Are You Really There, Lord? - Judges 6-7

Cody Hale

The Big Story Judges • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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(For screens, I will only need passages focused on Gideon’s doubt - Judges 6:11-17; 6:36-40; 7:9-14)

Introduction

A few months ago, Sara and I were at the park. Sara made a friend who was older than her, and they were playing. The older little girl kept going down the fireman pole. I could tell that Sara really wanted to do it to keep up, but she was afraid. I went over so that I could help her build her confidence by doing it a couple of times with help. Sara: “I’m just a little girl, and I’m still kind of afraid of heights.” So, I talked her into trying it and told her that I would catch her if she fell. She would put one leg on the pole, and ask me, “Are you really there, dad? Do you really have me?” And, I reassured her that I was until finally slid down the pole. Honestly, I think she doubted as to whether I would catch her until her feet were on the ground.

If I could sum up my response to God in a single story, that would probably be it. God calls me to higher heights, greater experiences of him, and my response inevitably is: “Are you really there, Lord? Do you really have me?” My most common response to God is to doubt him. That probably doesn’t encourage you much to know. It’s to doubt that He is really enough and really good and really able and really willing. Apparently, my love language is reassurance because that’s what I’m always seeking from him.

God’s Word

So, Gideon may just be the person in the Bible with whom I most identify. God allows Gideon to take part in one of the most monumental events in Israel’s history, and yet, Gideon doubts him all the way to the end.

Judges —> 12 cycles peace/sin/judgement/repentance/redemption

Gideon = 5th judge —> situation continuing to deteriorate so this is the worst yet till this point

Three different times in two chapters Gideon asks, “Are you really there, Lord?”

Theme verse: 6:13 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.”

We can learn a lot about our doubt from Gideon’s doubt. Three Times When We Doubt (Headline)

We doubt when “life” is “hard.”

The situation is dire:

“The Midianites were.....like locusts”

Plague of Egypt was against them.

The Midianites were doing what locusts do — destroying food supply.

The people are filled with uncertainty and sent into hiding.

Life is hard!

Gideon has two most common reactions to suffering:

Reaction one: “I'm not strong enough.”

Gideon is framed up as being an impossibly afraid man.

6:11-12 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. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

This isn’t how you thresh wheat. You do it outside so that the wind can blow away the chaff. Gideon is inside because he’s afraid.

“O mighty man of valor” It’s going to keep coming up how afraid Gideon is. This is ironic!

Suffering makes us introspective. I can remember being depressed and anxious wondering, “What’s wrong with me? Why am I experiencing this? Why can’t I handle this?”

God calls Gideon to save his people from the Midianites, and you can hear his introspection. “I can’t even handle my life!” Paralyzed by fear.

6:15 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.”

How many of us don’t have ears to hear God’s call for us because we’re too overwhelmed with our lives to listen? We keep looking within, and the only fact we can settle on is: “I can’t. I’m not strong enough.”

Reaction two: “God’s not good enough.”

6:13 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.”

Our suffering often brings into question God’s goodness. The exodus was a long time ago, and God seems silent today. “What have you done for me lately? If you’re good, then where have you been?” My heart was broken. My cancer has returned. My husband is awful. My job is a dead end. Why should I trust God to help me this time when it feels like He abandoned me last time?

When you realize that you’re not strong enough and you fear that God isn’t good enough. What choice do you have but to fear. If you think through your fear and anxiety, one or both of those reactions is lying beneath.

So, you can understand Gideon’s response to God’s promise of his presence: “Are you really there, Lord?” Like a little child with one leg on the fireman pole and a mountain of fear gluing you to the platform.

So, it appears that suffering is working against God’s purposes until you see how God responds. God responds to Gideon’s fear and doubt with the assurance of his presence. The point: God’s presence is revealed through Gideon’s weakness. And, this is what suffering draws out of the true children of God. Suffering causes us to question everything just so that we can know how sweet and true God’s goodness really is.

ILLUSTRATION: Mandy: 5 strokes —> Tried to be strong enough to be supermom — realized she was running on fear of not being good enough — living like God was enough — God set her free and she loves him more than she ever has. That’s the storyline of the Bible: Your weakness serves as the backdrop of God’s goodness. It’s the contrast that shows how radiant his glory is. Corrie ten Boom: 'If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within , you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest.'

