Daily Devotional For Sunday, August 24, 2025
Good morning Southside and let’s hope this devotional posts since last Sunday’s did not. Sometimes God asks us to do something that seems impossible. God asked Abraham at 75 to be a father of a great nation. It would be another 25 before that happened. Then God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac when the boy was a teen after waiting all those years. Abraham started through the process and God stopped him. God asked Moses to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. Moses never thought that was possible. God told the Hebrews to go into the Promised Land and take it. Something they thought could not be done because they had heard how powerful militarily these different nations were. But they did start.
One particular future judge over Israel had his doubts. We read this in Judges 6:14-16, “Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!’ (15) “But Lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!’ (16) The Lord said to him, ‘I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man’” (NLT).
I know that playing video games that are about war are exciting and thrilling to boys of all ages. But playing a video game about war is not the same thing as being a soldier in combat. There is nothing glamorous about war, seeing your buddies killed and slaughtered. I understand Gideon’s reservations. He knows this about warfare and it scared him. Yet, the lesson Gideon had to learn is if God has commanded you to do something and you do it the way He commands, you will be victorious. Why? The battle is really the Lord’s. Yes, the Lord could have slaughtered the Midianites Himself, but to put fear in the Midianities in the God of the Hebrews, He wanted Gideon to do this in the power and the protection of the Lord.
New Testament Warren W. Wiersbe writes this :”God called a farmer by the name of Gideon to go out and destroy the Midianities. Gideon started his career as somewhat of a coward (Jdg. 6), then became a conqueror (7:1–8:21), and ended his career as a compromiser (8:22–35). But more space is devoted to Gideon in the Book of Judges (100 verses) than to any other judge; and Gideon is the only judge whose personal struggles with his faith are recorded. Gideon is a great encouragement to people who have a hard time accepting themselves and believing that God can make anything out of them or do anything with them” (Source: Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Available, pp. 44-45).
This time Israel has to deal with the Midianites, who did not attack to conquer, but to invade and pillage the land of the Hebrews. The animosity between the Hebrews/Israel and the Midianites was an old smoldering hatred of each other. We see this in the Ehud story in Exodus 17:8-16 and in Judges 3:1-3. Prior to this, there had been issues with the Midianites during the time of Moses in Numbers 25:1-18 and in Numbers 31:1-12. By the time we come to Gideon, the volcano is hot and about to explode between these two groups.
Like locusts, the Midianites only wanted to strip the land of its resources and leave what was unusable behind for the Hebrews. They wanted the rich and fertile land that could produce food only for themselves. So, each harvest season they would swarm like locusts and strip the harvest for themselves. And this had been going on year after year. In addition, they would steal sheep, oxen, cattle and donkeys for their own benefit. This is the point of Judges 6:3-5. This caused Hebrews/Israelites to live like starving animals, scavenging for food wherever they could find it. Some resorted to living in dens and caves like animals instead of homes. This is the point of Judges 6:6. It is this contest that God called Gideon, a youth to mature into a soldier to be used to free the Israelites once and for all from the Midianites.
But there is one major hiccup. It is in Judges 6:7-10. Due to Israel’s unfaithfulness, their deliverance is in question from a prophet God sends them. But like with most people God calls, it is going to take some convincing. In Judges 6:11, God sends an angel to Gideon to tell him to deal with the Midianites. Gideon agrees but barters with God for a sign – a fleece. Our God is so patient with Gideon. Because after God does with the fleece what Gideon asked, Gideon asked God to do something with the fleece just opposite of the first request. God agrees and does this. You can read this in Judges 6:36-40.
Gideon amasses a huge army and God tells him too many men. God has Gideon downsize it to only 300 men to fight the thousands of Midianites. We are not told how God selected these 300 men, only that He did. Some scholars think it was how the thousands of troops Gideon had amassed drank the water from the river. It seems that those who scooped the water up with their hands were rejected by God versus those who put their pace into the river and drank directly from it. For Gideon, the battle between faith and fear is worse than the battle against the Midianites.
Assignment: What has God called you to do but you have not, due to fear? Like Gideon, you can give all the good reasons why you do not qualify, why you are not equipped and why someone else would do a better job. If you say, “I don’t know anything like that,” then that is probably due to sin, rebellion and disobedience in your life. So, first, confess that sin, repent from it and correct the wrong, then ask God for His forgiveness and then commit to do it.
Scripture To Meditate On: 1 Samuel 17:47, “David said this to the giant Goliath, ‘And that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands’” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Lord, please forgive me when I let fear stop me in my tracks doing what You want. Please forgive me when I list all the reasons why I cannot do this. Lord, I am going to trust 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (NLT). Lord, for all You have done for me, I submit to Your will for my life. Where I have sinned, I confess it now to you. I repent from my sins and all I want is to bring You glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside – Pastor Kelly