“I want to trust God but I always want reassurance.”
IMPORTANT reading: GIDEON – JUDGES chapter 6
The Lord made some very clear statements to Gideon:
- ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valour’, Judges chapter 6 verse 12.
- ‘Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent you’, Judges chapter 6 verse 14.
- ‘Surely I will be with you and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man’, Judges chapter 6 verse 16.
- ‘Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand’, Judges chapter 7 verse 9
Why was it, therefore, that he found it so hard to trust God:
FEAR
He was afraid of the enemy:
- ‘Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites’, Judges chapter 6 verse 11
- ‘But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Phurah your servant’, Judges chapter 7 verse 10
- he was afraid of his father’s household ‘because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night’, Judges chapter 6 verse 27
- he was afraid of God Then the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you, do not fear, you shall not die”, Judges chapter 6 verse 23
LACK OF CONFIDENCE
- when God made a promise to him, Gideon always responded with an ‘IF’ – chapter 6 verse 3, 13, 17
- when God makes a promise to us, we never have to doubt the truth of His word!
- Gideon even wanted God to confirm His promises with SIGNS – ‘show me a SIGN that it is You who talks with me’, Judges chapter 6 verse 17
- Even when God gave him a sign, he wanted another sign to confirm it or the sign to be repeated with a different outcome!
GIDEON teaches us that the secret to trusting God is by acknowledging His sovereignty and recognizing our weakness! Lest we are tempted to be over-critical of him, we must remember that:
- he was only a young man
- he did not have a complete Bible or the indwelling Holy Spirit
- he did not have 2,000 plus years of Christianity behind him
- he did exercise great faith – God placed him in the great gallery of faith in Hebrews chapter 11
- he was anxious to be moving according to God’s will
- God strengthened his faith
- God exercised great patience with him
Concluded