Recently, I wrote a blog referencing Gideon and the call of God on his life. I want to go back to draw another lesson from that story. In Judges 6, the text reads…
The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.” The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” “But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (Judges 6:11-15).
The angel of the Lord called out Gideon’s destiny as a “mighty warrior,” but Gideon clearly did not see himself as the Lord saw him. We are told that he was threshing wheat in a wine press because he was hiding from Midianite raiders. He had little faith in God to work though him because, from his perspective, God had abandoned Israel. That is not the mindset of a mighty warrior. And yet, that is what God said he was.
As you read through Judges, you see the steps that God took with Gideon to bring him into his destiny. It wasn’t an immediate transformation but a progression that took time and a number of experiences with God. His first assignment as the “deliverer of Israel” was to tear down the altar to Baal and the Asherah pole that accompanied the altar and to build an altar to God in its place.
That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering” (Judges 6:25-26).
As you read further in Judges 6, you discover that Gideon was obedient but not particularly bold. He tore down the altar at night and took ten men with him. But that was a first step in learning to trust God. As the story develops, God asks him to do harder things…but a little at a time, giving him assurances as he went. Sometimes we find ourselves being timid when God calls us to do something and then feel as if we have failed altogether because we were not aggressive and bold in doing what he asked. But God is willing to let us grow in faith and boldness.
God told him to “go in the strength you have,” not in the strength he would have in five or ten years. So, be obedient to the extent that you can and know that God is growing you into a “mighty warrior.” Don’t beat yourself up because you weren’t a fearless evangelist or a fearless healer the first time God gave you an opportunity to share the gospel or pray for healing. Do what you can and then pray for more opportunities and more boldness the next time. Your willingness to entertain a “next time” is the main thing.
Secondly, in order for Gideon to step into his destiny, he had to tear down false altars and build a new and authentic altar to God. If we keep worshipping at false altars, Satan will have his way with us. If we try to worship at the true altar and still show up at our false altars we will also fail to move ahead. Jesus said we cannot serve two masters. All the false altars have to be destroyed. How do I know what my altars are? They are simply the things I give the highest priority in my life.
There are altars of comfort and safety. There are altars of recreation, career, addictions, fame, money and even family. If I put one or more of those altars ahead of God, then those altars must be torn down. Whatever organizes my life in terms of how I spend my time, money, or energy is my actual altar.
Many of us will profess that the altar we worship at is the true altar of God, but that is often an aspirational value, not an actual value. If our job consistently keeps us from church and from serving God, then we most likely are worshipping at the altar of career or materialism. If we miss months of connecting with spiritual family and serving in the kingdom because we are chasing our kid’s club team around the country, we are most likely worshipping at the altar of family. If we disappear for months every year because we are at the deer lease, we are worshipping at the altar of recreation or self-fulfillment. If I never step out of my comfort zone to pray for someone or share the gospel at an opportune moment, then I am likely worshipping at the altar of comfort and safety (my personal favorite).
These altars must be torn down and one altar erected to the one true God if I am to fulfill the destiny God has ordained for me. It’s quite easy to justify our altars to ourselves and those we know, but not to God. I am not advocating an austere life in which we never take a vacation or go to the deer lease or watch our kids play ball. Those things are not sin…until we give them a higher priority than serving God and loving his people.
Whatever false altar we worship at, we demonstrate to our children, our co-workers, or our friends that there are things more important than knowing and serving God. For instance, in an effort to support our kids and show them love, we often demonstrate that their interests and desires are more important than the desires of God. We demonstrate that the world revolves around them, instead of Jesus Christ. Later, when they simply give God the leftovers of their life in a very casual relationship with him, we wonder what happened. They noticed the altars at which we were worshipping.
These are serious considerations for those who want to follow Jesus and become the man or woman he wants us to be. Ask him to reveal any false altars that are keeping you from your destiny and ask how you are to tear them down. Then ask the Holy Spirit to build a true altar for the living God in your heart. These are the first steps in being a “mighty warrior” for God.
