Gideon, the Fleece, and Faith: Judges 6 & 7

Even after hearing God’s promises, Gideon still wrestled with fear and uncertainty. This episode explores how God strengthened Gideon’s faith, reassured him in his weakness, and called him to trust despite overwhelming odds. Learn why doubts should push us toward God rather than away from Him and how faith grows through dependence on His promises.

Transcript

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Judges chapter 6. We're going to look at verses 33 through the end of the chapter, and then depending on how long that takes us, we might jump into chapter 7 a little bit today. John filled in last week and kind of brought you up to speed as far as what's going on in the life of Israel, in the life of Gideon, which is a very interesting story. How as things are bad and difficult, Gideon is one who really seems to lack confidence. He's one who seems to struggle with this calling and even refers to himself as the least of his father's house. His tribe is the least of all of the tribes, and really questions why God would use someone like him. And one of the interesting things about that throughout the Bible is really that's how God works and that's who God uses. I mean, all throughout the Bible we see that the people that God chooses are not the ones that we would choose. The people that God uses are not the ones that we think would make the most sense, but yet God does that because when it's all said and done, it's going to be clear that God is the one who brings the victory. It's God is the one who brings about the things necessary to bring about victory and winning and all of these things. And so it's always a reminder that when good things happen, God uses people to accomplish his will, but God ultimately is the one who's worthy of our worship and praise. I think it also encourages us, because the reality is that, as Paul said to the early church, not many of us were wise. Not many of us were well known by the world standards. And what that means is that God can and will use us. You know, I think in a world today where we love celebrities, we love stars, we love those who are just, you know, seemingly above and beyond, that's not the realm that God looks at. Most of us are just ordinary, right? Most of us are just average people. And it's easy for us to look at a world today where it seems that only the superstars are the ones that get recognition and say, well, what part can I play in this? And the Bible says, Oh, you have a very important part. God can, will, and wants to use anyone who will be obedient to him and walk with him by faith. What we're going to see today is that Gideon, even though God has told him he's going to use him to bring about victory for Israel, that he's going to hand his enemies over into his hands, uh, he still struggles. He still lacks confidence. He still lacks faith. And he he wants a sign. He wants validation from God. And you know, it's in one sense, it's easy for us to look at the story and to say, well, Gideon should know better. Gideon should have faith. God's already told him, God's already shown him. But, you know, and while that might be true, I think one of the interesting things about the passage is we don't see God rebuking him. We don't see God, you know, getting on to him for it, but instead just goes ahead and gives Gideon the things that he needs to hear to go out and to accomplish his mission. And you know, I struggle. You know, when we test God, when we ask God for signs, like you know, uh about that, how does that work and whatnot? Yet in this instance, God graciously, kindly, mercifully knows that Gideon, I think, in some ways is like that father who looked at Jesus and said, I believe, but help my unbelief. I think Gideon's in this moment where he says, Okay, God, I know what you want me to do, but my my faith is weak. I'm struggling to really see and to understand. So, God, will you help my unbelief? And so I'm gonna ask you to do some things that's gonna reassure me. You know, it's funny when you think about asking for signs. And so uh very rarely have I just asked God for a sign, you know, but there have been times where I'm struggling with a decision or something going on in my life, and I'm like, God, would you just show me? Like, can you give me something that maybe kind of affirms? And so whenever I left First Baptist Church of Fort Cobb as their pastor, and there's never been a church that I've left that it wasn't a struggle for me to leave. Because I'm a firm believer that when I'm a pastor of a church, this is my family, these are the people that God has called me to love, to be a part of. And everywhere I've been, you know, when you leave, there is this feeling of leaving family behind. And so it's never been an easy decision for me because I'm very loyal in that sense. You know, I very much care for the people of our church. When the Bible tells him I'm a shepherd and overseer of souls, I don't take that lightly. And you develop connections, right? I mean, I that that's part of the blessing of being a part of a church family. And so uh I've always struggled when it comes time to leave. Like, is this what I'm supposed to do? I've always been a little reluctant, and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I've