God Sees What You Can Become - Judges 6:7–24 (Session 7)

 Judges 6 opens with Israel suffering under Midianite oppression because the nation has once again turned from God. For seven years, the Midianites invade at harvest time, destroy crops, steal livestock, and leave Israel impoverished and hiding in caves.

When the people finally cry out, God first sends a prophet. Before providing deliverance, He reminds Israel of everything He has already done: bringing them out of Egypt, defeating their enemies, and giving them the land. The problem was not God’s lack of power. Israel had invited evil into its life through disobedience and then forgotten the Lord’s past faithfulness.

This session then introduces Gideon, who is threshing wheat inside a winepress to hide from the Midianites. Wheat was normally threshed on an exposed hill where the wind could separate the grain from the chaff. Gideon is instead working in a confined hole, showing the fear, frustration, and defeat that had overtaken Israel.

The Angel of the Lord appears and calls Gideon a “mighty man of valor.” At that moment, Gideon does not look like a warrior. He is hiding, questioning God, and describing himself as the least important member of the weakest family in Manasseh. Yet God sees Gideon according to what he will become through divine power.

The study also examines the identity of the Angel of the Lord. The passage moves naturally from calling Him the Angel of the Lord to identifying Him as the Lord Himself, supporting the understanding that this was a physical manifestation of God and, as many scholars conclude, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ.

Gideon asks for assurance, and God patiently provides a sign by consuming the offering with fire. The passage reminds us that asking for guidance is different from using signs as excuses to avoid obedience.

The central assurance is simple: “I will be with you.” Gideon’s success will not depend on his family status, confidence, resources, or natural ability. It will depend on God’s presence.

Scripture: Judges 6:7–24
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study

 Questions discussed in this session:

• What should we do if we are in frustration and defeat? 
• If God says he is with us, can we move forward in confidence?
• Is it wise for us to look to God for a sign? 
• What does God do to build our faith?  

Transcript

The Cycle of Rebellion in Judges

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome back to Reasoning Through the Bible . We're working our way through the book of Judges in the Bible and we're glad you're with us . As we've seen in Judges , israel is in complete , total rebellion . They've been allowing people around them that are idol worshipers and they've allowed these people to influence them . So now Israel has become idol worshipers and we're in Judges chapter six , and it says here that the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord , which brings us to this cycle that keeps happening .

Speaker 1 0:32

Back in chapter two , it mentions a cycle that happened every time Israel was in this section of the Bible . There would be a period of peace where they were in fellowship with God and they would also then allow idols to come in . They would start disobeying God , they would start worshiping other things and this evil would creep in , where they would then have a period where God would remove his protection , remove his blessing from them and allow the enemies to come in and oppress them . And then the pain of that oppression . They would eventually cry out to God and God would then hear their cries , raise up a deliverer and the deliverer would drive out the enemies and they would have a period where they obeyed God and would have peace for a while until the cycle began again . We're here in several of the cycles through .

Speaker 1 1:29

Now we're in Judges , chapter six , where now Midian is the oppressor , and Midian has been oppressing Israel for seven years . They would come in around harvest time and camp out in their tents and they would then steal all the food and all the farm animals from Israel , leaving Israel very hungry and poor , and Israel had to camp out in caves and hide in holes in the ground and things like that . The application for us is that all of us is going to encounter evil , but we don't have to let it come in and camp out in an intense and oppress us . Every time when we see evil , we should immediately repent and drive ourselves towards God , instead of letting it live with us and around us until it influences us and draws us in . That happened to Israel every single time and it will happen to us every single time . If we allow evil into our lives and allow evil around us , it will suck us in .

Speaker 1 2:26

Here we are in Judges , chapter six . I'm going to start in verse seven . Now it came about , and the sons of Israel cried to the Lord on account of Midian , that the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel . And he said to them thus says the Lord , the God of Israel it was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery . I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land . And I said to you I am the Lord , your God . You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live , but you have not obeyed me . So in this passage , in verses seven and eight , what happens as soon as Israel prays ?

Speaker 2 3:13

The God sends them a prophet .

Speaker 1 3:15

God hears and he sends them a prophet . What is the first thing that God reminds Israel of in verse eight ?

Speaker 2 3:22

Of the things that he's done and of course it's the major thing that he had done and bringing them out of slavery , out of Egypt where they had been for 400 years , and brought them out . But just by saying I brought you out of Egypt , what goes with that is the parting of the Red Sea , where they went across on dry land , the defeat of the Pharaoh's army .

