Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, June 19, 2022

Father’s Day!

Today, Pastor Michael is talking about Fathers and Father’s Day.  

What does a hero look like?  We all have our ideas of what they may look like, however not all heroes look like modern day super heroes from Hollywood and the comic books.  Real heroes can be First Responders, those that go into harm’s way.  The pandemic may have even altered our ideas of what a hero is: those that worked the front lines in the beginning of the pandemic and those working supermarkets and other places that allowed us to function, normally.

Today, Michael is looking at the Midianites and at harvest time they would raid Israel and take their crops and their livestock.  In those days, there were no kings, no police, essentially: nothing, except your own village.  And everyone was scared of the Midianites.  And this is where Gideon comes in.  This man of courage is hiding in a hole, in the ground!  Does not look like a man with courage!  This particular hole was a wine press, no less.  And he wasn’t down there to make wine but was threshing wheat.  Normally this would take place on a hilltop, where wind would blow away the chaff and the grain would fall down.  But he’s in a hole; why isn’t he on a hilltop?

He’s hiding!  He’s afraid the Midianites will see him and come to take his grain and likely, kill him.  He’s not as alone in that hole as he thinks he is.  Somebody was watching him in that hole!  An angel was watching.  The angel comes up to him and says that the Lord is with him.  Gideon feels that the angel totally has the wrong guy! 

(CSB Baker Illustrated Bible Study Notes) 6:11–24. Nonetheless, an angel of the Lord, who turns out to be the Lord himself (cf. 6:14), appears to Gideon. The Lord affirms to Gideon his presence and addresses him as a mighty warrior (6:11–12). But Gideon merely questions why, if the Lord is indeed present, Israel has not experienced the kind of miraculous deliverance known during the exodus (6:13). In response, the Lord commissions Gideon to save Israel out of Midian’s hand (6:14). But Gideon simply stresses his clan’s weakness and his own insignificance (6:15).

To counter Gideon’s protestation, the Lord reiterates his presence, but Gideon still demands a sign (6:16–18). Not until the angel disappears, after causing fire to flare from a rock to consume the offering Gideon brought, does Gideon realize he has been in the presence of the divine (6:19–22). Upon assurance from the Lord that he will not die even though he has seen the angel face to face, perhaps to commemorate the Lord’s declaration of peace (6:23) Gideon builds an altar to the Lord and names it “The LORD Is Peace” (6:24).

So Gideon sees, it was God and it He wasn’t kidding around.  He gives Gideon a task to tear down the altar to Baal and build a proper altar to the Lord.  Which he does.  And the community ain’t exactly happy about it, demanding his death (sure are quick to judge, aren’t they?).  Gideon is supported by his Father, Joash, who challenges Baal to contend for his own altar.  To add to the craziness, a messenger tells everyone that invaders are coming yet the people rally behind Gideon and the folks solidify into an army. He faces a fighting force, bigger than his own and defeats the Midianites and they never bothered Israel again.

That’s a lot to take in.  Gideon did the right thing.  Courage isn’t that you’re not afraid, it’s when you don’t let fear stop you from doing what’s right.

Verses can be found today in Judges 6: 12-32.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.