Gideon, Part 3

As I mentioned on Monday, I was asked to lead a Sunday school class at Annual Conference. This is a series of posts from my notes. The lesson is based on Judges 6: 11-18. Today's post is about verses 14-18.

¹⁴ Then the Lord turned to him and said, “You have strength, so go and rescue Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not personally sending you?”
¹⁵ But again Gideon said to him, “With all due respect, my Lord, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I’m the youngest in my household.”
¹⁶ The Lord replied, “Because I’m with you, you’ll defeat the Midianites as if they were just one person.”
¹⁷ Then Gideon said to him, “If I’ve gained your approval, please show me a sign that it’s really you speaking with me. ¹⁸ Don’t leave here until I return, bring out my offering, and set it in front of you.”
The Lord replied, “I’ll stay until you return.”

Then looking at these verses:

1. The text switches from the Lord’s messenger to the Lord – don’t get sidetracked by that. Obviously, if it is a messenger, it is a messenger who speaks with the Lord’s authority.
2. Take a closer look at verse 16:  The Lord replied, “Because I’m with you, you’ll defeat the Midianites as if they were just one person.  Another way to translate that verse is to say, “Because I AM is with you...” Where have we heard that before? This is the God of the burning bush. This is I AM.
3. We’ll talk more about this later, but it is a vignette of a person being called to follow God and do God’s work, but who is experiencing doubt in his own abilities. I think it is easy to identify with Gideon.