Gideon Part 8: Gideon Worships The LORD On The Eve Of The Great Battle

Did you know that God specializes in saving faithless sinners into saints? God can humble prideful king like Nebuchadnezzar. God can humble a strong-willed man like Saul. Therefore, God can save the worst of sinners by dealing with their greatest questions and attitudes towards the LORD and His Word.

One of the things I have enjoyed about the story of Gideon is that it shows us how God can win over the hardest hearts. We see this not only in the life of Gideon, but also in the people of Israel. They are continually forsaking God and worshiping idols so that the LORD alone has to save them from these sins. As we come to our text in Judges 7:15-18 we are coming to a point where we see just how much the LORD has changed Gideon. He has gone from hiding in the winepress from the Midianites to worshiping at the edge of their camp and then leading God’s people into battle against overwhelming odds with courage and faith in the LORD. Let us read Judges 7:15-18,

As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.” And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars. And he said to them, “Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”

This story about Gideon has often reminded me of the Book of Habakkuk. At the beginning of that book Habakkuk cries out, “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?” (Habakkuk 1:2-3)

When I am around someone who speaks like this I pray that one day they will be able to say with David, “I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit. Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning...You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!” (Psalm 30:1-5, 11-12)

After Habakkuk addresses his complaints to God in chapter 1 he then waits for the LORD to answer him. Like Gideon, Habakkuk’s does not meant to provoke the LORD to anger. (Judges 6:36-40) After he complains to the LORD we see that in Habakkuk 2:1 the prophet says, “I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.” We see in chapter 2 that Habakkuk is a godly man and his faith is seen in two ways. First, he knows that God will answer him so he is going to be watchful for the LORD’s response. Secondly, Habakkuk is also and ready to respond well when the LORD responds to his complaints. In other words, Habakkuk will receive reproof, rebuke, and training in righteousness well. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Not everyone responds like Habakkuk does here. In Habakkuk 2:4 we see that there are two types of people. First, we are given a picture of God’s enemies, “Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him…”. Second, we are told about a godly person, “...but the righteous shall live by his faith.” A faithless person has a soul that is puffed up (prideful, self-willed, and arrogant). As a result, that persons soul is not upright within him. In contrast to this, a faithful person is humble and they know that they are poor, weak, and in need of God’s grace.

For the remainder of Habakkuk 2 the LORD tells Habakkuk what will be done to Israel’s enemies in the future. He does this by pronouncing five statements that begin with the word “Woe”.

• Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own… (6)

• Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house… (9)

• Woe to him who builds a town with blood… (12)

• Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink the cup of their wrath and show no mercy. (15)

• Woe to the idolators… (19)

After this, in Habakkuk 3 we see that the prophet hears these things and believes what the LORD has said. In verse 2 we read, “O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear.” In faith Habakkuk waits for these things to happen and in the mean time he contemplates God’s mercy to Israel in the past past when He delivered Israel from their enemies. Two of these enemies that are mentioned by name are found in the book of Judges: Cush and Midian. The prophet also recalls that when the LORD delivered his people the earth was full of His praise. (3)

After thinking about these things Habakkuk began to praise the LORD even though the LORD has not yet delivered His people, saying, “I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on high places.” (18-19)

Consider how this book began with the prophet offering up to the LORD his complaints in chapter 1, but now at the end of this book he is rejoicing in the LORD and worshiping Him. What a transformation we have just witnessed. In fact, consider the last words of this oracle (1:1), “To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.” This oracle, it is to be a song that God’s people can worship the LORD with as they learn about Him and His ways.

I began this morning by speaking of these things because the book of Habakkuk reminded me so much of what we are seeing in our story about Gideon. For example…

• When we are first introduced to these men they are complaining to the LORD.

• Both of these men respond to God and His Word with faith.

• In the end both of these men worship the LORD before the deliverance is seen.

