Gideon: Seeking Security Through Power

Well, we’re in this series called Identity Traps where we’re looking at nine ways we lose ourselves, and how Jesus makes us whole. And we’ve discovered there are basically two fundamental ways that we can live in this universe. We can live like orphans, or we can live like children of God.

As orphans what we do is we tend to look for our deep identity needs for significance, security, and satisfaction to be met in the creation around us, in people or power or possessions, and we decide, “I’ll be whoever I need to be to get from this world all that I desperately long for inside.” And we tend to live as orphans by default because we wake up in the universe estranged from God because of our sin. And so we learn to cope our way through life and survive. But thanks be to Jesus there is another way to live in Him.

When Jesus died on the cross in our place and for our sake, not only did He take all of our sin and pay for it, He also reconciled us with our Heavenly Father. He made a way for us to be once again children of God, which gives us a whole new way of living in this world. Instead of looking to creation for our deep identity needs for significance, security, and satisfaction, we’ve learned to direct those deep hungers to God Himself, and from that relationship we figure out who we are because it’s our Father who crowns us with glory. It’s our Father who secures us in His forever love, and it is in His presence that there is fullness of joy.

And even though we have been adopted as children of God because of what Jesus has done, we sometimes struggle (I know I do.) with living in that kind of simple childlike faith. We’ve spent so long in life fending for ourselves, living as orphans, and those orphan-hearted habits run really deep. And so we have to learn to live like a child all over again.

And so in this series, what we’re doing is we’re tracking with nine different Bible characters who each, through the love and leadership of God, learn to shift out of their orphan-hearted identity habits, and learn to start living more and more like beloved children of God. And we’re praying as we go through these identity transformations that it will help us with our own identity transformation as well.

Now today we’re going to wind back the clock three millennia, three thousand years, and we’re going to look at a guy named Gideon and his identity trap, which is looking for security through power, security through power. If you brought a Bible with you this morning, our texts are going to be in Judges, chapters 6 and 7. If you want to use the pew Bible, it starts on page 205. And I just want to give you a little brief outline to kind of hang our thoughts on this morning. We’re going to look at: Gideon’s test, Gideon’s trust and Gideon’s triumph.

Okay? Test, trust and triumph this morning!

Would you bow your heads? Let’s pray and ask the Lord to open our hearts and teach us this morning.

Father, security is so important to us in life. We want to be safe, and it is a scary world. And so Father, would you teach us to live like children who know that we have a good Father who is watching over us, that we don’t have to be anxious or worried or control freaks, but that we can trust in your goodness over our lives. Give us confidence in you today, we pray, for Jesus’ sake, Amen. Amen.

So first of all, Gideon’s test! Let’s begin, as we start out here, by reminding ourselves where we are in this story of Israel. Briefly, Genesis tells the story of God’s calling of Israel to the original founding father of Israel, Abraham. At the end of Genesis, after Abraham and the patriarchs, they end up going down into Egypt. Then many years later Moses brings Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness. Then Joshua brings them into the Promised Land, and eventually they’re going to end up with kings. But before the kings come, there is a period called the time of the judges. It was from roughly 1400 B.C. to 1100 B.C., and these judges were tribal warrior leaders who rose up during times of crisis, empowered by God to rescue and deliver His people. And there’s a cycle that is ongoing in the book of Judges where the people of God start to worship idols. They’re disloyal to God.

Then in comes foreign oppressors to chastise, to discipline God’s people. They cry out for help. God raises up a judge, a deliverer, to rescue His people. Then the people have short-lived worship of God. They return to Him for a brief moment, and then very quickly slide back into idol worship. And the cycle continues on and on.

Now, at the end of the book of Judges we get to this summary statement. It’s not a positive statement. This is Judges 21:25:
“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

So these were bad days, but Gideon is one of these judges, one of these warrior tribal leaders who rose up in a moment of crisis. His story takes place between 1179 and 1154 B.C., and his story begins in chapter 6 of the book of Judges. So let’s look at it.

Judges 6:1: “The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.” So this is a refrain that’s all too familiar in the book of Judges. The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. You’ll notice that it is capital LORD. This is the covenant-keeping name of God, Yahweh. In other words, the idea here is the evil that they have done is in fact breaking of the covenant that God has made with them. And so they have been disloyal to God. They’ve broken the covenant, and now they are under covenant discipline, which in this case is seven years of oppression under the hand of these people, the Midianites.

