[0:00] Go with me to Judges chapter 6 again tonight. Judges chapter 6. We were there last week talking about Gideon and talking about questioning God.
[0:21] Judges chapter 6. Questioning God. In chapter 6 we read through last week. It's where God is calling Gideon to go and to lead the children of Israel and to take them out to fight against the Midianites and the Amalekites and to free them from the that was the word I want.
[0:51] Yeah. Free them from the situation where the Midianites are controlling them. I don't know what word I want but anyway. And during this conversation where God's having with us and the angel of the Lord's there.
[1:08] Look at verse 13 of Judges chapter 6. Gideon said unto him, O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?
[1:20] And where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
[1:32] He asked questions of God. He's questioning God. Where is the miracles? Where are you in all this? We've been under bondage.
[1:43] That's the word I want. We've been under bondage to the Midianites and the Amalekites and all this. Where are you? You know, and did you notice how God responded?
[1:56] He didn't respond with chastisement. He didn't respond by saying, What are you doing questioning me? No. Remember we talked last week James 1.5.
[2:07] If you lack wisdom, let him ask of God and give it to all men liberally and upbraideth not. And it should be given him. He said, God's not going to get upset with you for asking questions. He says, Ask the questions.
[2:19] And then you go to verse 14 there of Judges 6. It says, And the Lord looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.
[2:30] Have not I sent thee? You go, you do what I say, you do what I've asked you to do, and watch what happens. You're going to be delivered because I'm sending you.
[2:41] I'm the one giving you what you need. And so last week we looked at the first thing about where is God when we need him? Where is God when we need him? And the first thing we said, He is above watching over us.
[2:59] Gideon says, Look, why are you trying to use me? I'm not anything special. There's nothing that I can do. Remember in this passage, Gideon's at a wine press threshing wheat, trying to hide from the Midianites so he can keep some food on the table.
[3:15] He's not going out in public. He's not doing things he's trying to hide from them. He's doing it because he's scared. And so, why are you asking me to do this? Remember, Job, Job faced more trials than anybody.
[3:29] In Job 24, 5, we said, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the year, but now mine eyes seeth thee. And God's trying to do the same thing with Gideon.
[3:39] We said, Gideon's heard, he's asking questions. We've heard about what you did in Egypt. We've heard about these other things. God says, Okay, now it's time for you to see me in action. Now it's time for you to see what I'm going to do.
[3:53] So, God is above, watching over us, and he's ready to act on our behalf. So many times we talked about the fact that we face things, and we get upset about the things that are going on in our life.
[4:07] And Bill Bright, I quoted him last week, says, Circumstances do not contribute to our misery. It is our lack of understanding of who God is and his wonderful, holy purpose for us that frustrates so many.
[4:22] It's not the things that are happening in our life. It's not the things that are going on in our life. We're not looking at what God is doing. A lot of times things happen and we put up a wall. Oh God, why did you do this and why did you do that and why did you do this other thing?
[4:35] Instead of saying, Okay God, what are we going to do here? God, what are you going to do to handle this? How are you going to use me? How are you going to use others to take care of this problem?
[4:48] Let me see you and what you're going to do, what the work is. And we talked about the fact that God said you're going to get an army together. And so Gideon puts out the call for the army and they start coming and in chapter 7 verse 2 it says, And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands.
[5:12] Thus Israel vaunt themselves against me saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. God wants to show them that he's doing the work. It is him. And he says, Look, you got too many?
[5:25] Tell everybody who's afraid to go home. Now remember how many did we tell you last week the Midianites had? 135,000 soldiers encamped in the valley down there.
[5:41] Gideon has 32,000. God says, No, that's too many. Everybody that's afraid to go home. 22,000 leave. He's down to 10,000. God says, That's still too many.
[5:52] What? We got 135,000 to 10. 1000. God says, Nope, still too many. So he tells Gideon, Okay, send them down to the river and let them drink.
[6:06] And they go down there and some get down on all fours and just slap up the water. Some kneel down but they bring the water up to them so they can still look around while they're drinking. God says, Keep those guys.
[6:19] And so it's down to 300. God says, Okay, now we've got a group that we can work with. Now, we can go to battle. 300 against 135,000.
[6:32] Which brings us to the second thing. God is above watching over us. God is nearby standing beside us. Where is God when I need him?
[6:44] He is nearby standing beside me. Look at verse 15 of chapter 6. Nope.
[6:57] Chapter 7. Chapter 15 to chapter 7. Nope. Okay, wait a minute. Verse 15. Verse 15 to chapter 6.
[7:10] And he said unto him, O my Lord, wherewithal shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh and I am the least of my father's house.
[7:22] God, how am I going to save Israel? How can I do what you're asking? I'm not a big important person. I'm, you know, the least of the house of Manasseh, the least of my family.
[7:35] How can I do this work? You ever been there? How can I do what you're asking me to do? We don't feel capable.
[7:48] We feel like there's just too many challenges. We don't know what we're going to do. If you feel that way, welcome to the club. God has used many men who feel that way.
[8:04] Moses in Deuteronomy is recounting things that happened along the way. And one of the times, remember, people were asking him, everybody was coming to Moses to ask him questions.
[8:15] What do we do about this? What do I do about that? What do I do? And he was settling everything. He says, wait a minute, whoa, whoa, whoa. And he winds up dividing them up.
[8:25] And he's recounting that in Deuteronomy chapter 1, verse 12. He says, how can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, your burdens, your problems, and your burdens and your strife?
