Sunday Feb. 11, 2007

Jdg 6:11-15
(11) And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

Did you ever stop to wonder what Gideon was doing in a winepress? A winepress was a large container taller than a man that the grapes would be put into and then crushed to make wine. This is not a good place to be threshing wheat because it would involve throwing the grain in the air so that the good part could drop down and the unusable part could be blown away in the wind. You see, there would be no wind in the winepress. So why would you thresh wheat there? Because you did not want your enemy, the Midianites, to know because they would come and steal your wheat. You see, Gideon saw himself as a coward.

(12) And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valor.

What is important is how God sees us. The angel of the LORD made a special effort to to find Gideon and tell him what the LORD thought of him. And you know what, God sees us the same way. Think about it, God is not a respecter of people, if He sees Gideon as a might man of valor, how does he see you? The more important thing here is how do you see yourself in comparison with how God sees you?

(13) And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

Gideon continues to look at himself as a failure. Do you do the same when you know that God says you are good? Not only does he continue to put himself down, he puts down all of Israel and tells God that He has failed Israel in the process. Read Judges and find out the real story. God had not failed them, they turned away from God and God let their enemies defeat them. It is a regular pattern that flows through the book of Judges. They were in the following false gods period at this time. Gideon blames God for what they have done to themselves.

(14) And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?
(15) And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.

The same problem again. God tells him just how good he was and Gideon puts himself down. He is from a poor family and he is the least in it. He just can not get the image that God has of him and put it in himself. How do you do when God tells you how good you are? Eventually Gideon got to see just how good he was, but he had to test God, and God had to test him before he did.

Take some time today and see yourself as God sees you.