always been reluctant uh to leave a church because I just don't want to just rush ahead or to to make a rash decision. And so when I was getting ready to leave First Baptist Church of Fort Cobb, I mean, I I just struggled. God, is this what you want? Is this what I'm supposed to do? And and I like I've told you guys before, I've never been a guy who has like this plan of where I'm supposed to be in ministry. I always treat the church I'm at like this is the last church I'm gonna pastor. And God, I don't know if that's the case or not, but I don't know that it's not the case. And so whenever I'm somewhere, I just in my mind says, all right, well, this is the last church I'm gonna pastor, which is why I'm never in a hurry. And you might think, well, you've been in too hurry in some things. Well, well, you should just see me in a hurry then. Because the reality is, it's just like when we're preaching 36 weeks through the book of Ephesians. Like, why are we in a hurry? Where are we going? I'm gonna be back next week. I hope you are too. And the reality is, like, if we're not there, we're just gonna be at another part of the Bible, right? We got time, we're just gonna work through this methodically, we're gonna make sure that we understand it. Like, there's no just big long agenda that we we've got to get done. It's all good. You know, my uh my dad used to say the Bible and a good sermon are like a stick of baloney. And I and I was like, I remember the first time he said it, and I'm like, you can pick it up or cut it off at any end, and it's still good. Like wherever you're at in the midst of it, it's good, right? Come at it from either way, middle, end, the Bible's like that. Wherever you pick up and eat it, it's it's it's always gonna be good. And so, all of that being said, uh I remember when I was getting ready to leave the first Baptist Church of Fort Cobb, and I had pretty much determined in my heart, like, I think this is what I'm supposed to do. And so it was the Sunday that I knew, like, I think I'm gonna have to tell people, like, because I've always been one of those ones too, like I don't hide things. I just try to be very, very open and honest. And so I talked to leadership before I go do something. I've never just like sprung it on anybody in the church, like they had no idea what was going on if I left. And so that Sunday, I was in my office that morning and I said, God, if you want me to stay here at First Baptist Church in in Fort Cobb, and you don't want me to go, then at the end of this service, will you do something out of the ordinary that affirms and confirms that I need to stay? And I said, God, I just I just want a sign. If nothing happens, then I'm gonna know I'm supposed to do that. And and and if and if it does, then God I'll I'll rethink. So I get up there that morning and I preach, and you know it's invitation time, and I'm kind of like, all right, well, where's my sign? Well, all of a sudden, this cranky old knuckle-headed thorn in my flesh while I was there stands up in the middle of the service and walks down the aisle. And I'm like, oh no, this is my sign. Like this guy's gonna walk down the aisle and repent of his sin and get saved, because sometimes I'm like, I don't even know if this guy's saved or not, the way that he's just so cantankerous and belligerent and angry and mean and just he's just a problem. And so he walks down the aisle, and I'm like, oh no, I'm supposed to stay. He walks down the aisle, and at the end, mind you, we're in the service, and and he uses the invitation time of the service just to gripe and complain and tell me how bad this is and that is, and I'm sitting there, and at first I'm like not happy, right? Like, like this is not the time or place. And the things he were saying were just not true, and it was just just a lot of foolishness, and but but I sat there and then all of a sudden I'm kind of I begin to smile. And like, it's my sign, it's just not the way I asked for it. I'm like, I think it was God saying, it's time to go, son. You've done everything you can do, and and here he is, and and you know, uh leave it for someone else. You've you've shepherded these sheep long enough, they need someone else. And so what was funny is I went back to my office and uh I wept. And I wept not because I was upset, I really wept because I knew it was time to go. And I literally, I mean, and I don't cry much, I'm just not a crier. Sometimes like I wish I could cry. And like it's not because I don't have feelings, it's just they don't manifest themselves that way. And and I literally just wept. The Sunday I left El Reno, I wept. Like, like the day that I knew I was gone. It was, you know, gonna be one of my last, it wasn't the last Sunday I was there, but it was the Sunday I was telling the church that I was gonna come in view of a call here. Because with modern technology, you can't hide anything. And I didn't want them to find out on the internet. I'm like, I owe these people enough to say, I've asked you to seek God's will and to ask for prayer when you need it. I'm seeking God's will. And so anyway, I I wept, called the deacons uh into my office, and just said, uh, I think I'm leaving. Here's what's gonna happen, blah, blah, blah. Well, so I get home and Renee's like, what happened