Hebrew Bible and Christian Scriptures

There are a lot things in the Old Testament I don’t understand.  I don’t understand why God commands the Israelites to slaughter whole groups of people, women and children included, and I don’t know why a woman who coldly hammers a tent peg through a man’s head is celebrated as a hero.

Occasionally there are stories I do understand though, and even in those I don’t I can sometimes pull out some meaningful truths from it.  Take for instance the story of Gideon.  In Chapter 6 Gideon has an incredible encounter with either a manifestation of the Lord Himself, or an Angel of the Lord, who tells Gideon that God will use him to defeat the Midianites.  Through an infamous test with fleeces, God miraculously confirms not once, but twice to Gideon that He will do this.

You would think that after all this Gideon would surge into battle with boldness and confidence bubbling over, knowing that the Lord is on his side.  Yet in Chapter 7, he has had his army culled down (by God) to only three hundred men; they look out on the Midianite army and the Bible says that the Midianite’s numbers were like “the sand on the seashore” (Judges 7:12).  I can only imagine how overwhelmed and desparate those 300 men must have felt on the brink of battle as they looked out into the valley and saw  thousands of enemy soldiers ready to crush them at the first sound of a trumpet blast.  Despite all that Gideon had witnessed God do, discouragement set in.

And it certainly does not stop with Gideon.  In the Gospels, Jesus’ disciples witness Him perform dozens of miracles, teach the multitudes, heal the lame, feed thousands with a few loafs of bread, and still we find them on a boat in the middle of a storm in Mark, and you can hear them practically scream at Jesus over the crashing waves that surround them “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (Mark 5:38)

And it really doesn’t stop with the disciples either, does it? I mean I’d like to think I’m different than Gideon or Peter, but I’m really not–you’re really not.  We can all think of times in our lives or our ministries when we knew we were exactly where God wanted us, doing exactly what God called us to do.  Still, when the waves set in, when the enemies begin to surround us, we become discouraged; suddenly we don’t believe we can handle it–that God can handle it.  We witness God work miracles in our lives and yet a few minutes later we have lost our trust in Him again.  “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” God, “allow me one more test…” (Judges 6:39).  God, are you sure you want me for “I am the least…” (Judges 6:15) are you sure that You can really handle this.

Thankfully for Gideon, and for us, God was/is patient and He knew exactly what Gideon needed.  When it looked like there was no hope for Gideon to complete God’s calling, God sent encouragement.  At perhaps the scariest point in Gideon’s life, God leads Gideon into the camp where he overhears a soldier talking about a prophetic dream he had; the soldiers says he is sure this dream means that “God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into [Gideon's] hands” (Judges 7:14).  The Scriptures then say that Gideon was encouraged–emboldened. ”He worshiped God. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands,” and the Israelites would go onto defeat the Midianites that day.

I pray that when the circumstances seem overwhelming, when the task seems impossible, when our purpose feels hopeless, that God would send an encourager into your life like the one He sent to Gideon;  I also pray that we would be these kind of encouragers in other people’s lives. 

And finally I pray that we will learn what Jesus meant when He said “”What is impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke18:27)