1st Week of June 2012 Adult Sunday School Lesson

Judges Chapter 6

At the start of this chapter time has passed and we find Israel again under subjection to yet a different set of people that were not supposed to be in the land of Canaan if they had obeyed God. All of these different nations rose up from time to time to be thorn in there side, to make them subjects to an ungodly king. This time it is the Midians.The Midians drove the Israelites to hide their valuables and in some cases to hide themselves in the mountains and in caves.

The Midianites would wait for the Jews to sow their crops, and then at harvest time they would come and take anything they wanted, and it appears that they wanted and took everything that they possibly could. They didn't come alone either, but when they were left, there was nothing but a desolate country. Not surprisingly this caused the children of Israel to cry out to God for deliverance. Not all of them, as we'll soon learn, but many of them cried unto God for deliverance.

As always, God hears the cries of his people even if they have a broken heart and a contrite spirit that David mentions in Psalm 51. So God sends a prophet to remind them of what he has done for them in the past, reminding them why they are in their present situation, and telling them he will deliver them.

The Lord sends and angel to sit by a tree for Gideon, the son of Joash to find. Gideon was threshing wheat by the wine press to hide it from the Midianites. You notice here that he is a man of action, and he is doing all he can do for his family to survive. Matthew 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Before you can lead the whole nation of Israel, you must first be willing to lead what is currently in your life. It doesn't work the other way around.

This angel comes to talk to Gideon, and even calls him good man. Gideon is quick to ask where the God that delivered all Israel in the past is. He wants to know why they are suffering so. Gideon is aware the sins of Israel, but in his heart he has been pleading to God that he would deliver Israel. This is not uncommon to what we see today. You might pray and cry out to God on a regular basis to save lost souls, and to show himself strong in a sinful world. You are more than aware of the sin in this country and others, but you plead that he might show himself to a world that desperately needs him; and so does Gideon.

The angel quickly tells Gideon that he will deliver Israel. Gideon not surprisingly doubts the angel telling the angel that he is the least in his family, and that they are very poor. Gideon is right, he is insufficient for the job at hand, and so are we as Christians if we are not led by God and his Holy Spirit. By the hand of God though, they will have deliverance from the Midianites. Gideon goes to prepare a sacrifice. He get the sense over and over that Gideon is a man of action. He doesn't wait around and think too much on things, but does was the Spirit calls him to do. He makes the sacrifice and in the process realizes that this 'angel' is not an ordinary person.

Now Gideon makes an altar for the Lord and receives the word to tear down his fathers altar to Baal. He gathers 10 servants, and goes down at night to tear the altar that never should have been built, down. When you do something for the Lord, it doesn't take long for people to notice, especially when it gets on their territory and convicts their heart. The people, Hebrew people, decide they are going to find out who did this and take care of the problem. They go and find Joash and ask him to hand over his son. Here we find that blood is thicker than water from a false god. Joash says let Baal avenge himself and that he will not give up Gideon. Odd that the altar is called Joash's, and he seems fit to worship it, but knows deep inside that the God of Heaven is the only true God and Baal wouldn't be able to even revenge himself. Why did he have it in the first place? The same question can be asked about the gods in our lives; those masters that we put in front of our service to Jesus Christ.

Here come the Midianites one more time with their allies to lay waste to the land of Israel. Gideon takes his appointment seriously and blows a trumpet and gathers the as many Hebrew Children as he can. Gideon wants reassurance of what God has told him, and here we have the cloth and the dew. God gave Gideon what he asked both times, two nights in a row. With this final assurance, Gideon sets out. If you're not sure about something in our life, pray to God till you are satisfied with the answer, don't go blindly into this world thinking it will all work out in the end. God will give us direction in our lives, and show us if we are on the right path.