Both Complained To The LORD

We were first introduced to Gideon when the LORD came to him and said, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” (6:12) In response to this Gideon complains to the LORD, “Please, my lord, 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 Midian.” (6:13)

Like Habakkuk, Gideon has questions because he feels that God has forsaken His people. For the last seven years Israel has suffered under the heavy hand of the Midianites. (6:1-6) But when the people called out to the LORD for help the LORD came to Gideon and made him a judge over Israel. (6:11-14) Gideon did not feel qualified for this and we have seen his faith continue to grow since then. (6:15)

Both Of These Men Had To Apply The Means Of Grace To Help Their Faith

When Habakkuk considered Israel’s enemies he was troubled and cried out to the LORD. After this he was proactive in positioning himself in a place where he could see God’s response. In Habakkuk 2:1 he says, “I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.”

We have witnessed this type of thing in Gideon as well. On the night that the battle was to take place Gideon was afraid. (Judges 7:10) Therefore the LORD told Gideon to go to a particular place where the He would strengthen his faith and overcome his fears. The LORD says, “But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant. And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” (7:10)

After hearing this Gideon did not try to deny that he was afraid and pridefully decline God’s offer to go down to receive the grace he needed for the task that was put before him. He could have said, “I do not need to go down. I will tough this out on my own. A mighty men of valor should not need to do such things!” (6:12)

Instead, Gideon obeyed the LORD. We read in Judges 7:11-12, “Then Gideon went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance.”

We noted last week that this journey would have challenged Gideon’s faith and provoked his fears even more because of the things that he would see. Often times when we are going to a ‘well of grace’ to have our faith strengthened and our fears relieved the journey itself becomes a test. On this journey Gideon saw the massive army with his own eyes. Therefore, Gideon would have to learn to walk by faith and not by sight. (James 1:2-4,25) In the end, he would not be disappointed. (Hebrews 3:12-14)

Having made his way down to the front line the LORD allowed Gideon to hear a conversation between two guards. We read about this in 7:13-14, “‘Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.’ And his comrade answered, ‘This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.’” (13-14)

These two things, the dream and its interpretation, immediately had an effect upon Gideon’s faith. In Judges 7:15 we read, “As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped.” This brings us to the third point...

Gideon And Habakkuk Worship The LORD By Faith Before The Promised Deliverance Comes

For Habakkuk, the time of deliverance is still way off in the future. Habakkuk says in 3:2, “O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.” In Habakkuk 3:16 we read, “I hear, and my body trembles; my lip quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.” Despite the fact that danger is near and deliverance is sometime in the future, Habakkuk worships the LORD.

Gideon has already been suffering for quite some time already (Judges 6:1-6) and the time of the LORD’s deliverance is close at hand. (7:19-8:21) When Gideon hears about this dream and its interpretation he immediately responds with worship. Only after he worships will he go back and prepare his army for battle.

I have often wondered what Gideon might have sounded like as he worshiped the LORD that night? Let us consider the worship of David in Psalm 146. It seems to me that the message in that psalm might have been similar to what Gideon may have said on this occasion.

Praise the Lord!Praise the Lord, O my soul!I will praise the Lord as long as I live;I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Put not your trust in princes,in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,whose hope is in the Lord his God,who made heaven and earth,the sea, and all that is in them,who keeps faith forever;who executes justice for the oppressed,who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;

the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;the Lord loves the righteous.The Lord watches over the sojourners;he upholds the widow and the fatherless,but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

The Lord will reign forever,your God, O Zion, to all generations.Praise the Lord!

In the last few moment we have considered the faith of Gideon and Habakkuk. Both of these men worshiped the LORD before the battle against their enemies had been won and the promises of God had been fulfilled. All such righteous people worship this way as an expression of their faith in God and His word. (Habakkuk 2:4)

Both Gideon and Habakkuk understood that they needed deliverance from two things. First, they needed to be delivered from their sins. Secondly, they needed to be delivered from the penalty and judgment which resulted from those sins. Even after these men saw God deliver them from the Midianites and the Chaldean’s they still looked forward to the Promised One who would save them from their sins.

Well, Jesus Christ has come and done this for us. And today we get to celebrate and rejoice in this fact as we take communion. Like Gideon and Habakkuk, we also get to worship God as we take communion even while Christ’s Kingdom is not yet fully consummated. As we take communion we also look forward to His return and the final establishment of His kingdom. We come to partake in communion today to overcome our fears, strengthen our faith, and to establish our hearts in hope.