Speaker 2 3:47

Just the most powerful army in the world , Him going before them as a pillar of smoke during the day and a pillar of fire at night . The manna , the food , the water . So it's not just saying I'm who brought you out of Egypt I mean , it is that but it's everything else that brings to mind when he says that , All those miracles and all those things that he's done for you , yes .

Speaker 1 4:09

So God is basically saying I brought you out of Egypt , which was the worst mess than this you're in now , so I can bring you out of this one . That's the message that he's reminding them of . So if God can bring them out of Egypt , you can deliver them from the Midianites .

God's Help and Disobedience in Bible

Speaker 1 4:23

So the application to us has God helped us in the past ?

Speaker 2 4:27

Yeah .

Speaker 1 4:27

Do we forget sometimes ?

Speaker 2 4:29

Yeah .

Speaker 1 4:29

God . Do we need God to remind us of how he's helped us in the past ? Sometimes we forget , just like Israel forgot . We need reminding as well , and I think either we're going to come to terms and remind ourselves of what God has done for us or we're going to forget , just like Israel did , and evil is going to come in and God's going to have to come in and remind us of the things he's done . Sometimes we learn our lessons and sometimes we have to end up relearning them over and over again . So what are some ways that we can remind ourselves of how God has blessed us in the past ? What practical things can we do to remember these ?

Speaker 2 5:04

things . Well , some people will do what's called journaling . They'll write down their prayers , they'll write down what happens , the things that the answers to those prayers , and through that they can remember how God has brought them out of different situations .

Speaker 1 5:19

Yeah , that's a great way . That's a great way . So , in verse 10 , what had God commanded them not to do ?

Speaker 2 5:25

He says you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell .

Speaker 1 5:30

So what did they actually end up doing ?

Speaker 2 5:32

But they didn't do it , they didn't do it .

Speaker 1 5:34

They didn't obey . Israel ended up worshiping the gods of the Amorites and it says they disobey . So the source of the Midianites being there was Israel's disobedience .

Speaker 2 5:47

One thing I want to bring a distinction to , because you're perfectly right in saying that evil came into their lives and evil comes into our lives too , but that evil doesn't just come on its own from the standpoint of just creeping in , as we see here , as we've talked about as a microcosm of our own lives on this cycle that evil is always invited in . It's always the people in ourselves that move away from God . It's not just a passive evil from the standpoint of encroaching on to our lives or onto their lives . It was something that they invited into their lives .

Speaker 1 6:26

Right . I'm reminded of the story of the mother that comes into the kitchen and she sees the little kid with his hand in the cookie jar and she says what are you doing ? And he says resisting temptation . So sometimes we're just hanging around these things until it tempts us long enough to draw us in . It's usually our weak nature that gets attracted by these evil things and we succumb . So this comes from not spending enough time in the Word of God , not memorizing it , not hanging around other Christians . Those are all the practical things that we can do . So , steve , if you could read the next few verses in Judges , chapter 6 , start at verse 11 and go through 16 .

Speaker 2 7:08

Now the angel of the Lord , the angel of Yahweh , came and sat under the terabith at Oprah , which belonged to Yoash the Abizirite , while his son , gideon , was beating out wheat in the wine Press to hide it from the Midianites . And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him the Lord is with you , o mighty man of valor . And Gideon said to him Please , sir , if the Lord is with us , why then has all this happened to us ? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us , saying Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt ? But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of the Midian .

Speaker 2 7:52

And the Lord turned to him and said Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian . Do not I send you . And he said to him Please , lord , how can I save Israel ? Behold , my clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I'm the least in my father's house . And the Lord said to him but I will be with you and you shall strike the Midianites as one man . So in verse 11 , what's Gideon doing ? He's beating out wheat or threshing wheat , but the thing is he's in a wine press . Usually you did wheat out in the open so that the wind could blow the chaff , but a wine press is something that contained , because you would retain the juices from the wine .

Speaker 1 8:35

Right . So wheat has a husk on it and the edible parts in the middle , and it has this chaff or husk on the outside that's not edible . The typical thing to do would be to take the wheat to the top of a hill where there's a wind blowing . You'll hear them in different places in the Bible talk about the threshing floor , and what they would do is they would actually beat the wheat with a stick and that would break the husk off , and then they would throw it up in the air and the wind would blow the chaff away or the husk away , and they would end up with a pile of edible wheat .