during the service? And I'm like, Well, what do you mean? And she said, during the invitation time, she said, You went, like, I saw him come up there and I saw your face that you were visibly unhappy, and then you almost started smiling. And I told her, I'm like, God gave me a sign. I mean, and so you know, it's kind of funny how be careful what you wish for and what you ask for, because it was almost honestly like this validation, not in the way that I wanted it, but like, I'm releasing you. Go. I've got other things for you, and kick against the goads no more. But nonetheless, and so so here's this picture of maybe not in the same sense, but Gideon's wanting a sign. So let's look at this. He's asking God, just say, show me, tell me, confirm, affirm what it is that I'm supposed to do. So all of the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Jezreel Valley. Now remember what John has told us about this group of people. The enemies of Israel are coming together, and this includes a group of people who used just to come into town and ransack, right? And they were helpless. I mean, matter of fact, if you look back at the beginning of chapter six, Israel was hiding in caves. Gideon is threshing grain in the wine press floor to hide because he doesn't want them to take it. And so basically, all of the bullies have shown up at one time, they're making camp to make war. Now, again, God has already told Gideon what's going to happen, but but you have to say, all right, from a human perspective, you're the least, you're the runt, and here's the big, tough, mean guys that are coming, and you're like, is this really what I'm supposed to do? Not only from that standpoint, but think of it in this context. You're not just one of an army, you're the leader of an army. And I can tell you this as a pastor, there is a weight in leadership that few people will ever experience because few people are ever just the one in charge. And while you're in charge in some level of life all the time, to truly be responsible for a large group of people and know I'm leading them into something that could ultimately end in their death. Like I am bringing this massive group of the people of God, and I'm gonna lead them into a battle, and if we don't win, we're gonna be decimated. And so you think about leadership, and sometimes there's these decisions that you have to make, and you're like, I'm leading people into a situation where finances are involved, where all of these things are involved, and you don't want to be the guy who didn't hear correctly, and you become a cautionary tale. And there's just this part of you sometimes that that has that feeling. You're like, okay, God, I think this is what we're supposed to do, but but it's out of the box, or it's not normal, or there's a great cost involved. And man, I sure don't want to misread you and think that I'm I'm hearing something that I'm not hearing. And so here's what happens the spirit of the Lord enveloped Gideon, and he blew the ram's horn, and the Abyssarites rallied behind him. He sent messengers throughout all of Manasseh who rallied behind him. He sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, Naphtali, who all came to meet him. So they're saying, All right, Gideon, we're gonna trust you. And this is where the uncomfortableness begins to set in. Then Gideon said to God, If you will deliver Israel by me, as you have said, I will put a wool fleece here on the threshing floor. If dew is only on the fleece and all around the ground is dry, I will know that you will deliver Israel by me, as you said. And that is what happened. When he got up early in the morning, he squeezed the fleece, wrung dew out of it, filling the bowl with water. So we know this is a supernatural event, right? I mean, this morning when you woke up, if you went out in your yard, there was dew on the ground. I know, because Adeline and I were out there this morning. I get up early in the morning, read, drink my coffee, you know, kind of get ready, and then uh Adeline and I go for a walk with our dog. But she woke up this morning, she came outside and she said, Are we going for a walk? I said, Yep, here in just a few minutes. She said, Let's kick the soccer ball. So Adlen's always got to be doing something. So she kicks the soccer ball, and lo and behold, her dad misses, and he has to go out in the grass and get it. And guess what? My feet got wet. You know what else? There were a few other of Adeline's items in the yard because why would we put them up, right? Well, we just might as well leave it out in the yard because I'm gonna play with it tomorrow. And guess what? Those items were wet. Why? That's how it works. So he's asking God to do something supernatural. He's saying, you know what, I'm gonna put something out here. And if you're you're wanting me to do this, then let the item be covered with dew, but everything else around it be dry. So he does that. Well, look at what happens next. Gideon then said to God, Don't be angry with me. And and and think about this, right? I mean, God's already given him multiple signs, but sometimes we just need a little bit more. And one of the things that amazes me about this is that we don't see God rebuke Gideon. Gideon said to him, Don't be angry with