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The Purah Factor

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The Purah Factor HOW TOTHE BE A PURAH HERO TO FACTORYOUR CHILDREN “So“So Gideon Gideon went went to to the the enemy’s enemy’s campcamp with Purah his ser- servantvant becausebecause he he was was afraid.” afraid.” When we think of Gideon today we immediately picture a brave, fearless, highly focused mighty man of God. But when his name frst appears in chapter of the oo of Judges, Gideon is a fearful, insecure, self-centered and disoriented young man. In the journey that eventually turned him into the hero we know today, Gideon passed through three distinct stages. First, he discovered that God had a better opinion of him than he had of himself when the angel saluted him as “mighty war- rior,” notithstanding the fact that he as preparing to ee to the hills. Next, he learned that, when he chose to obey God’s admonition to save the nation instead of just himself, God caused his family to develop a better opinion of him than he could have imagined. This became evident to him when his father, after fnding out that Gideon had destroyed the family idols and used the remains to erect an altar to the Lord, chose to stand by his son when the city elders wanted to have him punished. However, the turning point in Gideon’s spiritual metamorphosis came when he set out, albeit reluctantly, for the enemy’s camp. There he discovered that God had caused his enemies to develop a better opinion of him than he would have thought possible as he listened surreptitiously to enemy soldiers describe how God had delivered all of them into his hands while he was shaking in his boots outside their tent. 3 text.indd 3 11/23/06 12:47:17 AM The defning moment in Gideon’s journey from a fright- ened young person to a mighty man of God whose name is a symbol of courage and fortitude, was this visit to the enemy’s camp, an assignment he carried out in spite of his fears only because God told him to do so. However, God gave him the option to go with a servant by the name of Purah if he was afraid. This is the only mention of Purah in the Bible, but his role was pivotal because without Purah there would be no Gideon as we know him today. In Judges 7:9 the Lord said to Gideon, “Arise and go down (to) the camp of the enemies for I have given it into your hands. If you’re afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant…and you will hear what they say, and afterward your hands will be strengthened … So he went with Purah his servant because he was afraid.” God’s instructions to Gideon, “You go to the enemy’s camp…and your hands will be strengthened,” reveal that he did not become strong until he went to the camp. To better appreciate the magnitude of what Gideon was asked to do, we need to understand that there were 300,000 fully armed enemy soldiers camped in the valley below, looking for- ward to the moment when they would destroy Israel, and everybody in that camp wanted to have Gideon’s head on a platter. So the prospect of going down alone was extremely frightening, especially for a man that was fearful by nature. Knowing this weakness, God said to him, “But if you’re afraid, go with your servant Purah.” And the Bible tells us that because he was afraid he took Purah with him. Purah’s company defnitely gave Gideon the courage to go and hear what God wanted so that his hands would be strengthened 4 text.indd 4 11/23/06 12:47:18 AM and he could, in turn, invigorate his downsized army of 300 soldiers and defeat his enemies to become the mighty warrior we remember today. Who Was Purah? Facing hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers alone or with another person doesn’t make much of a difference. At est it may delay our fnal demise on the attlefeld y a nanosecond. But in this case it did make a major difference to have Purah around. Why? I’d like to suggest four reasons. First, Purah was older. It’s likely that when Gideon was born his father assigned Purah to watch and care for him as a live-in mentor during his growing up years. It is not far- fetched to assume that most of what Gideon knew he learned – directly or indirectly – from Purah. Second, Purah was more experienced since he had seen more of life. Having received a lifetime assignment to care for Gideon, he probably knew Gideon even better than Gideon knew himself. Notice that God did not say to take any servant, ut e specifcally singled out urah Third, he was loyal. Being as close as he was to Gideon, he must have been aware of Gideon’s fears and weaknesses, but he didn’t divulge them. He was probably the one who assembled the men who helped Gideon tear down the altars in his father’s house, and would have explained to them in the most positive way possible that they would do it during the night because Gideon was afraid to do it in plain daylight. 5 text.indd 5 11/23/06 12:47:18 AM Purah had a front row seat to the insecurities of Gideon and apparently he chose not to divulge them. He was older, experienced, and loyal – very precious qualities – but it was a fourth trait that set Purah apart in a most unique way. He knew that when the war cry, “For the Lord and for Gideon,” would be uttered in anticipation of the divinely decreed victory, marking Gideon’s subsequent induction into the Hall of Fame, that his name would not be included, making it possible for Gideon to receive full credit for the victory. It would have been perfectly proper for the shout to be, “For the Lord, for Gideon and for Purah,” because Purah had also gone to the enemy’s camp and shared the risks. But he was comfortable not taking any of the credit, and I’d lie to imagine that he too a signifcant degree of pleasure in seeing Gideon take all of it. So here is someone who was older, more experienced, loyal, and fully aware that his young protégé, whose weaknesses he knew so well, would be given all the recognition. No wonder Gideon took him to the enemy’s camp. If these assumptions are correct, what a precious gift Purah must have been to Gideon! Do You Have a Purah in Your Life? We all need a Purah – a mentor, an older, wiser, loyal person who knows our weaknesses and yet does not disclose them because of the untapped potential he also sees in us. A Purah is someone who will call us mighty when we are still weak and, because of the potential he sees in us, will address us as warriors even when we are making plans to walk away from the fght person ho emodies these traits ill certainly 6 text.indd 6 11/23/06 12:47:19 AM give us the confdence needed to go to the enemy’s camp, witness with delight our metamorphosis from insecurity to confdent leadership, and suseuently rejoice that e get credit that he could legitimately lay claim to. In the brutally competitive environment in which we operate today, not only in the marketplace where a cut throat attitude is considered an asset, but also in church settings, we desperately need mentors since so many in our generation have grown up as corporate orphans, particularly those with a Type-A personality. These are the visionaries that are able to see clearly hat no one else can at frst, and as a result they are misunderstood and rejected by their peers, and often written off y their elders Lie Joseph in the ld Testament, they are forced into a painful journey through the Pit, Potiphar’s household, and the Prison to get to the Palace. But even when they get there and eperience the enefts that such success estos, they still feel unfulflled ecause no amount of material success can fll the void of forced orphanhood n orphan is someone who has been deprived of parents, and this loss is a double loss since nurturing is a two way street. A mother, when nurturing her baby, is also being nurtured in return. And when a person succeeds by himself, he does so at the risk of undergoing a spiritual vasectomy because the wounds he suffers in solitude getting to the Palace could easily turn him into a wounder of others, not a mentor, much less a father. He will be a successful boss, running people, but a dismal failure at fathering others. It is because the stakes are so high that we all need a Purah in our life. 7 text.indd 7 11/23/06 12:47:19 AM The Perils of Success The need for this type of people to have a Purah became evi- dent to me when I was preaching at a top notch convention organized by a young pastor in his early forties who led the largest congregation in town. He had an international TV ministry, great name recognition, the most inuential people among his parishioners, and possessed a very charismatic style of leadership that caused multitudes to follow him readily and, often, unquestionably.
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