Speaker 1 9:11

Threshing wheat happened on the top of the hill , where there was a breeze . Grapes , by the other hand , had to be crushed the wine press to get the juice . The grapes were heavy and since you had to press them and the juice is going to flow downward , they would take the grapes down in the valley where the grapes grew . They would take those into a hole in the ground a wine press . Here , this man , gideon , who we're introduced to , he's doing something that's backwards , what he should be doing up on the top of the hill . He's down in a hole in a wine press hiding .

Speaker 1 9:46

He's hiding from the .

Speaker 2 9:47

Midianites . And it makes sense because , as we talked about in the last session and in the earlier verses , the Midianites came in during harvest time , ransacked the land , took all the harvest or the produce of the land , ate and etc . So it makes sense from the standpoint of him hiding because he doesn't want to expose himself .

Speaker 1 10:09

That's why he's doing it . If he was on top of the hill threshing wheat during harvest time , what would he be inviting ?

Speaker 2 10:15

He'd be out there as a beacon saying , hey , he's got all the wheat ready .

Speaker 1 10:19

So what do you think it would be like to thresh wheat down in a hole ? Normally there's wind on top of the hill that blow the chaff away . Just think of the job . What's it like to thresh the wheat down in a hole where there's no wind down there to separate it must have been very

God's Encouragement to Gideon

Speaker 1 10:36

difficult . So this is a picture of frustration . This is a picture of frustration and defeat . Gideon here is representative of the rest of Israel . They're in frustration , they're in defeat . They're down in a hole . Rather , where they should be is up on the top of the hill in victory .

Speaker 2 10:53

And it's an unprideful thing them having to do this .

Speaker 1 10:56

Yes . So then , in verse 12 , who shows up ? The angel of the Lord . The angel of the Lord , and we've mentioned this before . But just to point out who is this person . Whenever it says the angel of the Lord , who is it talking ?

Speaker 2 11:10

about . It's always talking about God Himself showing up . It's noted as a theophany and many scholars take it as being the second person of the Trinity and the Son of God , which would be a Christophany .

Speaker 1 11:24

And we can know that in this passage in particular , because if we look at verse 12 , it says the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said the next verse Gideon asked a question and then the answer in verse 14, . The Lord looked to him and said so obviously in verse 14 , the Lord looked at him and said it's the same person that was standing there two verses earlier that's having this conversation .

Speaker 1 11:53

There's no indication here that there's a change in who's speaking to him . So this in verse 12 , the angel of the Lord appeared . It also looked at him and said so . When it says the Lord in all caps is the English Bible's way of using God's name , the very name of God Yahweh . It's obviously here saying that whenever it says the angel of the Lord , it's talking about the Lord . God Almighty has appeared in bodily form , because it says appeared and oftentimes , as you said , people , often theologians , hold us to be the pre-incarnate Christ .

Speaker 2 12:27

And this isn't something new . God has shown up to talk with the various people of Israel throughout time . We've talked about it in other sessions and as part of our podcast . We also have series that talk about topical series . We're going to have a series on this , the angel of the Lord . We're going to go through all of the various places that it talks about it and we'll flesh this out and we'll expand on this and have a whole session podcast , maybe even two , talking about the angel of the Lord in the various ways that God has shown up with people of Israel .

Speaker 1 13:02

So here in Judges , chapter six , the people cry out to God and lo and behold , god shows up . But he shows up to this one man down in a hole threshing out wheat hiding . And what does he say to him in verse 12 ? What's the first sentence that God says to this man ?

Speaker 2 13:21

The Lord is with you , mighty man of valor .

Speaker 1 13:25

Mighty man of valor , valiant warrior . So does Gideon look like a ?

Speaker 2 13:31

mighty warrior here , or acting like one . No .

Speaker 1 13:35

Doesn't look like , act like , sound like a duck or a mighty warrior . He's obviously not a mighty warrior , but God sees him how he's going to be .

Speaker 2 13:45

He's going to be right .

Speaker 1 13:46

Who else in the Bible do we see God speaking to them as if they're going to be ? I'm reminded of Peter over in the New Testament , when Peter was not very stable . He was wishy , washy and flighty , but Jesus names him Peter , which means rock . This happens in Scripture . We are looked at by God the way he will make us into . We should see our identity in the Lord as the way he sees us and not as the way we see ourselves . We have meaning and worth because of how God looks at us and the job and the mission that he has for us , and we have no business looking at God arguing with him saying that I'm not who you say . I am Lord Because he looks at us and sees what he is going to mold us into and not how we see ourselves .

