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Gideon, the Reluctant Hero

 Text:  Judges 6:11 – 18.

Introduction.  The last time we saw the Lord summoning His people in a time of dark, spiritual drift and distress.  Today, the call becomes intensely personal.  It lands on one man who never applied for the job, never felt qualified, and never expected the Messenger who found him.  His name is Gideon and his story takes up Judges 6 – 8.  We’re going to concentrate on just a few verses in chapter 6 today.

Israel is well into seven years of crushing Midianite oppression.  The raiders sweep in like locusts, devouring crops, livestock, and hope.  The people have cried out to the Lord, and He has already sent a prophet to diagnose the real problem – idolatry and covenant unfaithfulness.  Now the same Lord moves from diagnosis to deliverance.  He doesn’t send an army.  He sends an angel to, of all places, a winepress.

Trouble everywhere.

The scene is almost comic if it weren’t so desperate.

The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. [12] When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. ”  (Judges 6:11, 12 | TNIV)

Threshing wheat was always done on a high, open hill where the wind can separate the grain from the chaff.  A winepress was always a low, stone pit, partially underground, designed for trampling grapes.  Gideon is down in that pit, beating out a little wheat by hand, hiding from the Midianites.  Fear has driven Gideon underground.

And into that hole of fear, the angel of the Lord drops the most unexpected greetings in Scripture:  “The Lord is with you mighty warrior.”

Mighty warrior?  The man is literally sneaking around in a winepress!  That title seems almost sarcastic until we remember who is speaking.  The Lord doesn’t describe Gideon as he is at this moment; He addresses him according to the identity and calling He Himself is about give.  God speaks future reality into present weakness.

This is how God’s call often arrives.  It finds us not on the mountain top of confidence but in the low places of self-protection.  We are trying to preserve a little grain, a little security, a little dignity, and suddenly the voice of God names us something we don’t feel at all.  “Mighty warrior.”  “Chosen vessel.”  “Salt of the earth.”  “Light of the world.”  The discrepancy between the title and the present experience can feel almost cruel – until we realize that the Lord isn’t mocking us.  He is naming what His presence will produce. 

Gideon’s initial response isn’t gratitude or excitement.  It’s honest protest.

 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”  (Judges 6:13 | TNIV)

Gideon has learned well, at least.  He knows the age-old stories of the Exodus, the Red Sea, the manna, and the conquest.  He has heard the testimonies of earlier generations.  But the present reality doesn’t match the inherited memory.  If God is with us, why are our barns empty?  Why are we hiding in caves?  Why are we dreading the next Midianite raid?

I think plenty of us live in that same tension.  We absolutely believe the great acts of God in Scripture.  We sing the hymns of past revivals.  We even remember the past in our own lives when answered prayer seemed to happen all the time.  And then the drought comes – financial, relational, physical, spiritual – and the question we ask is: “If the Lord is with me, why has this happened?”

It’s significant that the angel doesn’t scold Gideon for the question.  The Lord isn’t threatened by honest lament.  What He will never allow, however, is for the lament to become the final word.  The missing miracles of the past are not proof of God’s abandonment; they are the backdrop against which a new act of deliverance will shine.

A weak tribe.

The Lord isn’t deterred by our feelings, and He wasn’t by Gideon’s either.

The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”  (Judges 6:14 | TNIV)

God’s command is stark:  “GO.”  And Gideon’s resource is modest:  “in the strength you have.”  The goal is enormous:  “save Israel.”  But the guarantee is personal:  “Am I not sending you?”

This is the pattern of every true call of God.  He doesn’t wait until we feel strong enough.  He doesn’t require us to manufacture extra strength before we obey.  He simply said, “Go with what you already have, because it’s my strength that matters.”  The strength that matters is not the strength we bring but the strength of the One who goes with us.

 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family. ”  (Judges 6:15 | TNIV)

 The tribe of Manasseh was already one of the smallest tribe.  Within Manasseh the clan of Abiezer ranked near the bottom.  And within that clan Gideon ranked last.  He is stacking all the reasons why the assignment just can’t be for him.  He is doing what most of us do when the urgent call arrives:  We catalogue our limitations as though they’re enough to cancel the command.

