GOD'S PATIENCE AND GRACE
Chapter 11
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THE passage of Scripture before us in this last study is Judges 8 and verses 28 to 35. I would guess that if we do read this part of the Bible, these few verses would receive very cursory attention by us. We would read them as the finish of the story of Gideon, of his death, and pass on to something else without giving these verses much consideration. Perhaps we would think that there was not very much here to engage our attention, to teach us or to help us in our Christian lives. But I put it to you that what we have here is a further revelation of God, and one which is nourishing to our souls, and of benefit to our spiritual lives.

I would share with you this last study in the life of Gideon this revelation from God which is given us here.

We have a revelation first of God's patience and forbearance with this world and the people in this world, and then we have a revelation of God's grace and love to his believing people. Let us look at each in turn.

First of all God's patiences and forbearance with a fallen world. Do you notice how patient and forbearing God was with Israel. He gave them forty years of peace from the harassment of the Midianites. We have that in verse 28 of Judges chapter 8 - "During Gideon's lifetime, the land enjoyed peace for forty years". Then in verses 33 we read, "No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side." Not only that, "They also failed to show gratitude to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is Gideon) for all the good things he had done for them."

Do you see what is being revealed there about the Israelites, and also of the hearts of most in the world, and the forbearance of God in it all. Although during the life of Gideon they made an outward show of returning to God, their action as soon as he died shows that in their hearts they had not really returned to God. Although they honoured God outwardly in Gideon's life, we still find, you see, that they were quite quick to use Gideon's folly, recorded for us in the previous verses concerning the ephod, and began to worship that rather than God. Strictly speaking, while Gideon was alive they outwardly honoured God, but inwardly their hearts were far from God, yet God still gave them peace in Gideon's time. Such is the forbearance of God.

Isn't that the picture that we have here? How could they, if they really honoured God, have returned to worshipping Idols immediately Gideon had died? If their hearts had truly been one with God, how could they have hankered after the things which heathen worship allowed them to do? And so we see this picture that even though God had been so gracious to them, yet in their inner heart they did not love God. Immediately they prostituted themselves to Baal. Gave themselves, in other words, heart and soul to the ways and practices of Baal. Look at the picture. When they are giving worship to God, it is half-hearted. When they are giving worship to Baal it is whole-hearted. They quickly forget God's deliverance. God is a forbearing God, for in spite of this he still perseveres with them.

Cast you mind back to the very start of our study in chapter six of Judges. You notice it starts in verse 1, "Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites." The purpose, you see, of God allowing the Midianites power over the Israelites in this way, was to cause them to think again, and return to him. Well they did turn to God in their need. In verse 7 of chapter 6, "When the Israelites cried to the Lord because of Midian, he sent them a prophet, who said, 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: I brought you up out of Egypt, and out of the land of slavery. I snatched you from the power of Egypt, and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. I said to you "I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live." But you have not listened to me'". You see, it had all happened before.

Yet, although they had prayed to God, their hearts really weren't going after God. They were remorseful that they had been afflicted in this way. They did not like the consequences of sin and of worshipping foreign Gods, so they prayed to God, but they did not really want the Lord. They wanted his blessing, but they did not want God himself. But yet God raised up Gideon, and gave power to Gideon, and gave them this time of peace for over forty years. Then when it was all over they forgot God and went back to worshipping Baal.

How forbearing God was with them. You see the repetition. They had done it all before. God is gracious. Then they do it again, and throughout the history of Israel we find this going on continually. Jesus speaks of this in the parable of the vineyard let out to husbandmen. In the parable, as the owner of the vineyard sent servants to receive from the produce of the vineyard, some servants they killed, some they beat, some they rejected. Then the owner of the vineyard says he will send his son, but they kill him also. The Jews realised that Jesus was speaking of them and their history. Jesus was indeed painting the picture of Israel's history.

When we come to the days of Jeremiah, and we hear Jeremiah telling Israel that they were going to be carried off into captivity in Babylon, we may say, "What a harsh God to treat them like this!" However what we need to remember is that it was after hundreds of years of patience and forbearance of God sending his prophets, and of God calling them, and blessing them, and forgiving them. Even then God said after seventy years I will bring you back to their land, and according to the exact time of the promise, God did indeed bring them back into Palestine. Such is the goodness and forbearance of God.

