Today's Scripture Reading (March 12, 2022): Judges 7
I love the story of Gideon. At the beginning of the
story, Gideon is nothing more than a scared farmer. Gideon is threshing grain in a
winepress when the angel first approaches him. The idea behind threshing the grain is that the
grain is thrown up into the air, and the breeze carries away the husks allowing the heavier grain to fall back down to earth. But threshing
grain in a winepress reduces the amount of wind available to get the job done. Threshing grain in a winepress
is just a great recipe for getting dirty without accomplishing
anything.
But Gideon feels that he doesn't have a choice. To thresh grain in the open as he
always has in the past would only invite the Midianites to attack and take away
everything for which he had worked. Threshing grain in the open would likely
mean that Gideon's
family would starve. So
Gideon, filled with fear because of his enemy, threshed his grain while at least partially hidden in a winepress. And as he threshes his grain, the
angel appears to Gideon and addresses him with the words, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior"
(Judges 6:12b). We shouldn't miss the sarcasm in the statement. Gideon is a
scared farmer hiding in a winepress; the last thing he feels like is a mighty
warrior. And what Gideon feels is reflected in his response to the angel; if
God were with us, Israel would not be in the mess we are now experiencing. If
God were with me, then this scared farmer wouldn't be threshing his grain in a
winepress.
But
the angel convinces Gideon that he is the one that God had chosen to lead the
Israelites out of the mess. And Gideon, reluctantly, agrees to be God's weapon
in the fight. He gathers his army, which will go up against the Midianites, and
twice God tells him that his army is too big. Eventually, God allows Gideon to
amass a force of 300, likely inept, soldiers. And then God leads Gideon to the
Midianites. But as we read the story, we can't miss that the Gideon, who now
stands with his 300 soldiers on the brink of war with Midian, is still not a
mighty warrior. He may have left his winepress, but he has brought the scared
farmer with him. It is something that God understands, so God invites Gideon to
sneak into the Midian camp and hear the discussions taking place there. And as
Gideon arrives, he hears two men talking about the impending fight. One of the
soldiers has had a dream, and what Gideon hears is the interpretation of the
dream. "This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of
Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into
his hands" (Judges 17:14).
As
the scared farmer listens, he learns an important truth. The enemy knows his
name. And the enemy is as frightened of him as he is of them. It is a moment of
encouragement that the scared farmer needed.
And
maybe it is a spiritual truth that we need to hear. You might be afraid of the
hold that Satan sometimes seems to have on this world, but we need to
understand two things. First, Satan knows your name. And second, he is as
scared of you, and maybe more frightened, than you are of him. With the
strength of the Spirit, we can stand up against Satan's designs in this world.
And that is what scares Satan more than you can ever imagine.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Judges 8
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