Lois Flowers

Inside: Gideon asked God for three signs, and God performed a miracle each time. Keep reading to find out why—and what happened next.

I meant to write this post last year, when my word for the year was strength. I’ve actually been thinking about it for much longer than that, though, and it sometimes happens that the longer I ponder something, the harder it is to write about it. I tried several times last year, but the words just didn’t come. After giving it another shot recently, I finally got it done. I hope the two-part series that begins today encourages your heart.

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The account of how Gideon rose up out obscurity to save the Israelites from their oppressors is one of my favorite narratives in the Old Testament. Perhaps you remember the story. Israel is in chaos. The judges who are supposed to be in charge are not leading well, to say the least.

Gideon is threshing wheat in a wine press when “the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: ‘The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.’ ” (Judges 6:12)

That’s not exactly the greeting you’d expect God to give someone who is so obviously hiding out from his enemies. But when Gideon responds with a barrage of questions about why all the calamity had befallen Israel if the Lord was really with them, the Angel is unfazed.

“The Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not sending you?’ ” (Judges 6:14)

Gideon clearly doesn’t think he’s the man for the job. But when he describes his family as the weakest in their tribe and himself as the youngest in his father’s family, the Lord simply says, “I will be with you. … You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.” (Judges 6:15-16)

Then the story gets really interesting. Gideon asks for a sign of God’s favor, and the angel brings fire up from a rock and consumes the man’s sacrifice. (Judges 6:17-22) Later, Gideon wants even more assurance that God will deliver Israel from the Midianites. So he asks for not one, but two additional signs.

“Then Gideon said to God … ‘I will put a fleece of wool here on the threshing floor. If dew is only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry, I will know that You will deliver Israel by my strength, as You said.’ And that is what happened. When he got up early in the morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung dew out of it, filling a bowl with water.

“Gideon then said to God, ‘Don’t be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece. Let it remain dry, and the dew be all over the ground.’ That night God did as Gideon requested: only the fleece was dry, and dew was all over the ground.” (Judges 6:36-40)

So, a question. When God calls Gideon a “mighty warrior” at the beginning of their encounter, is He being sarcastic, or does He see something that even Gideon himself has missed?

Armchair theologians—maybe even serious students of the Bible—might chastise Gideon for his apparent cowardice, his seeming lack of faith, his relentless requests for signs. I don’t know, though. I actually see resourcefulness in his means of threshing and boldness in his request for proof.

I’m guessing the Angel of the Lord scared Gideon half out of his wits, but he still asks for three signs. And God performs the miracles. Every single one.

He doesn’t chastise Gideon for his unbelief or strike him mute for his lack of faith (which did happen to other people in scripture, by the way—Sarah and Zechariah come to mind).

Perhaps this was because God knew Gideon’s heart. He knew how Gideon was wired—his personality, his internal drive, his willingness to do what was necessary, even if it was unconventional or he had to sneak around to do it.

Maybe that’s what the Angel of the Lord was talking about when he told Gideon to go in the strength that he had.

What happens next makes that argument even more convincing. Once Gideon accepts his new assignment, he has to recruit an army. He starts out with 32,000 volunteers, but God has some very specific instructions about how to narrow down the troops. (Judges 7:2-6)

By the time everyone who is scared or demonstrated a lack of readiness gets sent home, Gideon is left with 300 soldiers, armed with nothing more than trumpets, empty pitchers and torches. (See Judges 7:9-25 for details of the actual battle.)

Talk about unorthodox military strategy. Ridiculous is more like it. And yet, there’s no record in scripture of Gideon questioning any of it.

When he finally decided to step out and boldly go in the strength that he had, God did amazing things. The end result wasn’t up to Gideon, his job was to do what God told him to do. And the outcome was an astounding victory for the Israelites.

So what does all this have to do with us today? Click here for Part Two—How to Cope When Doubts and Fears are Eroding Your Confidence.

♥ Lois

P.S. I’m linking up this week with OneWord2022, #tellhisstory, InstaEncouragements, Recharge Wednesday, Let’s Have Coffee and Grace & Truth.