Hoping to relieve him of financial pressure and enable him to write more freely, the first publishers of American writer Sherwood Anderson offered to send him a weekly check. After a few weeks, however, Anderson took his latest check back to the publisher’s office. “It’s no use,” he explained. “I find it impossible to work with security staring me in the face.” Unlike Anderson, the Israelite leader Gideon found that he couldn’t work without security staring him in the face. It was Gideon’s insecurity which caused him to ask God for two miraculous signs aimed at strengthening his faith. From a human point of view, Gideon’s fear is understandable. After all, his tiny force of 300 armed men was about to face an army of 135,000 Midianites. Gideon’s band seemed to have little or no chance against such a superior force. ¹ How did God help Gideon overcome the paralysis of insecurity?

Background to the Story of Gideon

Judges 6:1–6 (KJV)
1 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds. 3 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them; 4 And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. 5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. 6 And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord.

• The Midianites oppressed Israel 7 years.  Every time they would sow seed and raise a crop, the Midianites would come and burn it up.  And so Israel was in a state of famine.
• That is what doing right in your eyes will get you, famine and lack.
• And so, they cried unto the Lord.
• In answer to their cry, God sends them a prophet!

Judges 6:7–10 (KJV)
⁷ And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites, ⁸ That the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; ⁹ And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land; ¹⁰ And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice.

• Israel was listening to the wrong voice instead of the Lord’s voice.
• You have choices about voices.
• Isn’t it interesting that the Lord sends this prophet with a message of rebuke yet all the while, He is working on a plan to get them free?
• God is a good God.
• He is a merciful and patient God.
• Aren’t you glad about that?

What’s In a Name?

Judg 6:12 (KJV)
12    And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.

• Look at what the Lord said to Gideon.
• God called Gideon a ‘mighty man of valor.’

DEFINITION: valor – power, strength, competent, brave, upper class.

DEFINITION: mighty – very powerful or strong

• God looked at Gideon as a top shelf, very powerful, and very strong, upper class, competent, brave soul of a man.
• Look at Gideon’s name. What does his name mean?
• Names are important. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham?
• Abram’s name means ‘father of a high place’.
• Abraham’s name means ‘father of many nations or father of a multitude’.
• God changed Abram’s name to match his destiny.
• Gideon’s very name, the name he was given at birth speaks to his destiny.

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DEFINITION: Gideon – ‘he that bruises’ or ‘great warrior’.

• A great bruising warrior is what Gideon was called his whole life.
• A bruising warrior is one who should not be trifled with.
• Let’s take a look at this ‘bruising great warrior’ in action.

 Judges 6:11 (ESV)
11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

• Verse 11 says that Gideon was threshing wheat in the wine press.
• The wine press is not the normal place for threshing.
• Wheat is normally threshed in a big open area so the wind can take the outer shell or chaff.
• Gideon is not in a big open area. He’s in a wine press. A little room where they mush grapes.
• Why is Gideon hiding his ‘outdoor activity’ in a little inside room?
• He was hiding out of fear of the Midianites!
• Does that sound like a mighty man of valor to you?
• Does this sound like the actions of a great bruising warrior?
• Gideon was acting contrary to how God saw him.
• He was living contrary to the name that he had been called his whole life.
• He was living out of character with his calling.
• And all because of the ‘stuff’ he had going on inside of himself.
• The noise within was drowning his destiny.
• What kind of voices was Gideon listening to?

Judges 6:14–15 (ESV)
14 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?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

• What was the noise within Gideon? It was the voice of inferiority.
• Listen to his words. He said, “I can’t do this because I am the lowest.”
• What did God say of him?
• God said, He was upper class.
• Two voices, two choices.
• Gideon said, “I am the low man on the totem pole in my own house.”
• God, said, “Cut the pole down and beat someone in the head with it, you are a bruising warrior.”
• You see there are choices about voices.
• Which shoulder you turn to determines your end.
• There is no sense arguing with God.
• God did not sit on His throne and say, ‘Well Gideon you know, you are right, I agree with you. You are nothing and nobody. Sorry for bothering you, I’ll go find someone else.’
• God will never agree with the negative report you have of yourself.
• He will not agree with your lack of self-esteem nor side with your inferiority
• It is the wrong voice.
• He cannot sit on His Throne and agree with your negative talk.

2 Corinthians 13:1 (KJV)
¹ This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

• God cannot agree with your negative self-perception because if He does it is established. It will never change. If He agrees with you, if He sides with the noise within you, you have had it.
• God is a builder of men.
• God is a developer of those who yield to Him.
• God will always lift you up.
• He will always energize and build up your self-worth.
• What does God do with Gideon’s inferiority?
• He penetrates Gideon’s voice with His own voice.

