Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On Aug 19, 2018: Judges 6-7 Where Are All The Miracles
Transcript
- You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018. Well, here we are in Judges chapter 6. Again, looking at chapter 6 and 7 today as we walk through the book of Judges, going through the Bible in three years, we're in this time of Israel's history where they begin to walk with God and then they begin to fall away and worship other gods. And then as a result of that, they begin to experience bondage from surrounding nations and enemies and afflictions and difficulties and desolations and It kind of awakens them after a while. They're a little bit slow, much like us. It takes them a little bit of time to recognize, wow, we are messed up. There's lots of issues going on. And they come back to repentance, call out to the Lord, and God raises up a judge or a deliverer. Don't think of judge, you know, like with the robe and the gavel. A judge was a conqueror. It was someone who would come up and deliver them, lead them into deliverance and from whatever nation was oppressing them at the time. And so there was this cycle of repentance and deliverance and then sin and bondage and then repentance and deliverance. And that's what we're seeing all throughout the times of the judges. And here we're looking at a particular judge named Gideon. And as God raises up Gideon, we get some insight into his call, into his commission. And Gideon has a heart that's much like yours and mine, perhaps, as God calls out to him. He asks a very important question in verse 13 here of Judges chapter 6. Gideon says to this angel who's speaking to him, he says, "'Oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?' And where are all his miracles which our fathers told us about? Gideon asked a very important question, a question that perhaps you have asked before as well. Where are all the miracles? Gideon is looking around as they see the devastation that the Midianites, their present enemy, have brought upon them. And he's looking at a land that is desolate. He's threshing wheat and hiding in a wine press, which speaks about the smallness of his harvest as well as him hiding from the Midianites. But a wine press wasn't, you know, for a gigantic harvest of wheat. It was a small place. And so he didn't have much. He's looking around. It describes the land as being desolate as a result of this Midianite oppression. They would come in. They'd wait for Israel to do all the work. So Israel would do the plowing of the land. They would sow. They would, you know, take care of the crops all year long. And then when it was time to reap the harvest, then the Midianites would come in and just take all the food. And so Israel was putting in all this labor but getting nothing for it. And it tells us that they were greatly impoverished as a result. And here this angel shows up to Gideon and he says, the Lord is with you. And Gideon says, are you sure? I mean, I'm looking around and all I see is just desolation. Where's the miracles? If God is with us, where's the miracles? Why has all of this happened to us if God is with us? It's a question you might have. It's a question we've all experienced, I'm sure. Where are the miracles? This word miracle, it means something that is wonderful, something extraordinary, something amazing or wondrous. And as Gideon asked this question, again, it's something that we may ask, where's all the wonderful works of God that we've heard about? We've heard other people tell about wonderful works of God. We've read about wonderful works of God in the Bible. We've heard testimonies. We've seen things. But as we look around right now, as I look around at the desolation around me, you might be saying, where are the miracles? If God is with us, why has all this happened to us? I think it's important to consider what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 72, verse 18, saying, He says, "'Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things.'" This is something to note about God. This is something to pay attention to about the way that God works. The psalmist tells us, "'God only does wondrous things.'" God never does mediocre things. He never does just, eh, it's just kind of plain things. "'God only does wondrous things.'" Now, this is really interesting. If you contrast this with me, hey, you know, during the week, I'm writing code. I'm building websites. And there are many times I can look back at a day's work and go, you know, that wasn't my best work. There are many days where I can look back and go, yeah, that's not wondrous code. Now, there are many times I'm convinced, wow, that is wondrous code. I mean, that is like genius. I should be paid much more than I am for that code. That's just brilliant. There's those days too. But But there's also those days where it's just like, you know, it was just like, you look at the website when it's finished, it's like, well, I'm not really proud of it, but it's done. You know, it's like, it's okay. God doesn't have those days. He only does wondrous things. I can walk away from a Sunday morning and think, you know, I could have done much better in that message. I could have, there's some things I could have changed. It was okay. I mean, we got through it and the Lord spoke. He ministered, of course, great, you know, but yeah, it wasn't really wondrous. Now, there are other days where I'm convinced, like, wow, that was