Now the Midianites were a nomadic tribal people known for their pillaging raids in the ancient world, so they would sweep in in great numbers. They would pilfer crops and seize the goods of the people that they were dominating. And then they would move on and do it all over again somewhere else. And before the might and strength of the Midianites, the Israelites find themselves powerless and diminished. And so they cry out, “God, why is this happening to us?” And God sends a prophet who is unnamed here but with a message, and then we read this in Judges 6:8-10.

This is what God said: “I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you, and gave you their land. And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God. You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell, but you have not obeyed my voice.’”

So God says, “Look, you’re my people. I gave you this land. I rescued you out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. I am your covenant-keeping God, and yet you have forgotten me. You’ve run  after all these pagan gods of the Amorites who lived in the land before you. You’ve abandoned your first love. That’s why you’re suffering like this.” What’s the implication? “Return to me and I’ll rescue you.” Right? “Return to me and I’ll rescue you.”

Now, so great is God’s love for His people that even before they repent, His rescue is already on the way. Look at Judges 6:11: “Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth (This is a kind of tree.) at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” Let’s pause for a moment.

Gideon! This is our guy here. His name means hacker. The Hebrew people loved wordplay. And, of course, here he’s hacking at wheat. He’s threshing. Right? Later he’s going to hack down the idols, and eventually he’s going to hack down their enemies, okay? So there’s a little bit of a funny wordplay here. But there’s something odd about the location that Gideon has picked to do the hacking of the wheat, his threshing here. He's in a winepress, which is the absolute worst place to thresh wheat. Threshing required wind to blow away the chaff. You would throw it up in the air, the wind would carry the chaff away, the good grain would fall to the ground so threshing floors were on hilltops.

In contrast, winepresses were sunken down underground where the grapes were trampled, and they had grooves in the floor so that the juice would run off into collection vats. And there was absolutely no wind in a winepress in these deep chambers underground. So this is the worst place to thresh for wheat.

The question is, “Why is Gideon here?” Well, verse 11 tells us. It’s because he’s hiding it (the wheat) from the Midianites. So the Midianites are prowling around. They are raiding the harvest, and Gideon is...If he used the threshing floor they’d see him from miles away on the hilltop. But he’s in a winepress at the wrong time of year. Grapes aren’t ripe for four more seasons. They’re never going to look here, and Gideon figures he's safe to thresh the wheat in the winepress. That’s his plan.

And so then the angel of the Lord shows up, the covenant-keeping God, again capital LORD, and says, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” So ironic. Right? Here he is, this little guy, hiding in a winepress from the big bad enemies. But the Lord is addressing him not as he now is, but as he will be, for the Lord is with him.

Now, look at verse 13: “And Gideon said to him, ‘Please, my Lord, if the LORD is with us why has all this happened to us? Where are all His wonderful deeds that our Father had counted to us, saying, “Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?” But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.’”

Gideon says, “Look, I don’t see much evidence that the Lord is with me (with us). Surely He delivered us in the past, but what has He done for us lately? The Lord has forsaken us. He’s...We can’t count on Him. There’s no hope for us.”

Verse 14: “The LORD turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours and say to Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?’” The Lord says, “Look, you wonder what I’ve done lately for you. How about this? I’ll send you. You go and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. You go save the people. Go in this might of yours, scared little man hiding in a winepress. Go in this might of yours.”

Verse 15: “And he said to him, ‘Please Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least of my father’s house.’”

Can’t you hear the resentment in his words here? “I’m the weakest in my family. I’m the weakest. We’re the weakest of all the clans. We’re in the weakest nation that is overrun by Midian. If only I were stronger. If only I were mighty; if only I was a man of valor, then I’d do something. Then I’d stand up strong, and I’d thresh in the open, and I’d send our enemies running scared. If only I were powerful. Then I’d be safe and secure, but I’m not.”

Verse 16: “The LORD said to him, ‘But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.’”

“Gideon, you’re not alone. I, the living God, will be with you and will be your strength, and you will strike Midian together with your fellow man. You and your people will do this.”

