The Gideon I Didn't Know

Meet Gideon. 

Warrior.
Fearless.
Fierce.
300 men.
Ahu! Ahu! Ahu!


Just when I thought I do really knew Gideon, guess what? I really don't.

Read Judges 6-8

The wide-eyed little child in me was awakened as I read and learned about Gideon on our quiet time coupled with three exposition sessions. Have I not learned it in our staff training, I think I won't be able to hear such rich expositions elsewhere.

Just when I thought Gideon was a fearless man, guess what? He wasn't.

 Gideon behind the scenes was not out in the battlefield. He was somewhere. He was in a winepress. 

I am together with Gideon in his winepress moments. I have built for myself a winepress where I think would be my source of refuge in trying times. I have my fair share in life where I have been in circumstances too fearful to face, too powerful to overcome and too overwhelming to deal with. I have been there. I have done that. I sulk. I hide—way too many times. 

It is by God's grace and purposes life doesn't end at the winepress. God has been patient. It was His initiative to call out to Gideon and encouraged his fearful soul when he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."

No situation too fearful when the assurance that Someone who is bigger than myself is with me. No knees too feeble knowing that I can go in the strength of the LORD. No mind too restless when the LORD of peace is there.


Just when I thought that Peace is a place, guess what? It isn't.

"So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace." (Judges 6:24a)

The LORD is Peace. How I wanted to melt. While it is true that certain places can be associated with peace, the more it has occurred to me that peace is not more of a place but more of a Person.

The place where Gideon built an altar was not where everything was quiet and soothing to the soul. It was in the place where the winepress was. It was in the place where he was fearful and overwhelmed. It was in the place where he was unsure of almost everything. 

To this I see that peace can come even at the worst of places and circumstances. The altar was not a reminder of a place in itself but a reminder of a Person who is Peace Himself.

More can be said how the LORD dealt with Gideon. But nothing was of greater weight to me today than his journey out from the winepress, out to the battlefield, into the victory side—in the assurance, in the peace and in the strength of the LORD.

---

Image credits
1 https://alchetron.com/Gideon-2649393-W
2 http://www.biblestudyresources.org/valley-experiences-of-gideon.html
3 J.J. Tissot, "The Angel Puts Fire on the Altar of Gideon" (1896-1900), watercolor.