Who? Me?

Judges 6:11-24

¹¹ Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth 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. ¹² And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” ¹³ And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” ¹⁴ And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 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 in my father’s house.” ¹⁶ And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” ¹⁷ And he 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. ¹⁸ 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 till you return.” ¹⁹ So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. ²⁰ And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. ²¹ Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the 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. ²² Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now, I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” ²³ But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” ²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

Now we are introduced to the next Judge of Israel, Gideon. When the Lord meets with him, we learn the depth to which Israel has sunk in their famine. He is threshing grain in the bottom of wine press with a broom. Usually grain was threshed in the open so the wind could blow away the chaff, using oxen or donkeys to do all the heavy lifting. Gideon is hidden out in the hopes of providing just a small amount of grain so that family can have some bread. His situation is pitiful. That makes God’s greeting of Gideon stand in stark contrast to reality; “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” You can almost see Gideon look behind himself to see who that Angel of the Lord might be addressing for it certainly couldn’t be him! Mighty man of valor? Not even close.

And then Gideon does the unthinkable. He calls God out on their desperate situation. If God is here, why are we starving to death? The God who saved our people from Egypt doesn’t appear to be available to us anymore. And we are subject to Midian – of all people! Gideon goes on to use the same excuse we heard from Moses. “I’m too weak. I’m nobody. Send someone else.” God then makes a promise. If I go with you, Midian will be struck down with a single blow.

At this point, Gideon prepares a lavish meal for his Visitor and he witnesses his first miracle. The Angel of the Lord consumes the very large meal in a flash of fire and disappears. Gideon is dumbstruck. He knows he has been in the presence of God. Suddenly he fears that he too will be consumed for seeing God is dicey business. God assures Gideon that all is well and that he will not die for having seen the Lord. Gideon’s response is appropriate – he builds an altar and worships the Lord.

This is just the first salvo in what will become a long and successful relationship between God and Gideon. He does indeed become the man that God sees – a mighty man of valor. This story always makes me wonder what God would say to me should he suddenly appear before me. What name might He use to address me? What name might He use to address you? I believe we would all be surprised for I think that God holds us in higher esteem than we can imagine. I can actually think of several designations I would love to hear from God, but I also believe the reality of His opinion is greater than my imagination. Because the blood of Jesus has redeemed all believers from sin our position before the Lord is far greater than we may suspect. Instead of seeing the sinful worm that we know ourselves to be, He see blood purchased treasures that He loves and cherishes. We too can become trapped in thinking God hasn’t done anything for me lately and so I am nothing in His sight. That simply means we aren’t seeing life as He does and so might do well to ask Him for His vision rather than our own. I know that He daily shifts my thinking about others as I ask Him to help me see them through His eyes. Suddenly there is far more love in my heart for others. Perhaps I would do well to ask Him to show me His vision of me as well.