amazing, you know. But there are also those times where it's just like, hmm, so-so. God never has those days. Some days, Kim looks at me and says, you know, you're just kind of a so-so husband. Most of the time, most of the time, she would say, I'm a wondrous husband. But, you know, I'm not always a wondrous husband. I also have those times where it's just like, you know, you're okay. It's all right. God doesn't have those days. Think about that. God only does. wondrous things. God only does miraculous things. That's all that God can do. That's all that God knows how to do. That's all that God ever does. And so Gideon says, if God is with us, why don't we see the wondrous things? Where are those wondrous things? Why don't we see the miracles taking place? And so we're going to explore that thought with Gideon here in chapters 6 and 7 and see what's holding back because God is going to do a But there's some reasons why they're not seeing the miracles. And there's a kind of a process, a progression that Gideon walks through with the Lord to be able to experience the miraculous deliverance that God wants to bring. And perhaps that is the case with you, that as you're looking around and you're thinking, where are the miracles? All I see in my life around me is desolation. Where are the miracles? Well, perhaps there's some key insights from Gideon that we can learn with him in this journey with the Lord. We're going to start out here in chapter 6, looking at verses 6 through 10 for point number 1, and that is, miracles are uncovered in repentance. Repentance. Sometimes we are not seeing the miracles of God and the work of God because it's buried. It's buried by sin. And we're missing out because of sin in our lives. In verse 6, it says this. So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites. And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. And it came to pass when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, Verse 10. Verse 10. But then notice what God says at the end. But you have not obeyed my voice. Here Israel is crying out to God because they're greatly impoverished. Because every time they get a harvest, the Midianites and their crew, they come in and they wipe them out. And so here they are. They've worked hard all year and they have no benefit, no results, no food. They're famished. They're wasting away. They're hiding in caves. They're desolate. They're And so they cry out to the Lord and God sends a prophet and gives them a clear message about why they're in this position. Now it's the right thing for them to do, to cry out to the Lord in this case. When you have those times of desolation, it is the right thing to do. He's the one to turn to. He's the one who has the answers for the situations that we face. And God shows that here by sending a prophet. And the prophet reminds them of the things that God has done before. Let me remind you of the wondrous works I have already done for you, God says. I brought you out of Egypt. That was a wondrous work. There was 10 wonders, right? The 10 plagues that were the agents of deliverance there. And then there was wonders in the wilderness as they crossed over the Red Sea and how God provided for them day by day with manna and did all of these incredible works. And then bringing them into the promised land, there was miracles all along the way. But as they came into the promised land, God said, don't fear the gods of the Amorites in verse 10. The people that you're going to be living amongst and you're to drive them out, they worship other gods and you're not to worship their gods. You remain faithful to worship me, God says, don't worship their gods. But here's the problem. You have not obeyed my voice. You have worshipped, you have been involved in idolatry and have been going after, chasing after and pursuing the gods of these people that were in the land. And so God reminds them of the miracles that he has done. And that's what Gideon's referring to. We've heard about those miracles, right? This is a previous generation. You know, Joshua was a long time ago now, and Moses was a long time ago now. And we've heard about all of those miracles, but this generation that Gideon is in, they've not experienced that. They've only heard about those wondrous works. And so now, as they look around, they say, where are those wondrous works? And God sends a prophet and says, here's where they are. They're buried. They're covered up by your idolatry, by your sin. Pastor David Guzik says, Gideon thought the problem was with God, not with him and the nation of Israel as a whole. He says, now the Lord has forsaken us. In truth, Israel forsook God. God did not forsake Israel. There's that old saying, if you feel far from God, guess who moved? It's not God who moves. When we feel distant from God or disconnected from God, when we look around and we don't see the wondrous works of God, remember, God only does wondrous things. He doesn't do any other kind of things. And so when we're disconnected from that, when we're not experiencing the work of God in that way, well, guess who moved? It's not the Lord. Gideon thought it was the Lord. The Lord has forsaken us. But God, through this angel and through the prophet that he sent previously, he's saying, no, no, I'm still here. I haven't moved. I haven't changed. But you guys... You have turned away from me in sin. You are involved in worship of other gods. And so the miracles are covered