me. Let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece. Let it remain dry and the dew be all over the ground. That night God did as Gideon requested, only the fleece was dry and the dew was all over the ground. You know, I think about this and I think about not so much Gideon. I could judge Gideon, but I understand him. I mean, we could all sit here from the comfort of our air-conditioned 21st century room where battle's not outside the door and say, Well, of course he's gonna win. But just think for a second, if we were surrounded by enemies who had been oppressing us forever, and a guy looks and says, Trust me, God's gonna deliver them into our hand. Although for the last seven years, all they've done is decimate us. And not only that, but they've gathered some other people who have decimated us, and they're all out there waiting for us. And he says, All right, we'll trust you. And then Gideon's just almost having just this moment, he's on his knees and he's saying, God, I need this confirmation. And so from our perspective, it's easy to doubt. It's a our question his doubt. Do you see where Gideon is wrestling and struggling with this? And what this also tells me is about the heart of God, and he knows our hearts. He knows why and when we're asking for things. And this is why I think that that it's not fair for us to judge Gideon too much in the situation, because I think if there was a bad heart here, God would have addressed it. But he knows his heart, he knows what's happening, and so what does he do as a loving father? He just gives him what he needs to be faithful. You know, one of the hardest things about parenting, and I see this very much in a parenting perspective, is you gotta know your children and know why. And I've learned this over 20 plus years of parenting a hard way many times. Not every child's the same, not every situation's the same. Sometimes they need their bottom end wore out. They need it. Sometimes they say something and they just need to be rebuked and need to be corrected and need to be dealt with. And sometimes they just need you to say, it's gonna be okay. Trust me, follow me. And and and for us as humans, it's hard to know what to do in those moments. You know, it's hard to know how to lead and how to do anytime you do with people. But praise be to God that He knows all things and He says, Okay, Gideon, if this is what you need, then I'm gonna do it. Seems a little petty, especially the second time. But nonetheless, if this is what you need, and I think one of the things for us to remind ourselves of this, we can go to God and be honest. When we're struggling, we can sit before the Lord, and I love how Gideon kind of approaches it. It's very childlike almost. Don't be angry with me. But let me ask one more time. You know, Adeline the other day, uh I mean, my I will forever have Adeline's stories because they just never end. But she had been wanting to go swim. So Renee was gone over the weekend. She went with a group of women on a kind of little retreat type weekend, and uh so it was me and Adeline, and Adeline really wanted to swim. And uh she kept telling me she wanted to swim. And finally I reached a point where I said, Adeline, I do not want to hear about swimming again. I will let you know if we're gonna go swim. I don't know what the day has in store, but I will tell you if and when we're gonna get to do this. But I said, if you bring it up again, I'm gonna swat your little bottom. I've had enough. And so, to her credit, she goes most of the day without asking it again. And little does she know that my plan was probably if everything worked out all right later in the evening when it cooled down a little bit more, as you know, in the heat of the day that I was gonna possibly take her to go swim. But it got close to supper time, and I was getting, you know, supper together, and she said, Dad, I don't want to make you mad. And I I'm just like, Well, you're about to. And she said, But I just want you to know I really want to go swim. And I said, Okay, Adlen, noted. Eat lunch or eat supper, and then later, in case you think I'm a terrible dad, we went swimming. And and so, but but but I see this here, and I don't know if it's just because it's fresh on my mind, but don't be angry with me. But I really wish you would let me know if this is for sure what we're supposed to do. Now, look, you would just think it's gonna get easier, but it's not gonna get easier. Look what happens in chapter seven. Jerubabel, that is Gideon, and all the troop do you guys have chapter seven? Okay, good. Jerubabel, that is Gideon, and all the troops who were with him got up early and camped beside the spring of Herod. The camp of the Midian was north of them, below the hill of Morek in the valley. The Lord said to Gideon, You have too many troops for me to hand the Midianites over to them. So he finally gets up the courage to lead the group of people because God's given him some signs. And as soon as they're getting ready to go, God's response is, now wait, before we go, you've got too much help. There's too many of you. And I bet Gideon's pretty good at math, and I bet he's probably saying, wait a minute, I don't know that we have enough. I mean, there's a lot of these guys, but here's why. Or else Israel might elevate themselves over me and