Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Disciple: Week 8 (belated)
Gideon: God’s Strength in Weakness
The story of Gideon is one of the most amazing in the Bible to me because Gideon is such an “un-amazing” character. He really doesn’t have any stand-out qualities. In terms of social/familial position, his clan is the weakest in Israel, and he is the youngest (lowliest) in his family. Even more interestingly, he is pretty lowly/weak in terms of faith initially too.
When the Angel of the Lord appears before Gideon, he questions the Lord’s faithfulness to the Israelites:
“But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders . . .?” (Judges 6:13)
He isn’t obedient like Abraham, who left everything that was familiar to follow God’s calling. He isn’t faithful like Joseph, who believed that God was working even in his suffering. And he isn’t even quick-witted like Moses, who came up with all sorts of different excuses to avoid doing God’s bidding.
Apart from his concern that “[his] clan is the weakest in Manaseh, and [he] is the least in his family,” Gideon doesn’t really have any excuses for not doing what the Lord asks. But nonetheless, he asks for signs three times before finally going to do the Lord’s bidding and defeating the Midianites (Judges 6:17-18, 36-37, 39). You’d think that a man of faith would at least be convinced after God showed him the first sign!
Not only does Gideon seem to lack faith in God, but he is also depicted as something of a coward. When Gideon is introduced, he is “threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites” (Judges 6:11). This is not a bold, brave man, willing to perform his tasks in the natural way—and to heck with any enemies!—that the Lord selects:
And yet, Gideon ultimately leads the Israelites in subduing the Midianites and the Israelites are able to enjoy peace for forty years during Gideon’s life.
I love the story of Gideon because it shows that God can use even a lowly person, cowardly and weak in faith to fulfill his purposes. And even more than that, it shows that God accepts us where we are and lifts us up so that we can grow.
God doesn’t reject Gideon in favour of a better candidate when Gideon shows his doubt and keeps asking for signs; God gives Gideon the signs that he asks for. I mean, when you compare Gideon to Biblical greats like Abraham and Joseph, he seems pretty pathetic, but you’ve also got to consider that he’s living an age where the Israelites are oppressed for having done evil and forgotten the Lord. The stories he’d been told about the Lord’s deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians probably seemed like little more than folktales than reality up until the point when the Angel of the Lord actually spoke to him. So yeah, I think God understands that and is willing to do what he can to bolster Gideon’s faith.
I think that’s an aspect of God’s calling to serve that we don’t really think about. We all try to build ourselves up to reach the point where we feel ready to serve God, but, really, God is more than capable of making up for the areas where we are lacking. I don’t have enough faith? God will show me that he is deserving of faith. I’m afraid? God will ease my fears. I don’t feel qualified? God will provide training or others who can fill in the gaps.
Lately I’ve been having second thoughts about going to Japan (assuming I get accepted into the JET program, that is). Japan is a pretty non-Christian society—not in the persecution sense, but in the consumerist/materialistic, theologically relativist sense. I’m afraid that without the comfort of a home church/small group or the familiarity of serving in an established capacity I’m going to just let myself drift away from God. Given what my past experiences and what I know of myself, this is a perfectly reasonable, realistic fear.
But—and I don’t know how to explain this exactly—reading the story of Gideon just made me feel like things will work out okay in the end. It’s like, I don’t have to be a great, heroic figure of a Christian, y’know? Even in my weakness, God can still make a way to use me.
P.S. - I did do my Disciple reading for today (Week 9, Day 1), but I wanted to finish this thought from last week more than I wanted to write about Samuel today.
Gideon: God’s Strength in Weakness
The story of Gideon is one of the most amazing in the Bible to me because Gideon is such an “un-amazing” character. He really doesn’t have any stand-out qualities. In terms of social/familial position, his clan is the weakest in Israel, and he is the youngest (lowliest) in his family. Even more interestingly, he is pretty lowly/weak in terms of faith initially too.
