Gideon

Today’s story is from the 7^th book of the Bible. Our story is from Judges.
Joshua was the leader of the Israelite people after Moses died. He led the people in victory against many of their enemies as they entered the Promised Land. God gave them victory! However, when Joshua died the people started to forget about God. In fact, they even stopped trying to drive out the people from the land as God had told them to. There was a group of people called Canaanites living there, and instead of driving them out, the Israelites lived alongside them. The Canaanites worshipped false Gods.
Israel began worshipping false gods just like the Canaanites! They built altars to the fake gods Baal and Asherah, and rather than worshipping the one true God they bowed down to statues they had made with their own hands. Their idolatry was a sin that had to be punished. God allowed Israel to be conquered by their enemies, the Midianites. The Midianites destroyed Israel’s crops so there wasn’t enough food for everyone. After 7 years the people of Israel were so desperate that they cried out to God for help.
God hadn’t forgotten about His people. God had used the oppression of the Midianites to bring Israel back to Him! Remember, God overcomes our weaknesses.
The angel of the Lord appeared to a man named Gideon to give him a special message and task. The angel first said to him, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” Gideon questioned the angel saying…
Read Judges 6:13: “But sir, if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about?…But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”
 Gideon didn’t believe that God was truly with Israel. The angel answered saying, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
Read Judges 6:15: “But Lord, how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
Gideon didn’t believe that God could use him since he was from a small family and he wasn’t very strong. But God overcomes our weaknesses, and if Gideon would obey God, he would see God’s power.
 The angel of the LORD said, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”  Gideon had a hard time believing what God said was true so he asked for a sign. He prepared some food and brought it back to the LORD. Gideon placed the meat and bread on a rock, and the angel of the LORD touched it with the tip of his staff. Suddenly, flames erupted from the rock and consumed the food. Then the angel disappeared. Gideon knew that he had seen the LORD face to face!
That night God spoke to Gideon again telling him to tear down the idols (or Asherah poles) and altars to Baal and build an altar to the one true God. Gideon was afraid of what the people would do to him if they found out, so he obeyed God but did it at night so no one would know. When morning came and the people saw their altars and Asherah poles cut down they were angry. Gideon was discovered and the people wanted to kill him! But Gideon’s father stood up for him saying, “If Baal is a real god, let him punish Gideon.” Of course, Baal was a fake god so nothing happened to Gideon.

This is only the beginning of Gideon's victories, to continue the story,  Read Judges 6:33 - 8:26