:19 says:
“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:19
He can and will meet all your needs. His promises in Gideon’s time are just as true today as they were then. We struggle with this for 2 reasons:
- We put our expectations and our desires on God and then when it doesn’t happen we blame him and don’t trust.
- We are fallen creatures and we have multiple examples of people who don’t fulfill their pr0mises.
Ex. The promises of our politicians in this Presidential race.
Let me add one more thing to this. God always fulfills his promises and one of the reasons is because that allows us to partner with him. It says in 1 Peter 1:4:
“Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature…” 2 Peter 1:4
When we work with God and when we work to see his promises fulfilled, it gives us the joy that comes from partnering with him and seeing him fulfill those promises.
Ex. A friend that had resisted Christ for years and just two weeks ago gave his life to Christ. Fulfillment of prayer.
- Patience
And third, God sees things differently because he has patience. Look at how God works with Gideon here through his lack of trust and faith. Gideon is not sure he can really trust what God has promised so he asks for sign…again! Remember he asked for a sign in the previous passage too. In verse 17 he asks God for a sign and prepares a sacrifice for him and God sends fire and burns it up. Now he wants a second sign so he does this thing with some fleece. He puts it out and says God, if you are really in this, show me by making the ground dry in the morning and the fleece soaked with dew. They were familiar with this because their climate was such that they had hot air and cold air the when they meet it produces a wet dew on the ground in the morning. Much like we have here. So…God does it. But that is not good enough for Gideon, he tests God again, verse 39:
“Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece…” vs. 39
It almost seems that God should zap him at this point doesn’t it? But no, God is patient. So Gideon reverses the test and God makes that happen too. God is patient. There are multiple examples of God’s patience with people in the Bible:
Abraham – he struggles with lying and lies about his Sarah wife being his sister
David – he sins and commits adultery and lies about it to a prophet
Paul – persecutes the church but God chooses him to spread the gospel
Peter – struggles with Gentiles hearing the gospel
But God is patient. We want God to zap others but be patient with us. God is patient with Gideon and he will be patient with us too! We want God to act faster but he has his time and his way. Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:9:
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you…” 2 Peter 3:9a
I am thankful and grateful that God was patient with Gideon, just like he is with me and he will be with you too!
Needing Assurance
Let me wrap this up with this; we started talking about a pilot who had to trust his instruments even when his mind was telling him something else. In our story of Gideon today we find some instruments to help us so that we don’t crash and burn. They are guides that give us assurance and direction. We see these displayed in the story of Gideon but through God’s character. The instruments are:
Potential- God sees more in you than you see in yourself. He made you.
Promise-God promises us his love, his presence, his grace, his mercy, direction, his Holy Spirit. His promises never fail.
Patience-He will be patient with us through our doubts, lack of faith, lack of trust.
Know you won’t always see this because they aren’t something you pick up and hold on to but hey are things God’s gives us as a gift through his Son.
Hebrews 11:1:
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1
Jesus dies for us. He came as a display of God’s provision for us and is another fulfillment of his promises. He provides a way for us to be in full relationship with God which is not dependent on us doing certain things but on trust in what Jesus, God’s Son did for us.
