Meet & Greet with the Angel of the Lord | Judges 6:1-24

Today we’re going to be studying the life of Gideon. Put yourself in his sandals today. You’re at work doing your thing, and the angel of the Lord shows up. Let’s find out what happens! Join me in Judges chapter six.

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God sees you today and loves who you are right now. And he also loves who you’re going to be someday. As you and I continue to follow the Lord and love him, we become more and more like him. Isn’t that good news? Hi, it’s Erica, and I’m so, so glad to be back with you on the Bible for Busy People, and super excited to begin a brand new series with you. Today we’re going to be studying the life of Gideon. Put yourself in his sandals today. You’re at work doing your thing, and the angel of the Lord shows up. Let’s find out what happens. Join me in Judges chapter six, beginning in verse one.

The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. So the Lord handed them over to the Midianites for seven years. 2 The Midianites were so cruel that the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, marauders from Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east would attack Israel, 4 camping in the land and destroying crops as far away as Gaza. They left the Israelites with nothing to eat, taking all the sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. 5 These enemy hordes, coming with their livestock and tents, were as thick as locusts; they arrived on droves of camels too numerous to count. And they stayed until the land was stripped bare. 6 So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.7 When they cried out to the Lord because of Midian, 8 the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites. He said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of slavery in Egypt. 9 I rescued you from the Egyptians and from all who oppressed you. I drove out your enemies and gave you their land. 10 I told you, ‘I am the Lord your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now live.’ But you have not listened to me.”

Now with God, there is always mercy, and that’s why I’m so thankful for verse 11. Let’s pick up the story.

Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”13 “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”

Now, before we get to the Lord’s response here, I have to pause because it amazes me that the angel of the Lord shows up while Gideon is doing his work, and calls him a mighty hero. Calls out what he’s going to do in this man’s life who is simply threshing wheat, okay? To hide from his enemy, and Gideon responds by just questioning God, right? He calls him, sir, we’ll give him that, but then he is like, Hey, if you’re with us, come on. Why is all this bad stuff happening? Who does Gideon sound like? He sounds an awful lot like me. And here’s the amazing thing. God is okay with our questions. He is the answer to every one of our questions, and he has mercy on us and compassion on us. So, let’s continue now and see how our merciful Lord responds in verse 14 to Gideon’s outbursts. Let’s face it.

Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”15 “But Lord,” Gideon replied…

He’s about to push back again.

How can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!”

Have you ever done this? Have you felt like the Lord called you to do something and you’re looking around going, Me? and pointing at yourself? Verse 16 now.

The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”17 Gideon replied, “If you are truly going to help me, show me a sign to prove that it is really the Lord speaking to me. 18 Don’t go away until I come back and bring my offering to you.”

Okay. Again! Gideon is really pretty bold and brazen with the angel of the Lord, and I’m so touched by the angel of the Lord’s response. I have to tell you, he answered, I will stay here until you return. You can almost see like the slight smile on his face, like, I understand that this doesn’t make sense to you, but just wait. Okay, verse 19 now.

Gideon hurried home. He cooked a young goat, and with a basket of flour he baked some bread without yeast. Then, carrying the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, he brought them out and presented them to the angel, who was under the great tree.20 The angel of God said to him, “Place the meat and the unleavened bread on this rock, and pour the broth over it.” And Gideon did as he was told. 21 Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and bread with the tip of the staff in his hand, and fire flamed up from the rock and consumed all he had brought. And the angel of the Lord disappeared.22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he cried out, “Oh, Sovereign Lord, I’m doomed! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”23 “It is all right,” the Lord replied. “Do not be afraid. You will not die.” 24 And Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and named it Yahweh-Shalom (which means “the Lord is peace”). The altar remains in Ophrah in the land of the clan of Abiezer to this day.

When you and I pick up Gideon’s story tomorrow, the Lord is going to give our mighty hero his first assignment, and it’s going to be inspiring. But until then, just ponder how patient our Lord was with Gideon. He’s like that with you and I too. He’s full of compassion for us as well. God sees not just who we are today, but who He is sculpting us to be someday too. You are really loved.