up. You don't have access to them. You're not experiencing them because of this idolatry. Think about what the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter 59 verses 1 and 2. He says, "...behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear." but your iniquities have separated you from your God and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. This is part of the reality of life for us as believers, that we can allow sin to be present and continue in our lives in such a way that it, well, it hides, it conceals, it cloaks us from the work of God, the presence of God. And it's not that God's arms are shortened. It's not like he's trying to reach, he wants to save you, but he just can't quite reach it. That's not the case. The situation is your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. Sin brings separation between us and the Lord. And we experience the desolations that come as a result of that. And so Gideon looks around and says, where's all the miracles? And God is explaining. He's teaching them through this passage. The miraculous works of God are there. I'm going to bring deliverance. But first you have to uncover the work of God. You have to kind of dig out those things because you've buried them with these worships of the gods around you. And he's going to call Gideon in just a couple moments to tear down one specific altar and There's these things going on. It's an ongoing condition of sin and idolatry, and it's covered up, the miraculous work, the wondrous works of God, so they're not experiencing it. Moving on to verses 14 now through 27, we get point number two, and that is miracles are unlocked in obedience, uncovered in repentance as we turn from sin, but now we're progressing a little bit further. Now there's an unlocking of the miraculous, the wondrous works of God as we begin to obey what God has called us to do. Verse 14, then the Lord turned to him and said, "'Go in this might of yours, "'and you shall save Israel "'from the hand of the Midianites. "'Have I not sent you?' "'So he said to him, "'Oh my Lord, how can I save Israel? "'Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, "'and I am the least in my father's house.'" And the Lord said to him, surely I will be with you and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man. Then he said to him, if now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me. Here, God gives Gideon a command, go save Israel. Go in this might of yours, and you will save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. And then God says at the end of verse 14, have I not sent you? This is me, the Lord, sending you, Gideon. I'm instructing you. I'm commanding you. I'm telling you to go. It's God's command to Gideon. And Gideon will obey. But Gideon, but not without some negotiation, and not in a negative way, but it's just not easy what God is asking him to do. There's going to be some challenges in his own heart and in his own mind. God says, go in this might of yours, and Gideon doesn't feel mighty. He goes on in verse 15. He says, you know, have you looked at our clan, Lord? We're in the tribe of Manasseh. That's a pretty good tribe, but My family is weak in the tribe. We're not a popular family. We're not like the leading family. We don't have political power. We don't have prestige in that way. It's not like a noble family. We're just a little family. And not only that, but Lord, I'm the littlest of my little family. I'm the baby brother, you know, I'm like the little one that's, I'm not, people don't listen to me. I don't have, you know, power or influence in that way. Gideon did not feel mighty. And he's dealing with some fear as well. You can see Gideon is pretty fearful in verse 17 when he says, look, if I found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me. Gideon doesn't say, all right, you told me to go. All right, let's get it. Let's go. You know, and he's not just rushing out the door. He's like, uh, I don't know. Can you wait here? I want to go prepare an offering and you can show me a sign and just confirm and make sure this really is what you want, that this really is the Lord that I'm talking to and speaking to me. Gideon is obedient to the Lord, but there's some wrestling that happens in his mind and in his heart. Now, The first point that we looked at is miracles are uncovered in repentance and then now unlocked in obedience. And in reality, repentance and obedience are not completely separate things. They're intertwined. They work together because repentance is not just to stop something that is sinful, but it's to replace that with with something that God does command. And so it's to replace disobedience with actual obedience. And we can see that illustrated as we jump down to verse 25 and 26. Here's what it says there. Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has and cut down the wooden image that is beside it. Verse 26, and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image, which you shall cut down. Notice the instruction that God gives Gideon. It's very specific. There is this altar that is to this false God Baal. Go tear that down, Gideon. But that wasn't the end of the instruction. It There was a wooden image beside it. Tear down that wooden image also. But still, that wasn't the end. It wasn't just destroy those instruments of idolatry, those instruments of sin, just get rid of those. That wasn't the end. In its place, he says in verse 26, build an altar to the Lord your God. In the proper arrangement, he says. There's specific instruction that God has given for building an altar to the Lord. Here, there's an altar to a false god. It's not the Lord's altar. It's not built in the proper arrangement. But remove the old. Remove that which is not of God. And now in its place, replace that altar with an altar to the Lord. And take the wood from that image, that idolatrous image, and burn that and use that to sacrifice to the Lord in the way that he has instructed. This is always the way that repentance works. It goes hand in hand with obedience. It's not just stop lying, but speak the truth. It's not just stop behaving that way, stop that attitude, change that. It's not just a stopping or a destroying of something that is there, of sinful activity, but it's a replacing. Begin in place of that to worship God in the way that he has instructed and called. Tear down the altar of Baal and build an altar there. to the Lord. This is the instruction that God gives to Gideon. Now again, as we look at Gideon, we see that he's going to experience the miraculous deliverance that God has planned because he obeys. But notice, as he obeys, he is fearful. Check out verse 27. So Gideon took 10 men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him. But because he feared his father's household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he He did it by night. Here's Gideon. He has instruction from God. Here's what I want you to do. And he goes, oh my goodness, this is going to be some trouble. I'm going to have to deal with some wrath, you know, with this. I don't know. This is going to be really challenging to do. I don't know if I can do this. And he's wrestling with fear. He feared his father's household. This is important to them. They worship here. He feared the men of the city. Oh man, they're going to be upset when I do what God has told me to do. But the amazing thing that we see in this is that God didn't expect Gideon to not have fear. And God doesn't rebuke him even for the fear. Sometimes we allow fear to be an instrument of condemnation for us. When God's, God never expects for us to not have fear at all. Here's what God expects. Even though you're fearful, find a way to be obedient. That's what Gideon did. He found a way. So he did it by night. And we could, you know, scold Gideon. Gideon, you man of little faith, you know, why don't you do it during the day? You know, be a man of faith and trust God. And, you know, we could harass him a bit for that, but we don't see God do that. God doesn't bug him or give him a hard time and say, you dummy, like, why are you so fearful? Like, No, he gave Gideon instruction. He gave him a command. And Gideon was fearful, but he found a way to obey God in the midst of his fear. And really the rest of this account in Judges 6, 7, and 8, it's Gideon being obedient to God and continuing to work through the fear that he has, but be obedient to God in the midst of it. It's one of the reasons why we see so many confirmations throughout this account of Gideon. There's a lot of confirmations here. There's some famous ones, right, with the fleece that's brought before the Lord. But even before that, we just read a few moments ago where Gideon says, hey, can you wait here to the angel? He says, let me get a sacrifice ready. And can you give me a sign that this really is of God? And the angel touches the sacrifice and it goes up in flames and shows and authenticates this really is. But he needed that confirmation to be able to take the next step. And then at the end of chapter six is that account of the fleece. He's like, Lord, are you sure you're calling me to lead the rampage against the Midianites? Are you sure you want me to do this? And can you just show me? And he lays out a fleece before the Lord. He says, I'm going to leave this overnight and let the fleece be wet with dew, but the ground dry. And God does this miraculous work. He comes up the next morning, it's that way. Well, I don't know. Maybe there's some scientific reason for this that I'm not aware of, Gideon is thinking. Let's reverse it just to double check and confirm. Okay. So let that be dry and the other way. Now, We'll reverse it. Make sure it's not just, you know, some principle involved there of physics that I'm not aware of. And he gets up the next morning and there it is. God confirms. And again, sometimes we can give Gideon a hard time, like silly Gideon laying a fleece before the Lord, asking for confirmation. Why don't you just have faith and just do what he says, believe him. And, but God doesn't, God doesn't condemn him in the text. He doesn't give him a hard time for this. In fact, God offers up another confirmation in chapter 7. If you'll turn to chapter 7 real quick, jump into verse 9 with me. This is right as they're about to head into the battle. The night before, God says, hey... You need some extra boost of confidence, extra boost of faith, here you have it. In verse 9 of Judges 7, it says, No, that's not what he says. He says... Go down to the camp with Purah, your servant, and you shall hear what they said. And afterward, your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp. Then he went down with Purah, his servant, to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp. And the following verses go on to describe this account where he goes down and he hears a conversation between two Midianites. And