But the very weakness Gideon cites is the reason God chose him.  The Lord delights in using the least so that the glory cannot be stolen.  Paul would later write that same principle to the Corinthians:

God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  (1 Corinthians 1:27 | NIV)

Gideon’s puny pedigree is not a disqualification; it’s the perfect stage for divine power.

The Lord answers the objection with a promise that settles everything:

The Lord answered, “I will be with you , and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”  (Judges 6:16 | TNIV)

The guarantee isn’t that Gideon will all of a sudden feel better or braver.  It isn’t that Gideon will become impressive.  The guarantee is the Lord’s presence.  That’s the decisive factor.  Everything else – strategy, numbers, weapons, reputation – is secondary.

This is the heart of the call.  God doesn’t primarily call those who “have it all together.”  He calls those who will go in His presence.  When God says, “I will be with you,” that means the outcome is already secured.  Gideon will not just survive the Midianites, he will strike them down until not one is left standing.  The success is as certain as the character of the One who promises it.

Security sought.

Even with this incredible promise ringing in his ears, Gideon needs more.  He needs some assurance.

Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.”  (Judges 6:17 | TNIV)

Some of us may be tempted to criticize him here.  “Just believe already!”  But the text treats Gideon’s request with surprising patience.  Gideon isn’t demanding a sign out of unbelief so much as seeking confirmation that this encounter is truly from the Lord.  He just needs to make sure.  The stakes couldn’t be higher.  If he’s wrong, he’ll be leading his people into greater disaster.  So he asks for a sign.

Gideon is very specific in his request:

“Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.” And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”  (Judges 6:18 | TNIV)

The angel of the Lord agrees to wait.  Yes, the Creator of the universe sits under an oak tree while a frightened farmer goes into his house, kills a young goat, kneads some unleavened bread, and prepares an offering.  I always marvel at God’s patience, but His patience toward the reluctant is staggering.

We know from the verses that follow that the sign will be dramatic – fire from the rock consuming the offering, and the angel vanishing.  But the deeper assurance is already given in those simple words:  “I will wait until you return.”  The Lord is not in a hurry abandon the conversation.  He is willing to linger with the hesitant until faith is strengthened.

Living the call today.

So, what does this ancient encounter say to us who live on the other side of the cross?

First, the Lord still finds His servants in the winepress of ordinary fear.  He still speaks titles of destiny over people who feel anything but mighty.  If you are hiding, trying to preserve a little security while the large threats encircle you, hear the greeting of grace:  “The Lord is with you.”

Second, the absence of the miracles we remember doesn’t equal the absence of God.  Gideon’s generation had the stories but not the current experience.  God was about the write a new chapter.  The same may be true for you.  The silence is not abandonment; it’s the quiet before a fresh act of deliverance.

Third, your weakness is not a veto on the call.  The Lord is not looking for the strongest clan or the most impressive resume.  He’s looking for the person who will go in the strength they already have because He Himself is sending them.  The decisive factor is never our adequacy – it is His presence.

Fourth, honest questions and even requests for assurance are not the opposite of faith.  The Lord who waited under the oak tree for Gideon’s offering still waits for ours.  He is patient with the reluctant.

Finally, God’s call is always a call into mission larger than ourselves.  Gideon was not summoned to feel better about his personal security.  He was summoned to save Israel.  Every true encounter with the living God enlarges our horizon.  We are released from the winepress not so we can live comfortably, but so we can become instruments of deliverance for others.

Jesus Christ entered the ultimate weakness of the cross so that the weakest among us might become more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  The same Lord who met Gideon under the oak has met us at the empty tomb.  He still says, “I will be with you.”  And the promise is enough.

So, the questions this morning are simple but searching:  Where is your winepress?  What fear has driven you underground?  What title has God spoken over you that still feel impossible?  The urgent call is sounding again.  Will you rise, bring your offering of imperfect faith, and go in the strength you have – because the Lord Himself is sending you?

May the God who turns cowering farmers into mighty warriors strengthen us to answer.