Gideon

Israel was being terrorized by the Midianites. Every harvest season the Midianites would sweep in and destroy the crops, leaving the Israelites starving and hiding in caves. When we first meet Gideon he is threshing wheat inside a winepress — hiding underground so the Midianites won’t see him and take the grain. Not exactly a portrait of a warrior.

An angel appeared and said: “the Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

Gideon’s response was essentially — have you got the right person? “If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? Where are the miracles our ancestors told us about? He has abandoned us.” Not a greeting. Not gratitude. A list of grievances. This is a man who had been living in fear so long he had developed a theology of abandonment to explain it.

God told him to go and save Israel from Midian. Gideon said: “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family.” The smallest person from the smallest clan. He wasn’t being modest — he genuinely couldn’t conceive of himself as someone capable of this.

Then came the signs. Gideon asked God to prove Himself — not once but three times. A sacrifice consumed by fire. Fleece wet while the ground was dry. Fleece dry while the ground was wet. Each time God patiently complied. And still the night before the battle God knew Gideon was afraid and told him to sneak down to the enemy camp and listen to what the soldiers were saying — which turned out to be a dream one soldier was telling another, interpreting it as Gideon’s victory. God gave a frightened man exactly the encouragement he needed, exactly when he needed it.

Gideon went into battle with three hundred men against an army described as numerous as locusts. And won.

The man hiding in a winepress became the deliverer of Israel. Not because his fear disappeared — but because he kept moving despite it, one small step of obedience at a time, with a God who was patient enough to meet him in his doubt every single time he asked.