one of the guys had a dream and there was this loaf that rolled into the camp and destroyed it. And the other guy said, oh, surely that is a dream about Gideon because God has given the Midianites into Gideon's hand. This is the enemy talking amongst themselves. And Gideon gets to eavesdrop and hear about it. And he walks away with great faith and confidence. Yes, the Lord brought another confirmation. But notice this. This wasn't Gideon's idea. This was the Lord's idea. And why did God give this other confirmation? He says, look, Gideon, if you're still afraid, if you're still fearful, you're still dealing with that fear in your heart and in your mind, and you're wrestling with this obedience, then go listen to this. I have another confirmation for you. God wants to give that confirmation, wants to give that boost of strength that you would be able to go forward and obey and do what God has called you to do. God only does wondrous things, but to experience those wondrous things, there does need to be obedience. We do need to take God at his word and put it into practice. And sometimes that can be really challenging because of the fear that we have and the wrestling that goes on internally. But like Gideon, find a way, find a way to be obedient to God in the midst of the fear that you have and unlock the wondrous work of God, the miraculous work of God that he wants to do in your life. I always like what Peter told the crowd in Acts chapter 3 as he preached the gospel. And they said, what do we need to do? In chapter 3 verse 19, Peter says, repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Notice you have the repentance, repent therefore, and the be converted. That's the obedience. Repent and now start to walk in obedience and repentance plus obedience. And then what happens? He says, so that times of refreshing may come. The times of refreshing are there. They're available. They're accessible. They're there. The wondrous work of God is there. But to have access to it, for you to be able to experience it, there is this combination of repentance plus obedience. Responding to God and beginning to walk with him, not necessarily perfectly and not without fear, but but in the midst of that, being obedient as God speaks to us. Well, we're going to stay here in chapter 7 now of Judges and look at verses 1 through 7 for point number 3, and that is miracles are unleashed in weakness. First, they're uncovered. And again, there's this progression. We're getting to see the wondrous works of God develop and be present. And first, it's uncovered with repentance as we turn away from sin and then unlocked as we begin to obey God. But if you really want to see God unleashed and his power at work in your life, well, there's a key we find here in Gideon, and that is in weakness, not in our strength. But in our reliance upon the Lord. Verse 1 here, Judges 7, it says, Verse 2. And the Lord said to Gideon, the people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against me, saying, my own hand has saved me. So here's Gideon, obedient to the Lord, going forward. He sounds the alarm, gathers an army. They gather together. They're camped there. The Midianites are camped across the valley. They're getting ready for the battle. And God says, hey, guys, we have a problem. There's a situation we need to address before we get into this battle. Here's the problem, Gideon. The people who are with you are too many. There's too many of you. Your army is too big. And I imagine Gideon just going like, what? Like, are you serious, Lord? Look at us. Now, when he sounded the alarm, there were 32,000 people who responded. So here's Gideon with a 32,000 strong army. But the enemy that they faced had a much bigger army. We don't know the exact number. But in Judges 6, verse 5, it describes them coming in as locusts. That may not be a very common illustration for us. But the idea is when the locusts would come in, it would cover the ground. And everywhere you looked, all that you would see was the locusts. And that's how it was with the Midianites. They filled the land. They filled the land. It says that the Midianite army and their camels were without number. There was so many of them, they couldn't count them. That's the idea. And so here is Gideon. He is facing this innumerable army with 32,000 men. They're greatly outnumbered. And here God says, you've got too many people with you. Your army is too big. And Gideon is like, The math doesn't work out. No, their army is too big. You're a little bit confused here, Lord. No, no, your army is too big, Gideon. We need to do something about that. Verse three, God says, now, therefore proclaim in the hearing of the people saying, whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead. And 22,000 of the people returned and 10,000 remained. Here's how God begins to filter out this message. army that he says is too large. Make an announcement, Gideon. Anybody afraid? Raise your hand. You, you, you, you. All 22,000 of you, you can go. If you're afraid, you can go. Now, 22,000 left. Why wasn't Gideon amongst that group? Why wasn't Gideon? He was fearful. We've seen that, right? In fact, where I turned to you a few moments ago, and God tells Gideon, if you're still afraid, go listen to this conversation. He's That happens next. Gideon isn't resolved with his fear. He isn't done with his fear, but he's also not letting his fear be an excuse for him to not obey God. But here, in presenting this to the army, essentially this is what's happening. 