Judges 6:25–27 (KJV)
²⁵ And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it: ²⁶ And build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down. ²⁷ Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

• The Lord tells him to go and cut down the altar that was erected to this demon idol.
• He does it at night. Again Gideon is hiding in the shadows.
• Here we must ask once more, “Does this sound like a bruising warrior to you?
• Where is the warrior courage, where is the fire, where is the boldness?
• It is lost in the inner voice he is believing.
• It is lost in the lies of his self-perception.
• It is lost in the noise.
• How can God see Gideon as a great warrior when he sees himself as nothing but a thunder chicken?
• The Bible tells us that God is not a man that He should lie.
• The Spirit of God witnessed this in my heart one day.

You cannot judge what I can do by how you feel about yourself.  You may feel inadequate but that doesn’t mean that I am inadequate. – God

• What’s the cure is for a negative self-image?
• The cure is the positive image which only comes from the Word of God.
• The voice of the Lord will cut through all the soulish noise within.
• So, God continues to direct Gideon with His own voice and you know the end of the story.
• Gideon obeyed God and became true to his name.

What Does Jesus Want For Your Life?

Mark 3:14–15 (KJV)
¹⁴ And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, ¹⁵ And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:

• Jesus chose you that they might be with Him and that you might preach, or be a witness.
• Think about that, God wants you to be with Him.

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Jesus Wants to Associate Himself with You.

• Understand the veil which has covered ‘your value’, in your own eyes, is uncovered by this association.
• Jesus only hangs out with quality people.
• The fact that He wants to hang out with you says something about you.

Psalm 8:3–4 (KJV)
³ When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; ⁴ What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?

• The Psalmist was in awe over God’s estimation of man.

Jesus Wants You to Grow to be Like Him

• One of the laws of Genesis states things will reproduce after its own kind.
• Jesus wants you to reproduce yourself in others.
• That is why He needs to get you straight and in line with His thinking so you do not reproduce a mess.

Jesus Wants You to Know Your Value

• People who do not understand their value have destroyed more good than the world will ever know.
• Lack of self-worth has held people back.
• It has kept…
  • Geniuses from creating,
  • Artists from painting,
  • Preachers from preaching.
  • Lack of self-worth has wasted man’s creative potential.
  • It has caused unhappiness.
  • It has contributed to human failure.
• Lack of self-esteem is personality defeat.
• It crushes the spirit of man and causes mal-adjustment, sometimes with devastating results.

ILLUSTRATION: It’s an Eagle, Not a Chicken
A certain man went through the forest seeking any bird of interest he might find. He caught a young eagle, brought it home and put it among the fowls and ducks and turkeys, and gave it chicken food to eat even though it was an eagle, the king of birds. Five years later, a naturalist came to see him and, after passing through the garden, said ‘That bird is an Eagle, not a chicken.’ ‘Yes’ said the owner, ‘but I have trained it to be a chicken. It is no longer an eagle, it is a chicken, even though it measures fifteen feet from tip to tip of its wings.’ ‘No,’ said the naturalist, ‘it is an eagle still; it has the heart of an eagle, and I will help it soar high up in to the heavens.’ ‘No,’ said the owner. ‘It is a chicken and will never fly.’ They agreed to test it. The naturalist picked up the eagle, held it up and said with great intensity. ‘Eagle thou art an eagle; you belong to the sky and not to this earth; stretch forth your wings and fly.’ The eagle turned this way and that, and then looking down, saw the chickens eating their food, and down he jumped.
The owner said; ‘I told you it was a chicken.’ ‘No,’ said the naturalist, ‘it is an eagle. Give it another chance tomorrow.’ So, the next day he took it to the top of the house and said: ‘Eagle, you are an eagle; stretch forth your wings and fly.’ But again the eagle, seeing the chickens feeding, jumped down and fed with them. Then the owner said: ‘I told you it was a chicken.’ ‘No,’ asserted the naturalist, ‘it is an eagle, and it has the heart of an eagle; only give it one more chance, and I will make it fly tomorrow.’ The next morning he rose early and took the eagle outside the city and away from the houses, to the foot of a high mountain. The sun was just rising, gilding the top to the mountain with gold, and every crag was glistening in the joy of the beautiful morning. He picked up the eagle and said to it: ‘Eagle, thou art an eagle; you belong to the sky and not to the earth; stretch forth your wings and fly.’ The eagle looked around and trembled as if new life were coming to it. But it did not fly. The naturalist then made it look straight at the sun. Suddenly, it stretched out its wings and, with the screech of an eagle, it mounted higher and higher and never returned. Though it had been kept and tamed as a chicken, it was an eagle.

• You are God’s valued eagle no matter what the inside noise has been telling you.
• Once an eagle always an eagle.

Call to Action:

You have the choice about which voices you hear and answer to. God wants you to know you are an eagle and not a chicken. Eagles dominate chickens, they take no stuff from them. Rise up against any voice which tries to pull you down from your high and lofty position in Christ Jesus.

Question: What labeling voice have you overcome and how did rising above it change your everyday life? Would you please leave your remarks in the comments section below?