The story of Gideon is found in Judges chapter 6:11-14 and chapter 7:2-7

Influential Men of the Bible: Gideon

The story of Gideon is found in Judges chapter 6:11-14 and chapter 7:2-7

It was harvest time in Ophrah. Gideon the son of Joash was hiding in a wine press, secretly threshing wheat. Every year for the past seven years, the Midianites would come and oppress the Israelites. These Midianites were very strong, so the people of Israel hid from them in caves and other safe places in the hills. Every time the Israelites planted, the Midianites would come with the Amalekites and the desert tribes in great numbers to destroy their crops, leaving nothing for them to live on. As Gideon is there hiding, thinking that he was there by himself, the angel of the Lord appeared to him. The angel told him that the Lord was with him, and that he was a mighty warrior. Gideon whose name means "he who casts down" listened with questions in his mind. He wanted to know that if the Lord was with them, then why all this happened to them. The Lord himself than began to speak to Gideon and told him that He is sending him to go with all his strength and rescue Israel from the Midianites.

The Lord promised to be with him and that he would be victorious, so Gideon went. Gideon got together an army of 32,000 men. Through several tests from God that disqualified some of the men the army dwindled down to three hundred. Now, Only God would have bragging rights! Armed with only torches, clay jars and trumpets, the army surrounded the enemy’s camp with the torches in the left hand and the trumpets in the right hand. They begin blowing the trumpet while making sure the enemy saw their torches clearly as they shouted "the sword of the Lord and of Gideon". The Lord did as he promised. He causes such confusion that the Midianites turned on each other and killed each other with their swords.

The other day my 12 year-old son Malik left a letter on my bed that said "read me". He had heard me praying and crying out to God about an oppressing situation. In his 12-year-old handwriting, from his 12 year-old thinking he wrote "mommy, I know right now you are struggling, but you pray a lot so I know God will see you through. You always provide for me that’s why I love you. Don’t let people get you down because they don’t know what you are capable of… but we do". As sat there reading this letter, I felt like Gideon. It seems like whenever you are having the biggest struggle, or feeling like the biggest failure someone will always come up to you and remind you of who you are.

You might be feeling weak, defeated, down, let down or even like you can’t come out of where you are, but fight. God is with you. "Turn your shovels into swords; turn your hoes into spears. Let the weak one throw out his chest and say, "I'm tough, I'm a fighter. (Joel 3:10). You might not know what you are capable of… but God does!