Speaker 2 14:41

Yeah , and in Gideon's own strength he's in a wine press threshing wheat hiding . But under , with God's strength , he's going to become a man of valor , mighty man of valor , which will happen , as we will see .

Speaker 1 14:54

So God shows up and says the Lord's with you . And in the next verse , verse 13 , gideon comes back with what's the summary of what he's saying here .

Speaker 2 15:05

At first . Here he's saying why is all this happened to us ? Why is the Lord forsaken us ? Where is this God that brought us out of Egypt and did the mighty deeds of our ancestors and what he did for them ? Where is he ? Why has this God forsaken us ?

Speaker 1 15:23

God then , in the next verse , doesn't answer . You notice this . God shows up in verse 12 , the Lord is with you , o valiant . Warrior Gideon comes in with a long list of complaints and excuses . Oh , where's all this ? How come we hadn't got that ? What's the problem here ? How come I'm in this bad spot ? The Lord in the next verse says go in your strength and deliver Israel . He doesn't answer his questions .

Speaker 2 15:49

Yeah .

Speaker 1 15:50

Why .

Speaker 2 15:51

It's kind of a rhetorical question really . In other words , God hasn't forsaken them , they foresook God .

Speaker 1 15:58

Right . I can imagine God at that point , just slapping his forehead , saying oh my goodness .

Speaker 1 16:03

Look , just go and do this . So to me , that's what I see here is that how many times has God reminded them of all these things he's done and shown them all these things to the point where I think , god , just why should I repeat this again ? Look here , just go do this . That's what I see is God shows up .

Speaker 1 16:24

All Gideon has is a list of questions , excuses , complaints , groanings and grumblings that , if he would have just paid attention , he'd already know the answer to . But the Lord has patience with them and lovingly doesn't say what I probably would have said or what my mother would have said to me when I was growing up . Look , you know how many times have I showed you so ? No , god is loving and gracious and he just says here's what you need to do . Go and do this Because God knows us and he is patient with us . He is patient , he's loving , he knows what we're feeling . Can a leader respond to every criticism that comes their way ? If you're a leader and this is the thing here the angel of the Lord appears . Who's the leader ? And Gideon's just got a long list of how come , why , for what's going on here , and God doesn't respond .

Speaker 2 17:16

Yeah , well , and many times , if you do explain , they just have further questions because they don't want to listen . Obviously he's not acknowledging what the true problem is , so the explanation might just provide more questions . So it's simply just to say look , go , do what I'm asking you Now .

Speaker 1 17:34

Steve , you and I have been around churches for a while and in churches pastors get pulled in every direction and they learn very quickly . They're not going to be able to make everybody happy because they get pulled in all these directions . The pastors just have to basically ignore and realize that any move they make , you're going to have five percent of the church . That's on their case . Sometimes a leader just has to lead to do what they know is best , and this is what we're doing to move forward . Oftentimes our pastors really need some patience . We have here again the angel of the Lord , all caps and Gideon then in verse 15 , how does Gideon portray himself ?

Speaker 2 18:15

He says how can I do this ? Because my group , my family group , is the smallest group of the tribe of Manasseh and the weakest ones of them . So how is it that me ? Am I going to be able to accomplish this ?

Speaker 1 18:34

Poor me . I'm not talented , none of my family's talented . I'm the youngest . I'm not the strongest .

Speaker 2 18:41

I'm an insignificant person .

Speaker 1 18:43

Now look down at verse 27, . Later on in the story , how many servants did Gideon take with him later on when he starts to go do what God asked him to do ? Ten men of his servants . Okay , so he wasn't resource less . He had some things . He was enough to where he had ten of his servants , so he had more than ten . He was not completely lacking resources , but how did he see himself , based on that answer , as being an insignificant person , somebody that wouldn't be able to achieve what God was telling him to go do .

Speaker 1 19:21

So was Gideon's view of himself an accurate and fair assessment ? No , god's assessment of him was an accurate and fair assessment , which is why we say we need to look at ourselves the way God looks at us and not the way we see ourselves . The field of psychology is probably endless , simply because the human mind is desperately wicked . And who can know it ? The human mind is capable of deceiving ourselves . One of the worst deceptions is a self-deception , and we have here a man that's a typical example of people . He feels defeated . He's convinced himself he's defeated , but really all he really needed was to follow what God commanded him to do . That's what God is doing . He's starting at square one and just giving commands what we have here in verse 15, . He's saying how can I do it ? I'm the least . And what is God's answer in the next verse , verse 16 ?