Verse 17: “And Gideon said to him, ‘If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.’ And he said, ‘I will stay until you return.’”

Now, this will become something of a pattern for Gideon. He’s a bit of a “fraidy cat,” and he needs a security blanket. Right? It’s not enough to trust God at His Word. He needs something more, something tangible. He wants a sign. He wants confirmation. He wants demonstrable proof that God really does mean what He says. So Gideon here is scared. He’s dogged by insecurity. He’s weak and beaten down, and so his insecurity is coming out in these kind of control impulses, where he’s asking God to prove Himself over and over again, and that control is making him feel a little more safe. He’s grasping for control. You see that here? And God is so patient with Gideon. He understands that he is a man of insecurity, that he’s weak. And in tenderness God, just does what Gideon asks. “Okay, I’ll stay. I’ll stay around until you return.”

So Gideon goes off. He makes a meal fit for a God, goat meat and bread like an offering, a sacrifice. He brings it back. The angel of the Lord says, “Put it on this rock.” Verse 21: “Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of his staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes, and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes, and the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.”

(Laughs) Talk about a freaky moment. This rock becomes an altar, and fire from the living God consumes it entirely, and the angel of the Lord vanishes in a moment. It’s amazing!

Verse 22: “Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, ‘Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.’ But the LORD said to him, ‘Peace be to you. Do not fear. You shall not die.’”

So now the angel is gone, but the Lord speaks directly to Gideon to calm his fears, and comfort his insecurities: “Peace be to  you. Do not fear. You shall not die.” It’s what Gideon needed to hear.

Now, fast forward. Later that night, God appears again and speaks to Gideon and tells him to tear down his father’s altar. He has two kind of shrines/altars up on a hill. One is to Baal, or Ba-al. This is the Amorite deity depicted as a bull full of strength, god of lightning, that sort of thing. And the Asherah pole (Asherah is a fertility god.) and up on the hill these are his father’s household statues. And God tells Gideon, “Tear them down and build Me an altar in its place.”

Verse 27: “So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.”

So again Gideon’s fears get ahold of him, and he decides to act at night instead of day to escape notice. But the next morning everyone notices everything’s been torn down. There’s a huge uproar. They ask around and trace it back to Gideon, and he gets in trouble with the mob. And his father, Joash, has to settle things down, and he says this in verse 31: “‘If he (Baal) is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.’ Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, ‘Let Baal contend against him,’ because he broke down his altar.”

So from this day on Gideon becomes a tribal hero. He’s desecrated the altars of the pagan gods. He built an altar to the living God, Yahweh, and he got away with it. This is remarkable. And everyone respects him for it.

So then a few months later, the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the peoples of the east swarm in upon Israel for another big raid. And the tribes of Israel assemble together before Gideon. Some (we’re going to learn) 32,000 people come out to fight and they want Gideon to lead them into battle. Just what God promised would happen! Right? “I will be with you and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” The promises are coming true. But once again Gideon’s fear and insecurities rise up and take the better of him. He begins to doubt the word of God.

Judges 6:36: “Then Gideon said to God, ‘If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.’ And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water.”

So again, God is so patient with Gideon. He honors this test that Gideon lays out. He does exactly what Gideon asks, but then Gideon...I love this. Gideon realizes, “Oh no, I blew it. I blew it. The fleece would naturally hold the water longer than the ground around it where it evaporates. I didn’t...Aw, I didn’t think this out.” And instead of trusting God’s promise like Gideon said he would, he goes, “God, I’ve got to reconfigure the variables. The test was not...This wasn’t a good test. I need a better test.”

Verse 39, “Then Gideon said to God, ‘Let not your anger burn against me.’ (Folks, he knows he’s up against the line here, okay?) ‘Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just this once more. Please let me test just once more with this fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on the ground let there be dew.’ And God did so that night and it was dry on the fleece only and on all the ground there was dew.”

So again, friends, Gideon is not acting in faith here. Don’t take this as a good thing for you to try. This is not. God has spoken directly to Gideon. Gideon knows what God’s will is. He’s the only judge in the book of Judges that God came directly to and spoke. We’d expect that to translate into courage, but Gideon’s insecurities, his control impulses just get the better of him here, and he needs a security blanket (You know?) to hold onto, to feel safe. And God is once again amazingly patient, isn’t He? Lavishly kind! And He gives Gideon exactly what he asks for. “Here’s your security blanket, Buddy. Here’s the dry fleece.”

