Gideon's Army

Passages: Judges 6-8

This week in the Redemption Series, students picked up in the book of Judges, right after the story of Joshua. Israel had just been challenged to choose who they would serve, and they answered by turning to false gods almost immediately. That sets up a repeating cycle in Judges: Israel sins, God hands them over to an enemy, Israel cries out, God raises up a leader called a judge to rescue them, there is peace for a while, the judge dies, and the cycle starts again.

‍

What Was Taught

Meet Gideon

Before Gideon, four other judges kept Israel afloat: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, and Deborah. Each time, even though Israel kept falling into sin, God still rescued His people. By Gideon's time, Israel was being crushed by Midian, who raided their land every harvest and destroyed their crops and livestock. Israel cried out, and God sent His angel to a man named Gideon, hiding from the enemy, and called him a "mighty warrior."

Gideon did not feel like one. He doubted God out loud, asking where all the wonders his ancestors talked about had gone, and told God that his family was the weakest in their tribe and he was the least in his family. God did not argue with him. He simply told Gideon that He would be with him.

A faith that needed confirmation

Gideon asked God for sign after sign before he would move: an offering consumed by fire, then a wool fleece soaked with dew while the ground stayed dry, then the same fleece dry while the ground around it was wet. God patiently gave him each one. Gideon's faith was weak, but it was still faith, and God met him in it rather than shaming him for it.

Gideon also obeyed God's first hard instruction, tearing down the town's altar to Baal, but he did it at night, afraid of how his family and neighbors would react. God was clearly still building Gideon's courage step by step.

An army shrunk on purpose

• 32,000 down to 300. God trimmed Gideon's army twice so that when the battle was won, no one could claim Israel had saved itself.
• Courage and alertness. The men God kept were the ones willing to fight and the ones who stayed watchful for the enemy, a picture of how believers are called to live today.

With just 300 men, Gideon overheard an enemy soldier describe a dream about a loaf of bread flattening a tent, which a fellow soldier interpreted as Gideon's coming victory. That was enough to settle Gideon's confidence for the fight ahead. God's plan threw the massive Midianite camp into chaos in the dark, and the enemy turned on itself and fled.

Finishing what God started

Most people would have stopped once the enemy camp scattered. Gideon and his exhausted 300 kept going, chasing down two Midianite kings who had killed his own brothers, and finished the mission completely. When Israel then asked Gideon to rule over them, he refused, saying the Lord would rule over Israel, not him. After everything Gideon had accomplished, he still pointed back to God instead of himself.

A blind spot at the end

Israel had 40 years of peace under Gideon, but a gift he gave Israel after the victory later became something Israel worshiped in his place, and the nation slid right back into idolatry after his death. Even one of the best judges Israel ever had could not fix what was broken in Israel's heart. That is the whole point of the Judges cycle: Israel did not need a rescuer for a season. They needed a King who would never fail them and never leave them to fall apart again, which is exactly what Jesus is.

‍

Talk About It at Home

These are the questions students were asked tonight. Use one or two, not all four:

1. Have you ever felt like you were the "least likely" or least qualified person for something you were a part of? What did you do with that?
2. God intentionally shrunk Gideon's army so no one could take credit but Him. Is there an area of your life right now where you're tempted to take credit for something that was really God's doing?
3. Gideon and his men finished the job instead of stopping at "good enough." Where in your own life have you stopped short of finishing something God had placed in your life? What would it look like to go back and see it through to the finish line?
4. Where might your words be pointing people toward God while something else you're doing is quietly pointing them somewhere else?

A few easier openers if you want to start smaller:

• If God asked you to do something and gave you three chances to double check it was really Him, would you feel silly asking, or relieved He was patient with you?
• Who is someone you know who does a hard thing well but stays humble about it?
• What is a "blind spot" you check for when you're driving? What would a blind spot in someone's faith look like?
• Is there a job or responsibility you've had that you finished all the way through, even after it got hard or boring?