Speaker 2 20:17

He says but I will be with you and you're going to strike the midians as one man , one Now looking at across the Bible and in our experience , does God always pick the smartest , brightest , strongest , fastest , most intelligent , most confident

God's Flawed Characters and Seeking Assurance

Speaker 2 20:37

?

Speaker 1 20:37

Who does God tend to pick ?

Speaker 2 20:39

Well , they're flawed characters . Many of them have flaws that we would look at and say this is a flawed person . Why , why is it that God's working with this person ? I wouldn't choose that person .

Speaker 1 20:52

One of my theology professors , dr Norman Geisler , was saved when he was 17 . He said he was barely able to read . He was almost out of high school , had never read a book and almost couldn't read at 17 years old . And God chose him and turned him into a writer . He wrote over 100 books and God sees us how we can be and how we will be . With his power , god can change us . He can change us from the inside out . I'm reminded in the New Testament , 1 Corinthians 126 , not many wise after the flesh , not many mighty , not many noble . God has chosen the weak things of this world to put to shame the strong . That's how we should look at ourselves is not how we think we are , but how God sees us . With God's help , are we as bad off as we think we are ?

Speaker 2 21:43

No .

Speaker 1 21:44

How do we get the faith and confidence that God will be with us ? By doing what he's telling ? Us to do , doing what he told us to do If he gave us instruction book . If we just follow the instructions , then , lo and behold , it tends to come out right .

Speaker 2 21:57

And the more that you do what he is leading you to do and you see the results that come out of it that you might not have thought was achievable , but it then becomes achievable or is achieved . That gives you confidence that in the future , god is with you and that you can do things through God's strength . That he's leading you to do and calling you to do Doesn't necessarily mean that it's things that you go out on your own and ask for God to help you with . It's waiting for God and going with what God is calling you to do and leading you to do .

Speaker 1 22:38

Verse 16, . The Lord said to him surely I will be with you and you shall defeat Midian . If God says he's with us , can we move forward and confidence , yes . So the next passage , starting at verse 17 , says this . So Gideon said to him if now I have found favor in your sight , then show me a sign that you who speak with me , please do not depart from here until I come back to you and bring out my offering and lay it before you . And he said I will remain until you return .

Speaker 1 23:07

Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an epho flower . He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and he brought them out to him under the oak and presented them . The angel of God said to him Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock and pour out the broth . And he did so . Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of his staff , that what was in his hand and touched the meat in the unleavened bread , and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat in the unleavened bread . Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight .

Speaker 1 23:41

When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord . He said Alas , the Lord , god . For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face . The Lord said to him Peace to you , do not fear , you shall not die . Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it the Lord's peace . To this day it is still an ophra of the Asbeerites . So in verse 17 , what does Gideon ask for A sign ? He asked for a sign . Why does he ask for a sign ?

Speaker 2 24:11

It's the reassurance it's wanting to be assured . It's a natural thing , it's a human thing to want to be assured God is asking him to do a very large task .

Speaker 1 24:22

Midians were formidable opponents and he's going to have to go out and do some very difficult things . He asked to save Israel and strike the Midianites and he says , OK , I need some assurance here .

Speaker 2 24:34

Is it OK ?

Speaker 1 24:34

to ask God for a sign .

Speaker 2 24:37

Yeah , I think so . Sometimes , maybe it is In order to have that confidence and build that confidence . If you're always asking for a sign , though it's you're delaying things that God wants you to do .

Speaker 1 24:50

Sometimes in the scriptures there's some intentions here in their heart that don't always come out in the questions they ask . I'm reminded of John the Baptist's father over in the New Testament , when the angel appeared to him when he was doing his priestly duties and he said you and your wife are going to have a baby . And the man's question to the angel was how do I know this is true ? He's asking for a sign . What does the angel do ? He closed his throat and couldn't talk for nine or 10 months . Sometimes , when we ask for a sign , might not want to ask for that sign . So I think there's some cases where God knows our heart and it's OK to go up to God and say God , show me whether this is really true . Show me if you're leading me or if I'm self-deceived . Show me some sort of a sign that leads me forward , and I think that's legitimate if your heart is in the right place . If , on the other hand , you're looking for excuses to not follow God , then you're in a problem .

