Gideon teaches an important lesson about our calling. Let’s review Week 2. Gideon was minding his own business hiding from the Midianites. He was in a small winepress threshing wheat. Why? He was trying to get enough food to feed his family without the Midianites coming and stealing it. He was walled up and living in a desperate state. Just when he was doing his daily task, the angel of the Lord shows up. Isn’t that the way life works. God shows up when we least expect him. To Gideon’s surprise, the angel of the Lord greets him by saying, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” This scared man didn’t quite know what to do with this greeting.
Aren’t we the same? Did I know what to do when God gave me a child on the autism spectrum? Did I feel like a valiant warrior? We all know the answer to those questions. I was scared and overwhelmed much like Gideon. God had a calling for Gideon. Gideon was to answer the call and trust God. That is pretty much it. I need to do the same.
What was Gideon’s first task? Well, that’s an interesting question. Let’s take a look at this in the book of Judges. “Now on the same night the Lord said to him, ‘Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father and cut down the asherah that is beside it.’” Many times there are things that have to be purified in our family before God will use us. Gideon followed these directions even though he knew it would not be popular with his father and neighbors. God calls us to get rid of idols and those things in our lives that are not pleasing to God. Sometimes there is a deep clean that needs to happen in our family. Let’s follow Gideon’s example and seek purity and get rid of the things in our homes so we can be right before the Lord and ready to do his will.
