Trust God? Submit to Enemies?

Judges 5-8 The Sword of the Lord & Gideon

God is gracious to show us through the story of Gideon that we face two enemies: fear and pride. [Prov. 29:25]. In the story of Gideon, we see how those enemies are used to draw us away from giving God the glory. First, Gideon sequesters himself in a winepress where he threshed out the family’s crop. When the Angel of the Lord challenged to take down the Baal altar, instead of trusting the Angel he took ten servants and did it -in the middle of the night. Yet, God again was gracious and told him to sneak into the enemy’s camp where he heard: The Sword of the Lord and Gideon. Still, Gideon had not conquered those enemies in his life. After the battle, instead of reminding the other tribes that God was the Victor, he appeases them and includes them in the victory.  And then, lastly, Gideon added to his enemy list by collecting gold to make an ephod which became a snare to the nation and his family.

Sin is ugly! Pride is ugly! 

We teach this story to children because it is exciting, but do we forget this part of the story? There is a lesson here. God is jealous, and He will not share His glory with another. [Is. 42:8] In making the ephod of gold, he did precisely that. We do the same and it all boils down to this sin: fear is a snare as is pride. These are our enemies and we must fight against them.

Today give God the glory and remain humble. He who humbles himself, God will exalt, [Luke 14:11] and the contrast is also true.