So Gideon, friends, is looking for security through power. Do you see that? Gideon is looking for security through power. Deep down Gideon is afraid. He’s insecure, and he wishes more than anything that he could be strong, and that he could be mighty in valiance because then things would be different. Then he’d have power. Then he’d be secure. Did you know you can live for power that you don’t actually get? You can organize your life to be powerful even though you never actually get it. He's living for that. That’s how he’s going to be secure is if he could ever be powerful, but he doesn’t get it. And he uses all of these tests as efforts to gain a semblance of control, when everything in life seems so insecure.

So Gideon is struggling here. He’s struggling to trust the promises of God and he’s functionally living like an orphan. Can you see that? Can you see that?

So that’s Gideon’s test. Now let’s talk about his trust. With his fleece in hand, and with 32,000 soldiers at his side, Gideon is starting to feel like “There’s some glimmers of hope here. I think we could really do something here. Right? There’s some hope after all. We could pull this off.”

Judges 7:2: “The Lord said to Gideon, ‘The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, “My own hand has saved me.” Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, “Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.”’ (This is where they are.) Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.”

And just like this, friends, Gideon’s army is reduced by 68%. Okay? For a guy who’s plagued by insecurity, this is disorienting, to say the least. Right? But it gets worse.

Look at verse 4: “And the LORD said to Gideon, ‘The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, “This one shall go with you,” shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, “This one shall not go with you,” shall not go with you.’”

“So Gideon, you’ve got a test for me? (laughs) I have a test for you. I’m going to sort out these 10,000 down by the water.” 

Verse 5: “So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, ‘Everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, everyone who kneels down to drink.’ And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouths, were 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water.”

Now, this is weird, right? It’s a little weird. People come up with all kinds of theories of why God would prefer one method of drinking over the other, and you know, they say the usual explanation is if you can scoop water and lap out of your hands, you can kind of keep an eye on the enemy. That’s the idea, but friends, that’s missing the whole point of the story. Do you know why God picks the ones who lapped water out of their hands? Because it was the smallest group. There were only 300 of them. God’s whole point is to whittle down the army to the smallest possible group so that He alone would get the glory. That’s the point of all of this. It has nothing to do with whether you lap like a dog or not. Okay?

Now, verse 7: “And the LORD said to Gideon, ‘With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands, and let all the others go every man to his home.’ So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.”

So the army goes from 32,000 to 10,000, from 10,000 to 300. So the first reduction is 68%. The second reduction is another 97% and Gideon is left with less than 1% of the original force that came out to fight with him. (laughs) Now, for a guy who we already know is struggling with fear and insecurity and control issues, this must have been brutal. This must have been agonizing. And do you see what’s happening? God is drawing out Gideon’s insecurity through powerlessness. God is drawing out Gideon’s insecurity through powerlessness. God is bringing Gideon to the end of himself. An army of 300! There’s no security there. There’s no power there.

There’s no might or valor there for “it is not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord God.” (Zechariah 4:6)

“Some trust chariots. Some trust in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” (Psalm 20:7)

And this turns the corner now to Gideon’s triumph, his triumph.

Judges 7:9: “That same night the LORD said to him (Gideon), ‘Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant. And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.’” 

Friends, this is amazing. At every word that God has given, every promise, Gideon has had a test. Right? He’s had a test. God beats him to it. Isn’t that gracious? He knows how rattled Gideon must be. He knows how his insecurities have been triggered by this massive reduction in force, and so he decides, “You know what, Gideon? I know how you’re shaped. I know what you need, and so before you even ask for a test, I’m going to give you a security blanket. Why don’t you go down into the camp, and hear what they are saying? If you are scared, bring your servant, Purah. If you think you guys are scared and insecure, wait till you hear your enemies, how afraid they are.”

So Gideon and Purah sneak down into the camp and they overhear a conversation between some soldiers in a tent.

Judges 7:13: “‘Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.’ And his comrade answered, ‘This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.’”