Speaker 2 25:50

And that's the distinction . Looking for excuses , you're trying to follow your own , but asking God to lead you and to show you that the direction that you're going is the correct direction , the direction that he wants you to go into . That's asking for a sign . In a way , it's asking for him to assure you that the direction you're going , the decisions you're making , are in line with what he has called you to do . I think that's perfectly valid to do so .

Speaker 1 26:22

Verse 19, . Gideon brings some food for a sacrifice . God burns it up with his staff . Verse 22, . Gideon seems surprised . I read verse 22 . He seems a little amazed . He seems to finally understand who it was he was talking to . He says now I have seen face to face .

Speaker 1 26:43

Whenever we meet God , we get surprised . He is an amazing thing . When you really see God and it's not just a concept anymore , but you actually meet him , then things change and he's quite amazing . I encourage all of our listeners if you haven't actually met him , if you just know God as a concept , it's different than if you know him as a person .

Speaker 1 27:03

Down here we don't actually see God face to face . We just get a taste , like in Romans 8 , we get a taste of the wonder , but we don't see him face to face . But there will come a time for the Christians when we get to see God face to face , the people that it speaks of in Matthew 24-25 , when God comes , that are not believers , what do they do ? They cry out for the mountains to fall on them because God is so powerful and amazing . They don't want to see God . When he finally shows up , he's so overwhelming they say I'd rather have the mountain fall on me , but to the believer , who'll call us by our names and we get to see God face to face . Do you ever think about that ?

Speaker 2 27:43

Yeah , all the time I'm ready for Jesus to come back . I want to point out , too , that in the language that we've been reading here , this is an actual , physical person that's standing here with Gideon .

Speaker 2 27:58

All of the language that he's talking about . Stay here while I go get the sacrifice . Don't leave , don't go . He was not a ghost . And then his response what you just talked about there was I've seen him face to face and he falls down in worship . So it wasn't a ghost , it's not a spirit , it's not a voice that he's hearing in his head .

Speaker 1 28:18

It was a physical body being there that could hold a staff in his hand and was the angel of God , who was really . God Almighty appeared in human form . So in verse 23, . Why would God then say you shall not die ? Why would he say that being in God's presence as a mortal person would overwhelm people ? As we just alluded to , remember Daniel when he saw a vision . He was sick for days . He was sick for a while . Paul saw Jesus on the Damascus road and was sick for days . God is so overwhelming , so overwhelmingly powerful , so majestic , so glorious , so magnificent , just infinitely powerful , that when we finally see God face to face , then if you were just a mortal person without some sort of divine protection , he would strike us dead .

Speaker 2 29:14

There are many things that in my life that I put what I call word pictures together .

Speaker 2 29:21

One of those is in regards to seeing God , and when it talks about people seeing God or worshiping or falling on their face or fear of death , it's a respectful fear . What the word picture comes to me is that one time I was at our lake house that my father bought and they retired my parents retired to , and I was there with a group of friends and it started raining pretty hard and it was a lightning storm . As we went out of the boat house , lightning struck a tree that was about 20 foot from us . It was a terrible crash . It was a terrible lightning or light that we saw and it was something that scared us to death , so to speak . We rushed back into the boat house to the safety

The Power of God's Presence

Speaker 2 30:12

.

Speaker 2 30:12

That's a word picture that I get when it talks about people that have seen God and are fearful and they fall down . It's that respect of that power and the awesomeness to know that if we would have been 20 foot closer , our lives would have been taken from us just like that . Those are the word pictures that I have in regards to things that happen .

Speaker 1 30:33

When my children were little , sitting around our dining room table one evening about dark with eating supper and the window was open and lightning struck . The tree that was about 20 feet outside our window and the huge noise , kids crying , balls of fire out the window , very , very powerful and very , very intimidating . So when he says here you shall not die , he's saying that you were in the presence of God , but don't worry , because it's not going to overwhelm you . And then , in verse 24 , it says to this day he built an altar to the Lord and named it , and it is still in Oprah of the Asbeerites to this day .

Speaker 1 31:13

This is just , yet again , one of these indications that the writer of the book of Judges was very familiar with the land . He knew exactly where things were , where this altar , where it was it's still there . They were very familiar with the land . It was impossible for these books to have been written from another country in another time . It could only have been written by people that were there at the time and knew these things . Probably a good place to wrap up for today . That's where we're going to kind of leave Gideon hanging right here , having just seen the Lord . But God gave him some instructions and we're going to see what happens when he follows them on reasoning through the Bible .