| Gideon |
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| Written by Bill Morris |
| Friday, 21 November 2008 00:00 |
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Judges 6:1 shows us that the people of Israel did evil (idolatry) in the sight of the Lord and that they were delivered into the hands of oppressors for seven years as a punishment. In Judges 6.25 we see that the people served Baal, a false god; a god of sexual permissiveness and sexual corruption.
The angel told Gideon to pull down the false altar and to build a new one to the Lord. God then gave Gideon victory over thousands of enemies with only 300 soldiers because Gideon obeyed God’s instructions. We see this principle of success laid down in Leviticus 26:3-13. God laid down some ground-rules for His people. If they would obey him then he would give blessings and they would chase their enemies away. However, in Judges 8:27 we see that despite all the victories Gideon had, he made an ephod, an article of priestly clothing, that became an idol, religious object that took true worship away from the Lord. This became a snare to Israel. Battles are a part of life. You just can’t escape them. Fortunately we haven’t had a war that has affected us directly here in Australia recently. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have battles within ourselves. A long time ago, I was feeling very discouraged and I went to Pastor Downs and told him I wanted to quit. I was involved in Sunday School, worship leading, street outreach and was in the choir. But I’d had enough and told him so. He just said “OK but let me tell you a true story first”. If I recall the story correctly, his grandmother’s two brothers had gone off to World War 1 and one was killed outright and the other came back with serious injuries that he died of later on. One of them had written from the battlefield. He said that some men had tried to run away from the battle and were shot as deserters. Others cowered in fear in the trenches and were killed by the enemy when their positions were overrun. The final category were those men who still had fears but knew the only way to win was to risk ‘going over the top’ into the face of the enemy and fighting for victory. After he finished this story I felt the conviction from the Lord and simply said “OK, I’ll go on”: end of counselling session. We see also that life is filled with contradictions. Often what God says is the exact opposite of what we see or believe. Jesus said if we seek to keep our life we will lose it. Jesus’ death brought us life (John 3.16 and John 12.24-25). In 1987 I was struggling over the issue of the baptism in the Holy Ghost. Pastor Downs had gone on a missions trip to the north of Australia and Bro Roscoe Seay was acting pastor. He preached about how Aaron had to be anointed with sheep’s blood before his ministry. Sounds messy doesn’t it? But Moses had to anoint Aaron in a particular way. He had to put blood on his right ear, right thumb and right big toe. Sounds weird doesn’t it. Bro Seay acted out the scene until he got to the big toe and he said “Hold it! This just doesn’t make sense to put blood on Aaron’s toe...and that’s how it is with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It doesn’t make sense to man but it’s what God requires”. I thought “That’s right it sure doesn’t make sense”. I made and appointment to see Bro Seay two days later and received the baptism of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2.38, 8.17, 10.44, 19.6) on Tuesday 3 March 1987 at about 11pm in the Downs’ family room. It was a wonderful feeling and I knew that God was real for sure as I felt His presence fill my body like fire or electricity (Luke 3.16, Acts 1.8). But this is only the beginning. We must avoid compromise with the things of this world. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says if any man be in Christ he is a new person, old things are passed away all things are new. Gideon should not have made that idol. He should have gone on in the Lord. So should we lay aside the idols in our lives: pride, anger, lust and so on - these become idols in our lives and we must break them down like Gideon did with the altar of Baal. Romans 12:1-2 tells us we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. When I came to Jesus in 1981 I put all my Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath records, tapes and posters on the barbecue and burned them (don’t try this today as you may be fined!). I cut off the idols of my life. No-one told me to do it. I wanted to do it. I know of others who said that was a bit radical but they are no longer walking with Jesus. They held onto the idols. Let’s look briefly at some more examples of idolatry. In Genesis 31:30 Rachel stole the idols from her father and we see down the track (Genesis 35:1-3) that Jacob had to destroy them and to make an altar to God. In Exodus 32:15 to 35 Moses had to destroy an idol made by Aaron and many people died as a result of idolatry. And later an object made by Moses at the command of God also became an idol called Nehushtan (2 Kings 18.4). King Solomon destroyed his kingdom because he followed the idols of his many wives. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:17 to come out from among them (the world) and be separate and don’t touch the unclean things and He will be a Father to us. What’s the flip side? If we don’t come out and be separate he can’t be our Father. I want to do all I can to make sure I please God - not out of a sense of “religion” but because I want to get closer to Jesus and be more like Him. What about you? |
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