Friends, do you see the battle had already begun? God used a dream to get into their heads to fill their hearts with doom, to destroy the morale of the army. And the fearful whispers are going viral as the rumor runs through the camp, “God has given Midian and the camp into the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, the man of Israel. We’re done for.”

Verse 15: “As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, ‘Arise, for the LORD has given the host of Midian into your hand.’”

And Gideon doesn’t lay out a test. He believes God. Do you see? He trusts God with his fears. He knows where his security lies. He knows that his real power lies not in himself, or in his army, or in the forces around him, but in the Lord God who will fight for the children of Israel. And Gideon calls his men to arms, “Arise, for the LORD has given the host of Midian into your hand.”

Verse 16: “And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars. And he said to them, ‘Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, “For the LORD and for Gideon.’”

Now remember Gideon has the high ground. He’s up on the mountain and Midian is down in the valley, and they would have, no doubt, heard of the 32,000 people, soldiers that had gathered to fight against Midian that were encamped up and over the hill. What Midian does not know is that God has whittled the army down to 300. So Gideon’s plan here is savvy. His plan is to ambush Midian in the night with the illusion that a great army has them utterly surrounded.

Now look at verse 19: “So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch (So they’re changing the guard. It’s a brilliant time to show up.) when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, ‘A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!’ Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the LORD set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled....And the men of Israel pursued after Midian.’”

So the Midianites panic, and in the dark they attack each other, and this oppressive people is utterly routed, and Gideon’s army chases them off, and God delivered Israel by the hand of Gideon, the scared little man He found hiding in a wine press, and his three hundred water lappers just like dogs. Right?

But then again, God delights to use the weak things of this world to shame the strong, doesn’t He? And Gideon discovered real security in the power of God. Gideon discovered real security in the power of God. He learned that the battle belongs to the Lord. And the apostle Paul was right when he writes, “For when I am weak then I am strong, for His power is made perfect in weakness.” Amen? And if God is for us, who then can stand against us?

And we know Gideon got the point. He remembered who won the battle and who deserved the glory because in chapter 8 this is what we read: Verse 22, “Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.’ And Gideon said to them, ‘I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.’”

Friends, Gideon knew that the Lord alone could secure Israel, and the Lord alone had the power that they could rely on. And in childlike faith, Gideon refuses the throne for the real security that is found in the power of the covenant-keeping God. Because, friends, true security is found in our Father’s care, isn’t it? True security is found in our Father’s care.

Friends, do you realize we have a heavenly Father who is watching over our lives with loving care, provision, and protection? When our greatest enemies: sin, death, and Satan were ravaging our lives, He sent us not a scared little man hiding in a wine press, but the courageous Son of God who is lifted high upon the cross for all to see. And Jesus there secured victory over sin and death and Satan so that we no longer have to live in the grip of fear. And if you are in Jesus Christ today, listen friends, sin will not hold you. Satan cannot keep you, and death will not defeat you. Amen? (applause)

Friends, we are secure forever in the undying love of our God. We are safe always in Christ for all time and eternity. We are kept by the Spirit who has sealed us for incomparable glory. No one will be able to take away the eternal life that is yours in Jesus Christ. No one! No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck you from His hand. Till He returns or calls you home, here in the power of Christ we stand. (applause)

Friends, that’s power. That’s security. That’s Jesus. And so child of God, oh children of God, do not be afraid, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Do not be afraid.

Let’s pray.

Father, there’s a whole lot of things in this world that could scare us, that do scare us. Help us to remember that you love and care for the birds, and the flowers, and you love and care for us even more, that there’s nothing we can face in this life, even though it might be really hard, where you are not with us, where you are not working for our good and your glory, where your redemptive presence is not at work, and where our glory is not being eternally secured. Our greatest enemies are already defeated, and now you’re just cleaning up the rest. Help us to trust you.

Sometimes our worst fears might actually come true, but in you it’s going to be okay. The worst thing that can happen is that our lives are lost, and we find ourselves eternally secure in your forever love, with the undying life that comes from knowing you. So Father, we thank you that nothing can actually really touch us, not really, not truly. You have secured us for all eternity. Help us to trust you, to let go, and trust you.

And so we surrender ourselves into your care today, in Jesus’ name. And everybody said, Amen.