On Gideon

I'm a girl.

Yeah, shocker, right?

Since I'm a girl, when I study the Bible, I have a tendency to ignore the guys and just focus on the girls (sorry, guys) There are lots of cool guys to study in the Bible, don't get me wrong, but Ruth, Esther, Rahab, Mary, Deborah, and all those awesome chicks have been there for me through thick and thin. But today in Sunday School we had a lesson about a guy that I really, really appreciated. It kind of stuck in my brain and is something I can apply to my life. Naturally, I will share.

Gideon was kind of like me. He wanted to do something great for God, and he loved the idea of it, but when the time came that God was ready to use him, he kind of chickened out and had to be babied along. Those of you who know me know that a lot of times I have really good ideas and plans, and I'm going to be amazing and adventurous and save the day, and then I wimp out and depress us all.

Anywho, here are a few random lessons I learned from Gideon.

We all know the story about how Gideon was called to deliver the Israelites from Midian. (If that's not ringing a bell, why don't you go enjoy Judges chapters six and seven?) So Gideon found out that God was giving him something he really wanted - a chance to serve. And what does he do?

He asks God for a sign that this was truly the Lord's will.

So God gives him one.

And then what does he do?

He asks for another sign.

I do this a lot. Because I'm WEIRD, I actually don't have much trouble trusting God through hard times. Oddly enough, it's when it actually starts to look like God is giving me what I asked for that I freak out. I think that surely I'm not going to get this thing I wanted and I try not to get excited because I know that I'm just going to lose whatever it is as soon as I start to think it's really mine. But that's not how God wants us to live. NO GOOD THING will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. We don't need to be asking for signs. Just trust that God will give you the desires of your heart.

Lesson number two: Don't be a chicken. When Gideon finally started leading his army to battle, and God was telling him to send people home, the first people to go were the people who were afraid. God can't use people who are going to be scared all the time. Only be strong and very courageous.

One last thing, which kind of goes back to the first one, follow through on your commitments. Gideon got what he wanted and was about to save Israel. Aaaand he got nervous again and was freaking out like "Oh my worrrrrd! The Midianites have like, a gazillion guys and we only have like threee hundred!!! We are soo dead!!! Oh my worrrd what am I gonna do?? I don't even knoowwww!"

Seriously, bro?

So God told Gideon to go down into the camp of the Midianites, which he did, and Gideon overhears these Midianite soldiers discussing a dream one of them had. He says that he dreamed that their camp was destroyed by like... bread or something, and one of his buddies is like "Well, we're dead." And then Gideon is comforted and ready to go conquer them.
Isn't that kind of sad, though? He literally was told like five times by the omnipotent God that He would deliver Midian into his hands. And he's freaking out and has to go get comfort from his enemies.

What?

Don't do that. Trust God. Trust Him, trust Him, trust Him.

And then Gideon conquered Midian (in a somewhat humorous turn of events) and they all lived happily ever after, until the Israelites decided to forsake their God and turn to worshiping idols again, which was a brilliant idea and doesn't exactly make for a great ending.

NONETHELESS, remember this lesson from the story of Gideon who conquered Midian:  Don't be afraid to step out and take what God has given to you.