22,000 are saying, yeah, I'll take this out. You're giving me an out? I'll take this out. I really didn't want to do this anyways, but I felt like I had to. It was kind of an obligation. So yes, I'm afraid I'm going home. Gideon was afraid, but he stayed because he was being obedient to God. And so here now they're left with 10,000. And God says, Gideon, we still have a problem. Verse four. But the Lord said to Gideon, the people are still too many. Bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. Then it will be that of whom I say to you, this one shall go with you, the same shall go with you. And of whomever I say to you, this one shall not go with you, the same shall not go. God says, there's still a problem. There's still too many. If this 10,000 strong army goes against the Midianites, you know what they're going to do? They're going to have victory. God says, I'll give them victory, but they're going to claim the glory for themselves. And they're going to say, look, we were only 10,000, but look how strong we were. They're going to make movies about us. The 10,000 army that fought against the million man army or whatever, you know, the innumerable army. They're going to make stories are going to be told about our valiant efforts. They're going to claim the glory is what God is saying. That 10,000, there's still too many of them. They're going to take the credit if I deliver the Midianites into their hands. So here's what we're going to do. Bring them down to the water, and I'll show you how to filter them out. I'll show you. I'll divide them for you. Verse 5, so he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, everyone who laps from the water with his tongue as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself. Likewise, everyone who gets down on his knees to drink. And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, is was 300 men, but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water. And so God is setting in, you know, in play this filter, this decision. As you bring them to the water, pay attention to how they drink and then separate them into two groups, Gideon. Those who lap the water with their tongue. The idea is they're like, they cup some water and they're trying to get water that way. And then there are others who just plunge their face into the water because they're thirsty. There's two ways to drink water, apparently. They're going to do one or the other. So divide them in this way. 9,700 drink one way, and then the 300 that are left drink the other way. Now, you can listen to some teachings that kind of go back and forth about which way Way was the better way to drink water. Did God choose the ones who lapped, you know, like this? Because they were aware, they were alert. These were the good soldiers. They didn't want to put their heads down, you know, keep your eye on the enemy. Those were the ones who were alert. And that's why the others, you know, God dismissed them. Others approach it and say, look, those guys, they were too chubby to get down to the water. So they had to bring the water to themselves. It's like, these are the guys who are having trouble reaching the water. So you can kind of go both ways and learn lots of lessons both ways. But That's not the point we're talking about this morning. The point here is God saying, this is the decision method by which I'm going to choose. Now here's Gideon, right? Here's a group of 9,700 that he separated and a group of 300. And Gideon's like, you're going to pick this one, right? The big group, like not that one, right? You're going to pick the 9,700. That's the group you want. Verse seven, then the Lord said to Gideon, by the 300 men who lapped, I will save you. and deliver the Midianites into your hands. Let the other people go, every man to his place. No, Gideon, dismiss those 9,700. Send them away by these 300. Not because of their drinking technique, not because of their might, not because of their strength, but because then when there is this wondrous work, when there is this great victory, God says, I will get the glory. Not you, not them. Miracles are unleashed. in weakness, not in our strength. We want to see the wondrous work of God, but we don't want to be weak. We don't want to be broken. We don't want to be lacking, but that's exactly where Gideon needs to be. G. Campbell Morgan says, in the consciousness of his own lowliness and insufficiency, we discover another element of the greatness of Gideon. He knew that success did not depend on what he was, but but on what God was. Earlier, he told God, I'm the weakest of my clan. My clan's the weakest of the tribe. Here we are with the weakest army you could ever imagine. But in obedience and their weakness, God is going to be strong. Remember what Paul was told by the Lord in 2 Corinthians 12, is he had this thorn in his flesh, this thing that really irritated him and bugged him and bothered him and hurt him. And he cried out for God to take it away. And God said, My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness. My strength is made perfect in weakness. And so Paul says, therefore, I'm going to gladly boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Sometimes we are working so hard to be strong that we miss out on the wondrous works of God because we're trying so hard to do things in our strength, with our resources, in our strategies, our efforts, our