When the Angel of the Lord appears before Gideon, he questions the Lord’s faithfulness to the Israelites:
“But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders . . .?” (Judges 6:13)
He isn’t obedient like Abraham, who left everything that was familiar to follow God’s calling. He isn’t faithful like Joseph, who believed that God was working even in his suffering. And he isn’t even quick-witted like Moses, who came up with all sorts of different excuses to avoid doing God’s bidding.
Apart from his concern that “[his] clan is the weakest in Manaseh, and [he] is the least in his family,” Gideon doesn’t really have any excuses for not doing what the Lord asks. But nonetheless, he asks for signs three times before finally going to do the Lord’s bidding and defeating the Midianites (Judges 6:17-18, 36-37, 39). You’d think that a man of faith would at least be convinced after God showed him the first sign!
Not only does Gideon seem to lack faith in God, but he is also depicted as something of a coward. When Gideon is introduced, he is “threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites” (Judges 6:11). This is not a bold, brave man, willing to perform his tasks in the natural way—and to heck with any enemies!—that the Lord selects:
Now the Lord [calls] Gideon.Moreover, when God tells Gideon to destroy his father’s altar to Baal and Asherah pole and to build an altar where he can make a burnt offering to the Lord instead, Gideon does it at night rather than in the daytime because he is “afraid of his family and the men of the town” (Judges 6:22)! And when the townspeople are up in arms because of his actions, he doesn’t even come out to defend himself but leaves his father to deal with the hostile crowd (Judges 6:30-32). What a coward!
Where [is] he? In a winepress, separating what from chaff! Why [isn’t] he out in the open where the wind [can] blow the chaff away? Because he [is] hiding from the Midianites; he [is] afraid! Notice the irony when the Angel of the Lord [says] to Gideon, “The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.” Mighty indeed! He [is] hiding! (Disciple, 61)
And yet, Gideon ultimately leads the Israelites in subduing the Midianites and the Israelites are able to enjoy peace for forty years during Gideon’s life.
I love the story of Gideon because it shows that God can use even a lowly person, cowardly and weak in faith to fulfill his purposes. And even more than that, it shows that God accepts us where we are and lifts us up so that we can grow.
God doesn’t reject Gideon in favour of a better candidate when Gideon shows his doubt and keeps asking for signs; God gives Gideon the signs that he asks for. I mean, when you compare Gideon to Biblical greats like Abraham and Joseph, he seems pretty pathetic, but you’ve also got to consider that he’s living an age where the Israelites are oppressed for having done evil and forgotten the Lord. The stories he’d been told about the Lord’s deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians probably seemed like little more than folktales than reality up until the point when the Angel of the Lord actually spoke to him. So yeah, I think God understands that and is willing to do what he can to bolster Gideon’s faith.
I think that’s an aspect of God’s calling to serve that we don’t really think about. We all try to build ourselves up to reach the point where we feel ready to serve God, but, really, God is more than capable of making up for the areas where we are lacking. I don’t have enough faith? God will show me that he is deserving of faith. I’m afraid? God will ease my fears. I don’t feel qualified? God will provide training or others who can fill in the gaps.
Lately I’ve been having second thoughts about going to Japan (assuming I get accepted into the JET program, that is). Japan is a pretty non-Christian society—not in the persecution sense, but in the consumerist/materialistic, theologically relativist sense. I’m afraid that without the comfort of a home church/small group or the familiarity of serving in an established capacity I’m going to just let myself drift away from God. Given what my past experiences and what I know of myself, this is a perfectly reasonable, realistic fear.
But—and I don’t know how to explain this exactly—reading the story of Gideon just made me feel like things will work out okay in the end. It’s like, I don’t have to be a great, heroic figure of a Christian, y’know? Even in my weakness, God can still make a way to use me.
P.S. - I did do my Disciple reading for today (Week 9, Day 1), but I wanted to finish this thought from last week more than I wanted to write about Samuel today.