This is what the theologians call God's common grace in the world. Can you imagine what the world would be like if God in his forbearance and patience didn't treat us with these deliverances such as is demonstrated in the history of Israel in Gideon's time. Why have we in our country at this particular time still some measure of law and order? I say 'some measure' of law and order because law and order is diminishing. Why have we still some measure of economic prosperity? It is God's patience and forbearance. When God looks upon our land, and upon the countries of the world, what does he see? He certainly does not see people turning to him, loving him and obeying him. As far as our country is concerned and our church is concerned, God has been good to us in the same way that God was good to Israel; yet we still turn away from Him.

Israel presumed on the patience and forbearance of God, and that is a very dangerous thing to do. And just as God gave Israel over to the hands of the Midianites, if we are Christians we do not interpret economic disaster, and problems of government, and such like in our land simply as accidents, but see in them warnings from God that we are in his hands, and that we should turn to him again. The marvellous things is that when a nation does turn to God, even when their hearts are not really in it, but they cry to God for his deliverance, God is so gracious and forbearing, and answers their prayer with good.

There are many problems as we look out on the world. People say, "Why does God allow what is happening in Bosnia? Why does God allow the terrorism which we see here and there; why does God allow this and that? Well we haven't got answers to these things. We would do better, however, to look at things in a Scriptural way, and before we condemn God, see the patience and forbearance and kindness which God shows to a world which despises his love, and takes his gifts for granted.

How hurtful it must have been to the Lord, (although, no doubt, because he was God he knew it would happen,) that the moment Gideon dies, the people prostitute themselves to the Baals. We do not consider that. When we sin and depart form allegiance to God, we do not consider the hurt felt by the God who created us for himself. But we should, before we complain against our situations. We are creatures of the moment, and we shout in our pain to God as Israel did, and God is gracious, and then after receiving help and blessing, then we forget him.

I do not know answers to the problems in the world, but I would suggest to you at this time that here, in the Scripture before us, is a revelation of God which will do much to help us relate to things in the world as they are; and to realise that our God is gracious and loving; and that his forbearance is revealed in the way he is patient with us, so giving people time to repent and lay hold of Christ and the salvation which is there.

Then, and perhaps more near to our hearts, is God's grace to his believing people.

I think that one of the things that has come through in our study of Gideon is that Gideon was both wimp and warrior. He was a warrior because God had called him and blessed him. He was a wimp by nature.

He was raised to great heights of spirituality as we saw in the previous verses, when Gideon was asked to be king, and he, with great spiritual humility and understanding said, " I will not rule over you." Verse 23 of chapter 8. "Nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you." In this Gideon points the people to God as their king. He does not want these honours. He has acknowledged that God has given him the victory and the power. And although he remained a judge in Israel, he did not want to be king or receive kingly honours. He wanted the Lord to have all the honour and glory. That is great height in spiritual grace.

But at the same time he was still a sinner, and he fell short of God's glory. We pass this over, don't we, but we are told in verse 30 of Judges 8, "He had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives." He was a bit of lad, wasn't he? However, before we show too much righteous indignation we need to take into account the culture of the time. Although God has made it clear in his word, even to them, that he meant one man, one wife; in the culture of the time it was more acceptable, and people did not think too much about it. But Gideon did not only have several wives, he had his concubine down the road at Shechem, and toddled off there when he got a bit bored with his wives. We are told that he had a son by this concubine, and that that son was a problem in Israel. After Gideon's death this son took authority and kingship, and murdered all the other legitimate sons of Gideon. Such are the problems which our sins bring upon us.

The interesting thing is that the Scriptures don't hide all that, but they make no comment about it. There is no condemnation, no rejection, no looking down from a great height with moral indignation. No standing up on the high ground and looking down and delighting in other peoples faults, saying like the Pharisee in the temple, "I thank God I am not like that man Gideon." We in the church down the ages have often been like the Pharisee, rather than the Publican, which we read about in that parable Jesus told.