But Paul says, I've come to the conclusion, I need to accept, acknowledge, and even boast in my infirmities and in my weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I don't have to pretend like it's all together. I don't have to try to come up with my own strength. It's God's strength that I need. And that is when we will see the wondrous works of God. Well, finishing it up, Verses 15 through 23, we have point number four, and that is miracles are delivered in God's plans. It's again this progression. They're uncovered, begin to see glimpses that miracles are in the works and on the way, unlocked with obedience as we begin to walk in obedience to what God has said, unleashed, and man, the power of God really begins to work when we acknowledge and accept the weaknesses that we have and trust him to do the work. And then now, finally, the miracle comes. The delivery happens in the execution of God's plans. as Gideon does what God has asked him to do. In verse 15, and so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation that he worshiped, he returned to the camp of Israel and said, arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand. Then he divided the 300 men into three companies. He put a trumpet into every man's hand with empty pitchers and torches inside the pitchers. And he said to them, look at me and do likewise, watch. And when I come to the edge of the camp, you shall do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp and say, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. Gideon gathers his guys around and says, okay, guys, here's the plan. I know there's only 300 of us and there's, you know, unlimited of them, but here's the plan. Grab your trumpet, grab your torches, and hide the torch with a pot so that the light can't be seen. What kind of plan is this? It's God's kind of plan. It's not a formula. This isn't the approach for every battle, but it's God's plan for this battle. And it goes on to tell us, so Gideon goes, they surround the army, they set up around the whole Midianite army, and He sounds the trumpet, breaks the pot so that his torch is seen. All the other guys around do the same. And the Midianites wake up to the sound of trumpets. And then all of a sudden they see these torches light up all around them. It tells us in verse 21, and every man stood in his place all around the camp. And the whole army, that's the Midianite army, ran and cried out and fled. Verse 22, when the 300 blew the trumpets, the Lord said, every man soared against his companion throughout the whole camp. And the army fled to Beth-Hakasha, towards Zeruah, as far as the border of Abel, Mechelah, and Tabith. Here, the Midianite army turns against itself. This is a miraculous deliverance. They don't have to swing a sword to win this battle. They have to blow a trumpet and hold a torch. That's it. And the Midianite army battles itself and wipes itself out as a result. This is a miraculous deliverance. work of God, a wondrous work of deliverance that God does, similar to Jericho, as Joshua had them march around the city of Jericho, right? It wasn't with arms that they won that battle, but with shouts and trumpets, and God brought down the walls of Jericho. Now again, that's not a formula. Sometimes God calls Israel into battle, and he hands them swords and spears, and go swing these, and go, you know, fight with these instruments. Sometimes God says, I'm In 2 Chronicles chapter 20, we have King Jehoshaphat, and God says, you're not going to have to fight this battle. Just go to the battlefield, but I'm going to fight for you. And so they set worshipers, and they worship the Lord on the way to the battlefield. But when they get to the battlefield, the battle is already won, and the enemy is already destroyed there. They've destroyed themselves. It's not a formula, but the key element to all of these different things is that each one is God's plan. And the same is true for us. We need to be careful not to think of, well, here's the formula. You want to have a good marriage? Here's the formula. You want to have a good relationship with God? Here's the formula. You want to have a good success in your career? Here's the formula. You want to have a good this, a good, you know, here's the formula. No, it's not so much about here's the techniques, here's the methods. It's about what's God's plan. What is God saying? about your family? What is God saying about your work? What is God saying about this situation? And when it's God's plan, that's the key element of this, then, well, as you walk in the midst of God's plan, you will see the wondrous works of God. Because God only knows how to do wondrous things. He only does miraculous things. Now, we don't always perceive the miracles of God while they're taking place. I was thinking about the children of Israel in the wilderness. I They're wandering out in the wilderness for 40 years. One of the things that God says that he did for them is that their sandals did not wear out. Here's a whole generation of people who grow up who've never had to buy shoes. They never wore out and they never went out of style. That was a real miracle. And I would suggest that was just normal life for them. They probably didn't even recognize that that was a miracle until all of a sudden they're in the promised land. They're like, whoa, what's that? I feel something. How come there's a hole? I've never had a hole in my shoe before. Where's the