Gideon – Overcoming Disappointment and Doubt

Judges 6:1-6

Israel did evil in the sight of God, again. They worshipped the false gods of the Amorites and were greatly oppressed by their enemies.

• The Midianites, the Amalekites, and other Eastern nations came against Israel in big numbers, like swarms of locusts.
• They ruined their crops and spared no living thing for Israel, destroying all their livestock. The people were forced to hide in mountain clefts and caves.

This went on for 7 years and in their suffering, they cried out to God.

Judges 6:7-24, 33-40

• God responded. God always does, because of their repentance, because they cried out with genuine repentance, because of His grace. God always responds, and always delivers when we cry out to Him in genuine repentance.
• God is going to raise one man for the task – Gideon, a farmer who feels that he is the least in the family and from the smallest clan in the tribe of (Manasseh).
• He felt un-disqualified. That’s good. God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called. So, we shouldn’t focus on our DIS-abilities; look to HIS-abilities.

The angel of the Lord declared: Vs12 “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

Wow!! Hmmm, Under such circumstances, these words sound empty. Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress, hiding from his enemies.

• It was an act of fear and cowardice, and yet God called him, “mighty warrior”.
• God sees something that Gideon could not. God sees what Gideon can become. God sees us differently from the way we see ourselves.

God tells him in Vs14 “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

• God doesn’t demand from Gideon what he doesn’t have. Go in the strength you have, and that’s enough because I AM SENDING you.
• God will do His part to see that Gideon becomes Israel’s mighty warrior! But to be mightily used of God, I see two things Gideon must deal with.

Two things Gideon needs to overcome. Both are reflected in his words – the two BUTs he said in verse 13 and verse 15.

Judges 6:13 “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.”

Gideon has to OVERCOME HIS DISAPPOINTMENT WITH GOD

If we are disappointed with God, we will not serve Him. And if we allow that disappointment to remain, it will affect our relationship with Him.

Gideon wasn’t happy with the current state of affairs. For 7 years they had been struggling with the most basic needs.

• He believed God had abandoned them. Where are you when we are suffering? If you love us so much, why didn’t you intervene? Why are we treated so unfairly?
• But these are the same questions we ask God when we are suffering or when things are not going right. We expect God to do more.

THE TRUTH IS – Judges 6:7-10 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, ⁸ he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ⁹ I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. ¹⁰ I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”

• It was Israel who abandoned God!

Many find it hard to tell God that they are disappointed and unhappy with Him. People carry it in their hearts for years, like Gideon.

We blame God but we do not want to say it out loud. We hide those feelings because we don’t want to look irreligious.

But the compulsion to say only the “right thing” actually keeps us spiritually sick. We are not telling God the things that really matter. We are spiritually sick because we are not totally honest with God.

Gideon poured out his true feelings, and God led him out of his discontent.

 Then came his 2nd BUT in verse 15:

Judges 6:15 “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.”

Gideon has to OVERCOME HIS DOUBTS IN GOD

This is a common problem when the Holy Spirit shows us where and How He wants us to serve God. I can identify with this. We look at ourselves. There are so many things I cannot do, so many things I have not done, the thoughts that I am not good enough, that I’m not like somebody else… and on and on it goes.  We keep seeing our lack, and this cripples us. Problem? We are too preoccupied with ourselves.

I’ve learned to look at what God calls you to. Look at the needs and believe that the God who calls you, will supply what you lack, to fulfill those needs. He will enable you because He called you. If not, He would not have called you in the first place.

Judges 6:17-18 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. ¹⁸ 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.” God was patient with him.

Judges 6:21 Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. It was a miraculous sign.

We see how God is leading and guiding Gideon out of his disappointments and doubts. Why? Gideon needs to settle these before he can become the “mighty warrior” God wants him to be.

• God wants to assure him. He did it again in with the miracle of the fleece. For that He did twice (fleece wet, ground dry; fleece dry, ground wet).

God was taking a journey with Gideon and helping him gain confidence and faith.

• God does that with us when we tell Him our disappointments and doubts.
• He heals our hearts when we confess to Him. He heals us by showing us Himself and by showing us the truth. He walks us through and out of our disappointments and doubts.

Psalm 62:8 “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”

Don’t pretend that you’re alright when you’re not. Never let disappointments and doubts drive you AWAY FROM God; let them drive us TO GOD.

• It took a little time for Gideon to gain the confidence/faith he needed but, Gideon was willing, and because Gideon was willing God was patient with him.

Most Christians have probably in some form or another tried Gideon’s methods when they come to making a decision.

• It’s the wrong application. Gideon’s problem is not about decision-making.
• Gideon had already gotten a clear direction from God. Judges 6:14 “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?”

Putting out a fleece is not a glamourous thing; it is a sign of a lack of trust/faith in God.

If God says something to us and we keep coming back to Him to ask for proof, that’s not a compliment. It says that I don’t trust you.

Don’t ask for more proof; ask for greater faith.

Story of a boy with an impure spirit: Mark 9:23-24 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

• The disciples asked Jesus in Luke 17:3-5 “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. ⁴ Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” ⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

 “Increase our faith!” That’s our prayer!

• If you have faith, you don’t need proof. If you have no faith, no amount of proof is ever enough.

Confess to God and let Him lead you out of your disappointment and doubt.

• We can be mighty warriors only when these issues are settled in our hearts.