Partners in Prayer: “Everything We Need!” Study of Gideon- “We May Be Small, but God Is Mighty!” Dear Partners in Prayer Team
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April 18th, 2021 Partners in Prayer: “Everything We Need!” Study of Gideon- “We may be small, but God is mighty!” Dear Partners in Prayer Team, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Judges 21:25 (NKJV) “And the Angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, and said to him, ‘The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!’” Judges 6:12 (NKJV) “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 (NKJV) “The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Those who know Your name trust in You because You have not abandoned those who seek You, Yahweh.” Psalm 9:9-10 (HCSB) Have you ever felt God has abandoned you? You pray and it seems like He isn’t listening. That is the way it was for the people of Israel during Gideon’s time. It is impossible to visit the land of Israel without being aware of the suffering and the resiliency of the Jewish people. The name “Israel” was given to the people by God which is a word that means: “After wrestling you have prevailed” (Genesis 31:28). This last week was “Holocaust Remembrance Week” for the nation. Sirens blare as Israel comes to a standstill in remembrance of Holocaust victims. Public life stops during two minutes of silence dedicated to memory of six million Jews killed, as daytime ceremonies honoring those persecuted by the Nazi regime get underway. The annual Holocaust Remembrance Day is one of the most solemn days on Israel’s national calendar. Israel’s resolve to remember their horrific history fuels their determination to succeed in an environment that is arguably the most hostile in the world. I remember visiting the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. The experience and moving of my heart to weep was extreme. The word for weep in the Old Testament is “Bokim.” There were moments during their hardest times that the people who lived during Gideon’s day remembered their hard times, and God visited them and promised His presence (Judges 2:1). One of Israel’s greatest patriots is Simon Wiesenthal. While Simon survived Hitler’s concentration camp, eighty-nine of his own relatives were killed by the Nazis. He actually looked on, helplessly, as Hitler’s henchmen crammed his mother into a freight car with hundreds of other elderly women. She died in the Belzec camp. And his wife’s mother was shot to death on the stairway of her home. On May 5, 1945, as the war grounded to a merciful halt, the Allied Forces freed Wiesenthal from imprisonment. When released, Simon weighed less than 100 pounds. He decided that though he had been an architect before the war, he would devote the rest of his days to fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice, and keep the memory of the Holocaust alive. While incarcerated at the Mauthausen camp, Simon was awakened one night by another prisoner named Arthur: “Simon, do you hear?” “Yes,” he mumbled, “I hear.” “I hope you’re listening because you really must hear what the old woman said.” Irritated and half asleep he responded, “What could she have said?” “She said, ‘God was on leave.’ What do you think of that, Simon? God is on leave.” “Let me sleep,” he said, “and tell me when God gets back, if He gets back.” The next morning, Simon awoke wondering if that conversation really happened. He was unsure, so he walked over to find Arthur and asked about the night before. He said, “Aurther, what were we talking about last night?” Arthur told him that Joseck, a venerable prisoner whom Wiesenthal very much admired, had asked an old woman in the camp if she had heard any news since she had just arrived. She only looked up to heaven and she prayed, “O God, God Almighty, [El Alyon!] Please come back from Your leave and look at us here at Your earth again!” That set Simon Wiesenthal thinking. “One really begins to think that God is on leave. Otherwise the present state of things wouldn’t be possible. God must be on leave. And He doesn’t have any deputies.” (Simon Wisenthal, The Sunflower pg. 13). The interesting thing about God’s people in Gideon’s day, was that they didn’t have any help or “deputies” either. That word is a good translation for the “judges” that God raised up over seven times to deliver His people. Gideon is the middle-most story in the book of Judges. He also is the story most given to narrative- over 150 words as told from Judges 6-9. The second judge most spoken about was Sampson. Yet, have you ever felt abandoned by God? You pray and it seems like God isn’t listening. As we’ve been learning, there were times during the book of Judges when, all things being equal, God took a leave of absence- He left His people to their own devices and let their enemies oppress them. But as Judges 2:16 and 18 say, “Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judges; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them” (2:16, 18). So, I ask again, have you ever felt abandoned by God? Do you know God sometimes providentially orchestrates our situations so we find ourselves at the most vulnerable moments? He allows us to struggle through our trials so we realize after all we’ve done, we need His strength. Whoever you are and whatever you’ve done, if you’re willing to come back to God, He’s willing to forgive your sins- He is a gracious God. He is on a great rescue mission, especially in these days when everything morally seems to be going down the drain. With this backdrop, we now meet the fifth judge of Israel, Gideon; whom God called a “mighty warrior!” What will amaze you is that there was nothing, if little, very important about Gideon. He isn’t a warrior or even very strong when God finds him hiding in a winepress, a place where he should not have been. Even though we see him as insignificant, weak, fearful, and introverted, we should take courage from his story; if God can use a Gideon, He can use us! And God can make us mighty people of prayer! Are you ready and willing to go toe-to-toe and face-to-face in wrestling with God? You may think, “No way would I want to contend with God! Who could win?” Yet, daily we witness that mankind is always fighting with God against His ways. In the Bible there was another man who had a story which actually parallels that of Gideon. It was the patriarch Jacob. When he was returning home with his whole family and all his possessions to his father Isaac, he feared the confrontation which would eventually happen as he came face-to-face with his brother Esau. We read in Genesis 31: “Jacob now sent messengers to his brother, Esau, in Edom, in the land of Seir, with this message: ‘Hello from Jacob! I have been living with Uncle Laban until recently, and now I own oxen, donkeys, sheep, goats, and many servants, both men and women. I have sent these messengers to inform you of my coming, hoping that you will be friendly to us.’ The messengers returned with the news that Esau was on the way to meet Jacob—with an army of 400 men! Jacob was frantic with fear” (vs. 3- 7)! All the reports indicated that Esau was sending an armed force against him. He sent his families over the Jordon and fell asleep praying. He was awakened in the night by a stranger, whom he may have thought was his brother, and started wrestling. The story goes like this, “But during the night he got up and wakened… and was there alone; and a Man wrestled with him until dawn. And when the Man saw that he couldn’t win the match, he struck Jacob’s hip and knocked it out of joint at the socket. Then the Man said, ‘Let me go, for it is dawn.’ But Jacob panted, ‘I will not let you go until you bless me.’ ‘What is your name?’ the Man asked. ‘Jacob [which meant heal catcher or tricker],’ was the reply. ‘It isn’t anymore!’ the Man told him. ‘It is Israel—one who has power with God. Because you have been strong with God, you shall prevail with men.’” (Genesis 31:24-28 Living Bible). Jacob realized that this man wasn’t a man at all but was the Angel of Jehovah and was very God Himself! He was terrified that he wrestled face-to-face with God and was not killed. And in that lesson, God changed Jacob’s name to indicate a change in his nature. His name was changed from “trickster” to “Israel- one who wrestled with God and prevailed.” We certainly know it wasn’t Jacob’s own strength, but that encounter was a life faith moment that changed him. Some would say it was his true “conversion.” Why change his name? To indicate a great moment of faith took place that changed his life.