duct tape? You know, like, I've never had to deal with, I never had to buy shoes before. This is amazing. And looking back, they would recognize God miraculously provided, protected, preserved in that way. That's a silly example, but it's a real example. And I think many times we look around and we go, where are the miracles of God? And perhaps they're happening in your life and you're just not even perceiving it. Later on, you'll look back and go, whoa, that was amazing, that miracle that God did. There are a lot of ways that God is doing that. As we walk in the midst of God's plan, as we follow God's instruction, we will experience the wondrous works of God. God speaks to the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 55. And he says, my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Here's the reason why God only does wondrous things. Because God's ways are so high above ours. They never descend to our level. They never descend to, you know, what we could do, what we could accomplish. His ways are higher than our ways as far as the heavens are higher above the earth. And so everything that God does is far superior. And so God's plan is always far superior to what we could come up with. And when we walk in God's plans, it's always going to be wondrous. Not that we won't have fear like Gideon, not that we won't have challenges, but it will always be a wondrous, miraculous, amazing work of God because his ways are so far above our ways. Blessed be the Lord God who only does wondrous things. This morning, I would encourage you to consider where are all the miracles? Are you seeing the work of God? And maybe you are walking in the midst of God's plan and obedience to God and you're not involved in idolatry and you're acknowledging and accepting your weaknesses. Maybe all of that is happening and you're not perceiving the miracles of God, but you can trust that God is doing wondrous things. That is true. But perhaps you're in a different position and you're looking around and wondering, where are the miracles? Because, well, maybe there's some issues of sin. It's an ongoing situation that you are involved in idolatry. You're involved in the worship of things that are not of God. And there needs to be a repentance, a breaking down of those altars and a replacing them with obedience, with a worship of God instead. You will not experience the wondrous things of God without repentance and obedience. We want to. We'll ask for, you know, God to do wondrous things and provide for us and meet our needs. But in order for us us to experience the wondrous work. We need to turn, to turn from sin, to turn towards God. And we need to stop pretending like we have the strength. We need to stop trying to do things in our efforts, but accepting and embracing the weakness that we have, that the power of God, that the strength of God might be revealed and made known. Accepting the limits that we have so that God might be glorified and magnified. And as we walk together, With God's plan. Not with our efforts, not with what someone told us, not with the strategies that we come up with, but looking to God for his plan. What do you want to do? Not just, well, here's how we fought the last battle, so let's fight this battle the same way. No, what's God's plan? What does God want to do? And letting God instruct us and teach us how to deal with and how to handle the situations we face. In that, we will find God delivering wondrous things. working out his wondrous ways. That's how miracles are delivered. Let's pray. God, I pray for each one of us. I pray, Lord, for those who are in the situation where, like Gideon, they look around and think, well, if God is with us, then why is all this happening to us? Why don't we see miracles? Why don't we see deliverance? Why don't we see a good work taking place? God, I pray for those in that condition, Lord, that you would show, that you would reveal, just like you told Gideon, here's a specific altar, a specific idol. Go deal with that. Lord, I pray that you would bring a revelation to us. What if there's those issues, if there's those altars and those idols, that you would show us those things that you want us to take down. I pray, Lord, that there would be obedience. Even though there's fear, even though there's a difficulty internally in our own hearts and minds and fear about the outcome and what others might think and how they might respond. And Lord, I pray that you would help us to put you first and be obedient as you speak to our hearts. But I pray, God, that you would help us not to do that relying upon our efforts and our strengths and our mindset and our determination and our discipline. But Lord, that we would look to you acknowledging, accepting our weakness, that you might be magnified, that you might be made strong, not claiming the glory, not claiming the victory, but giving you the credit for your wondrous works. And God, I pray that you would give us instruction. Show us your plan for our families, for our workplaces, for our church, for every aspect of our life. Help us to look to you for the instruction that we need, for the step-by-step to walk in your spirit. And Lord, as we do, I pray that you would do like you did for Gideon. Provide wondrous works. Do wondrous things. Perform miracles. That's all you know how to do because your ways are so far above our ways. So God, help us to walk in them. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.