[8:40] How can I do this? Moses asked the question, how can I? A little later on, Samuel, God says, Samuel, I want you to go to the house of Jesse and I want you to anoint the new king.
[8:54] And Samuel's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. If I try to do that, Saul's going to go after me. God says, take a heifer with you and you're going to go make a sacrifice. But while you're there, you're going to interview Jesse's boys.
[9:09] 1 Samuel 16, 2. And Samuel said, how can I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, take a heifer with thee and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord.
[9:23] Samuel, how can I do this? Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, the angel tells him what's going to happen. He says, you're going to have a son.
[9:35] Zacharias said unto the angel, Luke 1, 18, whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is well stricken in years. Wait a minute.
[9:46] We're going to have, how can I do this? We're old. How are we going to be able to do that? You know, do you ever have those feelings?
[9:56] How can I? God says, look, I'm going to be right there with you. I'm going to be standing right beside you, helping you in everything that you do. God promises his presence in the most precious times that we face in life.
[10:15] Isaiah 41, 10. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
[10:29] I'm going to be with you all the time. He's right there beside us. Verses you know well, Matthew 28, 19 and 20, the Great Commission.
[10:42] Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always.
[10:57] I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. He says, you think your world is falling apart? You think everything is going on? You think the actual literal end of the world is coming?
[11:10] I will be with you always. I am going to be there. See, when the nation of Israel wandered into the wilderness, God encouraged them.
[11:23] They're in the wilderness. They're going to be in the wilderness for 40 years. Does God even care? Does, where's, where's God while we're out here wandering around the wilderness? All they had to do was open up the flap on their tent.
[11:36] Pillar of fire by night, pillar of cloud by day. God says, I'm right there. Just open up the flap of your tent. I'm right there. I am with you always.
[11:49] You know, later, he's going to be, have his presence in the tabernacle, in the temple. Then later, the New Testament, he said, I'm going to send you a comforter, a Holy Spirit, who will live within you.
[12:04] So where is God when we need him? He is above watching us. He is nearby, standing beside us. He is personal, living within us. He is personal, living within us.
[12:17] Gideon, the other Old Testament saints, or I don't know if you can call them saints, whatever, they didn't have the same things we have.
[12:31] They did not have the Holy Spirit living within them, like we do. In Gideon's day, the Spirit came upon people for special things that they were going to do.
[12:41] Look at chapter 6, verse 34. Chapter 6, verse 34. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him.
[12:56] He got a taste of what New Testament people were going to get a taste of. He's going to experience what it is to have God right there with you, helping you in everything that you do. Judges chapter 7, beginning at verse 16.
[13:10] And he divided the 300 men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand with empty pitchers and lamps within the pitchers. And he said unto them, Look on me and do likewise.
[13:22] And behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that as I do, so shall ye do. When I blow a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.
[13:40] So Gideon and the hundred men that were with him came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch. They had put, newly set the watch, and they blew the trumpets and break the pitchers with their hands.
[13:56] And the three companies blew the trumpets and break the pitchers and held the lamps in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands to blow with all. And they cried, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.
[14:07] And they stood every man in his place round the camp, and all the hosts ran and cried and fled. And the three hundred blew the trumpets and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the hosts, and hosts fled unto those places.
[14:28] What do I want you to see here? God gave him exactly what he needed. He said, The Spirit's going to be with you, Gideon, and I want you to trust me.
[14:38] And I'm going to give you instruction and I'm going to guide you into what you're going to do. And here's what's going to happen. Again, I mentioned this last week. Now they all had swords with them attached to their belts that they were going to be able to use.
[14:51] But did you notice, what did they do for an attack? They broke pitchers, blew a trumpet, and held up a light. That's it.
[15:02] And God says, Okay, you want to see me work? You want to see what I'm going to do? You want to see me when you're asking questions like, where's God in all of this? What's God doing? Why doesn't he do things like he did when he brought the children of Israel out of Egypt?
[15:16] Why isn't he? He says, You watch, Gideon. And 135,000 soldiers wind up killing each other, while 300 are standing up around the circle above them with a pitcher and a trumpet and a lamp.
[15:33] And they are so scared and so confused that they start killing each other. God says, Okay, Gideon, do you see it?
[15:44] You've heard about it. You've heard what I can do. Do you see it now, what I'm doing? Can you imagine Gideon winning a battle in that way? And Gideon only had the Spirit come upon him.
[15:58] We have the Spirit living within us day after day after day. God says, Look, trust me. Watch me. See what I will do in spite of everything that's taking place.
[16:12] 1 John 3, verse 24 says, And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us.
[16:25] God is a Spirit. God is a Holy Spirit. God is a person. The person is a Spirit and he's living within us every day.
[16:37] He's giving us everything we need. We just need to follow him. We don't have to go to Mecca. We don't have to go to Jerusalem. We don't have to go to the top of Mount Fuji.
[16:49] We don't have to... He says, The Holy Spirit's with you wherever you go. Just walk with me every moment of every day. At any moment, day or night, no matter what the circumstances, God is right there with us.
[17:05] He is above, looking down. He is with us, standing beside us. He is within us. Where is God when we need him?
[17:19] Look at chapter 8, verse 28. Judges chapter 8, verse 28. Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more.
[17:34] And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon. 135,000 verses 300. With God on their side.
[17:48] And what happened? Forty years of quietness is about to take place. Trust God. Where is God in the midst of all of this?
[18:00] He is above, looking down. He is beside you, watching over you. He is within you, guiding you. Prayer requests.
[18:11] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[18:23] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, you're absolutely right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[18:33] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.