Lilac Ministries

Bible Study Lessons

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Scripture: Judges 6:33-7:7

Topic: Being Bold in Faith


Last week, we saw Gideon muster up the courage to do God’s will in tearing down his father’s altar to Baal … in the middle of the night. This week, we watched as he prepared to battle the enemies of Israel.

In our discussions, we thought about how our level of challenge might match our motivation. In other words, if an angel came to tell us to do something, we might be much more motivated to do God’s will than when we don’t have such signs. We also noted that even when we aren’t facing truly life-threatening situations, our emotional response to them can be very similar to “I’m going to die.” We even use the phrases “I’ll die of embarrassment” or “It kills me to have to do this.” Watching how Gideon faces his fears can help us when we face our own, even if our foes aren’t a true army of warriors.

In today’s study, we saw the enemies of Israel amass their forces. Gideon asks God whether he’s supposed to face this army. Gideon requests that the woolen fleece he leaves on the floor might be wet and the ground be dry as a sign. It was. Then, he asks for the opposite, that the fleece be dry and the ground be wet with dew. Again, it was. We gave some thought as to why Gideon asks for two signs. Perhaps he is trying to find a way out of the situation. Perhaps he made a mistake, since the first sign would be the natural course of things - it takes longer for fleece to dry than the ground. We do see God being both patient and faithful. He knows WHO Gideon is. From this we find comfort that God will be patient and faithful with us. He knows who WE are.

Having his sign, Gideon blows a trumpet to call together all the fighting men of Israel. His summons brings 32,000. God says, “Too many here, Gideon,” and cuts the field to 10,000. “Still too many.” God then culls the warriors to 300. You might imagine how our timid friend Gideon must’ve felt. “I’m supposed to fight a strong army with 300 guys?!!”

We’ll see how this story turns out next week, but for now, we can learn one more thing. When God cuts our resources, when our options have narrowed to none - this is when God is most visible. It’s not easy to be in the spot BEFORE God takes action, because we don’t know how the story will play out. What we CAN know is that God is indeed faithful. When we have eyes to see and ears to hear, we see Him in motion and can have the faith to step forward, even when we don’t know where that step will lead us.