God accepted Gideon as he was. Indeed he chose him as he was. It was grace that saved him. It was not that he was saved and chosen because he was a warrior, because he was not a warrior naturally, but only by God's grace. It wasn't because he had got to this height of spirituality of wanting God to have the glory, because God had given him the grace to be like that and behave like that. He had nothing, nothing whatsoever with which he could commend himself to God, and the fact that he behaved like this and God still accepted him, shows the way of grace with which God deals with us in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We judge things in a way that God does not judge things. If somebody in our country lived like Gideon, My! the papers would make a meal of it wouldn't they, specially if that person, like Gideon, was high up, say like a Bishop. The papers would spend money and energy to get the whole story especially all the spicy bits, and to pillory that person before the world. The reason is we make much of so called big sins, but we think nothing of things like inordinate pride, or selfishness, or rudeness, or gossip, or lust in our hearts and minds and imagination. Yet all that is in God's sight just bad as any of these other things. God does not look down on us with condemnation. He is gracious.

It is a funny thing that here, (I mentioned this in the previous chapter of this book and I mention it again because it has hit me very hard,) that there is condemnation for sin here, not in the physical realm, but in the spiritual. We are told Israel prostituted themselves to the Baals. It is interesting that it is this word 'prostituting' that is used. In one sense Gideon used prostitutes, and he prostituted himself to the flesh, but God in the record of Judges does not say anything condemnatory about that. There is Scripture that tells us it is wrong and we must not condone it, but when it comes to the way we give ourselves to idols, that is spiritual prostitution, and that is more offensive to God than any physical failure or temporal failure. God does condemn that unequivocally.

I look out on the church, and consider the inordinate length of time that was spent on the issue of the ordination of women. But there are great ills in the church in the spiritual realm which we hardly address at all. There are the issues of liberalism and doctrinal confusion which effect the very glory of Christ and the way of salvation, and these we do not seem to address at all, but which in fact are spiritual prostitution such as God condemns here.

Let me say that the other denominations are no better in their particular ways, and they can't take the high ground against the Church of England, which often they do. The fact that the Church of England is more in the lime-light, is simply because the Church of England is so much bigger than all the other denominations, and is the established church of the land. None can look down their nose at another, but what I am saying here is we should be more concerned about spiritual evil, and rejection of God. You see Gideon loved God, and Gideon worshipped God, and Gideon had trusted in God, and had given himself to God. This was that which covered a multitude of sins.

Gideon was a sinful person, and this expressed itself in his life. Surely we appreciate that in the nitty-gritty of day to day living it is difficult, when all the pressures and the lusts and the depressions, and so on, take up our attention, that we in our human nature cannot always resist these things. But though he was sinful, Gideon, in his heart, loved God, and that is grace. So God loved Gideon, and Scripture records him, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as a hero of faith.

We, however, turn things around, and if somebody in a particular congregation fails in a particular way, hurtful and condemnatory letters are sent, and things said, and in self-righteous exclamation people say, "How could they do such a thing!" So in word and attitude they turn away from that person. God never does that, for if someone is particularly weak in one direction, another is weak in another direction. Also to my mind is there anything worse than pride? If there is then I would like you to tell me what it is, but pride hardly ever attracts the condemnation and self-righteous indignation which the so called sins of the flesh do. We do not seem to think pride is particularly wrong, but in God's eyes, it is.

It is the grace of God that I would seek to concentrate your attention on in this chapter of our study in Gideon. There was Gideon, grace made him what he was, grace kept him, and grace accepted him in all his failures in this world, and he was saved through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is in heaven not because he was Gideon the Warrior, but because he was Gideon the Wimp, whom God loved and saved.

We, at this time, have this same God who is gracious to us, and we are what we are as Christians, not because we have done anything or achieved anything, but because God looks on us with love and accepts us as we are. What I would beg of the church today, and for each of us at least, that as we look at each other, we should look at each other as God looks at each of us. He graciously accepts us with all our faults, and we should accept each other in the same way.