We doubt when the “call” is “big”.

Judges 6:36-40 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 rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all 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.

Every time Gideon says, “If/then” to God he’s asking, “Are you really there, Lord?”

Three signs (burned offering/fleece wet/fleece dry) for assurance can also be seen as three signs of unbelief.

Have you ever noticed that the bigger and more important the call the greater the doubt? Our doubt seems to increase in proportion to God’s call on our lives. This means that the greater the opportunity we have to experience God’s power firsthand the more likely we are to miss it. Think about that. We know the end of this story. God is going to do a work so great through Gideon that Isaiah’s still going to be talking about hundreds of years later. He’s going to slaughter 120,000 Midianites with a few lanterns. And, he’s doing everything he can to get out of it.

Why would anyone try to avoid the call of God on their lives?

You want a safe, low-risk faith. You want a life that’s uncomplicated by the need of God.

We need to check ourselves: If you’re not asking, “Are you really there, Lord?”, it may not be because you have faith; it may be that you have so little faith you can accomplish every part of your life by your own strength. You see, “Are you really there?” doesn’t just express a lack of faith; it also expresses the desire of faith! The only time we read of in which God is tested and does not destroy the person. In Gideon, there is a real desire to honor and bless the Lord.

APP: Do you truly want to go wherever God would have you to go and do whatever God would have you to do, or do you just want God to sign off on your safe, low-risk plan? Are you willing and ready to live a life complicated by the need for God?

We doubt when the “costs” are “high”.

A strange scene ensues. They’re facing 135,000 fighting men of Midian. Gideon rounds up a solid 32,000. And, God sends home all be 300 of them.

22,000 because they’re scared. (scholarly debate regarding the scene with water - my understanding is that he chose the men least tired from soldiering, least effective on the field) 300 because they’re weird “lapping like a dog”

Gideon says, “The enemy is too big.” God says, “Your army is too big.”

God’s formula: Weakest man + Weakest army + Weakest weapons = a call to come and die

It’s the defining moment. I’m either going to die to the Midianites, or I’m going to die to myself because I’ve found the One worthy of my life who will call me to a higher life.

The plan is God or death. Bonhoeffer: “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” The life-defining question of Gideon: “Are you really there, Lord?” If you’re really there, I’ll die to everything else. If you’re really there, I’ll take on 132,000 with 300. I’ll like those odds. If you’re really there, I’m willing to have less right now so that more can have you. If you’re really there, there’s no cost too high. This is the question that you have to settle because this is the question that changes everything. If God is really there, you’re a fool if you seek one ounce of satisfaction in anything you find here. You’re a fool if you don’t go wherever He sends at whatever cost. If God is not really there, then you’re a fool for giving him one ounce of your energy and devotion.

YOU CANNOT REMAIN HALF-COMMITTED TO A GOD THAT REALLY LIVES. So, Gideon asks it one more time before he walks his 300 men into a bloodbath. How could he not with the costs so high?

Judges 7:9-11 That same night the Lord said to him, “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.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp.

God preempts Gideon’s doubt, and Gideon doesn’t hesitate to take him up on it. Midianites are buzzing as thick as locusts, and Gideon is hanging out with a few buddies. It looked like a death trap. Gideons going equates to Gideon’s asking: “Are you really there, Lord?”

Convinced that God was with him, Gideon led the 300 men against the Midianites. God confused the Midianites so that they killed each other, and Gideon didn’t lose a single man. 120,000 Midianites died.

Landing

This is a story that is about what God is willing and able to do through the weakest of men. I wonder what would you do if you knew if you knew that God was with you? Because, you see, we have a benefit that Gideon did not have. We have the assurance that he was longing for. Because we have Jesus who has been raised from the dead. Jesus really walked this earth. Jesus really died upon the cross. Jesus really raised from the dead. Jesus really lives. So, when we come to God like a child to his dad and ask, “Are you really there, Lord?” Jesus answers: “I”m really here. I’m really able. I’m really willing. Come, and follow me.”

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