INTRODUCTION
GIDEON is one of the more well known Bible characters. He is known because his story is so readable and exciting. Perhaps what we do not glean from the narrative so easily is the lessons in the spiritual pilgrimage that his story lays before us.
The title which I have chosen for this book expresses for me the heart of these lessons. Gideon as a warrior is perhaps the first thing that we appreciate as we read about him, but do we appreciate that he was not a warrior by nature, and that he was a warrior only because God made him so.
What is so encouraging about his story is that by nature he is plainly a wimp. Before God chose him and brought him into the lime-light he was a very ordinary young man, and one who was very reluctant and frightened to do what God called him to do. As we go on in his history, this fact of wimpishness peeps through all the time. At each stage of his leadership his fear and lack of faith comes through . At the end of his life, one moment he shows great spiritual maturity, but at the same time spiritual folly, together with great weaknesses of the flesh.
It is so clear that Gideon was chosen by God not because of any particular virtue or ability, but simply by sovereign grace. Indeed his selection brings out the fact that all the victory and success was from God, and that only God deserves the glory. God can make anyone, even the weakest of us, useful and victorious in his work. It is perhaps because Gideon was such a wimp that God could use him and did choose him. In someone with great ability the temptation would be for us to see his success in his own power rather than from God. His own particular temptation would be to take glory to himself, and depend on his own power, rather than upon God's. If Gideon, who had nothing to glory in, could be tempted in this way, how much more someone with ability.
But the encouragement is there for us also. If God could do all he did in the life of Gideon, then none of us need despair. The only criteria required is that we have no confidence in the flesh, and have all our confidence and trust in God. The story of Gideon tells us that there is no situation that is beyond the victory and blessing of God, and growth in God's kingdom is possible for everyone, because it comes from God alone.
As we look at Gideon's life, we see a man who had little or no initiative himself. The simple fact is that it was God at every stage who gave the initiative and inspiration. God in fact had to overcome the reluctance and fear of his servant to go forward.
This has so much to tell us in our present age when all the emphasis seems to be on our skills and ideas, and we are led to believe that only those who are trained, and follow accepted ways of doing things will succeed. I do not decry training, but I am encouraged that Gideon had no formal training, and the training he received was on the job, and given directly by God.
Gideon should encourage all who are struggling in the work of God and feeling discouraged when they see their limitations and lack of resources, and their lack of success. We do not have to envy those successful churches because of all their skills and resources. Gideon had none of these. God chose him and God made him a victorious warrior. What we need to do is simply seek to walk in the will of God and depend on God alone.