say, I saved myself. And so one of the things that God is going to use Gideon, the least of his father's house, to prove to Israel once again, is even though you're the ones who get yourself in trouble, you're not the ones who get yourself out of trouble. I do that. Now, is that not really the theme of the whole Bible, right? Man gets himself in trouble, man tries to get himself out of trouble, man creates more trouble, God bails him out, right? I mean, it begins in the garden. Man gets himself in trouble, man tries to cover, make it better himself. Man makes it worse. God says, I'm the one who fixes it. You can't do this on your own. And so God is always reminding us that while he works in and through us, the victory always belongs to him. Now announce to the troops whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead. So what a thing to say to a guy, right? You got this army here. Any of you who are cowards, anybody who's afraid, go home. And you know what you're hoping when you challenge men to say that? We're not going anywhere. And lo and behold, 22,000. That's a lot, no matter how you slice it. 22,000 of the troops turn back, and now you're down to 10,000. Then the Lord said to Gideon, There are still too many troops. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. If I say to you, this one can go with you, he can go. But if I say about anyone, this one cannot go with you, he cannot go. So he brought the troops down to the water and said to let's stop here for a moment. One of the things that God does, and we see this all throughout the narrative of the Bible, is he calls his people to do what? Walk with him by faith. And he says, if you'll be obedient to me, there's great blessing. If you disobey me, there's punishment, there's judgment that's going to come. This is really the original issue in the Garden of Eden, right? God says, Okay, I am putting you in a beautiful place, and everything that you need is here. Here's all that I ask. Trust me. Walk with me by faith. And there's a tree in the middle of the garden, and I don't want you to touch it. I don't want you to eat it. Actually, only God says, I don't want you to eat of it. Later they expound upon it and say, Don't touch it. But nonetheless, he says, I don't want you to eat of that tree, but you can eat of every other tree. Because if you eat of it, you're going to die. Now, really, what is the command there? What is God after? Trust me. Trust me that life will be better, that if you follow my way, it'll be a life of blessing. But if you disobey me, you're going to die. Judgment's going to come. And so, really, all throughout the entire Old Testament, this is the issue between God and His covenant people. And we see it specifically in the people of Israel in the Sinai covenant, which is really the center of the whole first five books of the Old Testament, that even after man sins and God has a plan of redemption, he calls Abraham and says, Now I'm going to create a special people for you, and I'm going to bless the entire world for you. But here's the requirement. Trust me. So pick up your wife, take your stuff, and go to a land that I'm going to tell you. And if you follow me, there's going to be great blessing. But if you disobey me, there's going to be consequences, there's going to be problems. And so you fast forward a little bit later and you get the people of Israel now liberated and freed from Egypt. And God is fulfilling his command. Because think about this. He promises Abraham He's going to make a great nation. When they go into Egypt, they're still just a family. It's a man and his 12 sons. It's a big family, but it's just a family. When they leave 400 years later from Egypt, they indeed are the size of a nation. We're talking probably somewhere around a million, maybe more, maybe less, but it's a large group of people. And God is keeping his promise. But what happens when they get there freed from that? Now God says, all right, now here's the deal. If you trust me, if you follow me, if you walk with me by faith, I'm going to take you to a land flowing with milk and honey. Houses you did not build, cisterns you did not drink. I'm going to bless you in the exact same way I promised to bless Adam and Eve. If they would trust me, they get to enjoy the paradise of the garden. They failed. I'm sending one that's going to make this right. But in the meantime, here's what I'm asking you: the exact same thing. Trust me, you get this land flowing with milk and honey, but if you disobey me, you're going to suffer. You're going to be kicked out to the east. And this really is just like this repeated theme all throughout the Bible. Now you want to know what's sad is that mankind proves over and over again that they just can't do it. They can't just trust God and walk with him by faith, which is why the whole theme of the Bible is God sending a redeemer, sending a Messiah, sending one who's going to have to do what man can't do, which is be fully obedient to God. But this is what's happening right now in Gideon's life. He's getting the same challenge that we all get. Will you trust me? Will you walk with me by faith? You know, the Bible tells us we walk by faith and not by sight, right? Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained a good report or a good favor with God. Why? It's always on the basis of faith. And so here we go again, Gideon. I got to cool it a little bit more. Will you trust me? And what we see in some lives, never perfectly in the Bible, is some men will walk with God by faith, and others won't. Some men experience divine blessing, others will not. And the same thing today is this it's when the gospel is proclaimed. Will you trust me? And some people will receive it, and there's a blessing that's going to come from that. Others say, nope, I'm going to trust myself. This doesn't seem to make sense. This doesn't seem right. I'm going to follow my own instincts, and judgment comes from that. But anyway, so verse 5. So he brought the troops down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, Separate everyone who laps water with his tongue like a dog. Do the same with everyone who kneels to drink. The number of those who lapped with their hands to their mouth was three hundred men, and all the rest of the troops knelt to drink water. The Lord said to Gideon, I will deliver you with three hundred men who lapped and who lapped and hand the Midianites over to you, but everyone else is to go home. Now my math's not very good. But I would say we don't have much left. And I would even tell you this I don't care if this 300 is like the 300 at Thermopylae. These are still overwhelming odds that you have that you're going up against. But but these aren't necessarily well-trained soldiers that we're talking about here. They've been oppressed, they're weak, they're weary, but they're operating in faith. And so here's what we see. So Gideon sent all the Israelites to their tents, but he kept the 300 troops who took the provisions and their ramshord. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley. Now we're going to stop there because we've got a lot to cover the next time, and I don't want to go too far and not be able to complete. But I want us just again to think about this. This is the calling of faith. That when God speaks, will we listen and will we obey? Now, thankfully for most of us, we're never going to be called from our house to go to battle and fight an enemy force. But guess what? There are still enemy forces that we're fighting. That's what we talked about Sunday morning. There's spiritual battles and things going on. And what is the key component to us being able to stand and fight? Faith. As we looked at last week, you know, we're in the middle of this fight. This week, what we're going to see is the commands that God gives us to be able to fight. And the first thing he says is, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. So there's an element of faith there, right? Am I going to trust you, God, believe that you're strong enough to help me in the midst of this battle? And I'm going to tap into this strength by being obedient, by being faithful. Put on the full armor of God. By faith, am I going to trust you, God, to say, I'm going to put on the whole armor? And you want to know something? Putting on part of the armor is not obedience. And I thought about this week is two different times he says, put on the full armor, the whole armor of God. And what he's saying is, one piece isn't enough. I listen to a bunch of military podcasts. And, you know, one of the things that if you listen to a bunch of special operations soldiers and things is the preparedness and how they they think through every and all situation of what can go wrong. And they've got contingency plans. And you know, we like to watch Rambo where it just seems like one guy just runs in there with no shirt on and a knife and takes on a whole army, but but that's not the way that it works. They don't just wing it, they don't just go in there unprepared willy-nilly. I mean, every piece of their kit and gear is specialized for a special mission. And they've got a set of objectives that they're going to go through, and they're going to make sure they've got contingencies that if this goes bad, this is what we're going to do next. And they've got contingencies for the contingencies. And when you listen to all of this, you just think, my goodness, the minds and everything that are a part of it and mission-specific gear and things that they put on. But here's what I know you would never see any of those guys just run off half-cocked, not prepared, not fully geared up and ready to go. Yet that's exactly how sometimes we fight spiritual battles, unprepared. And so he says, put on the full armor of God. You've got to do all of it the way that I've told you to do. And if you do, you'll be able to withstand the attacks of the evil one. And the more and more I understand the Christian life, the more and more I see the simplicity of it. That does not mean I see the easiness of it. It's not easy. It's the simplicity of it. Will you listen to me? Will you follow my word? Will you be obedient? Will you be faithful? And sometimes I'm going to ask you to do things that don't make sense. Sometimes I'm going to ask you to do things that seem hard. Sometimes I'm going to ask you to step out. And in that moment, your faith is going to be proven. And sometimes I know you're going to be weak. And so I'm going to give you signs. And sometimes I know that you're going to struggle. So I'm going to put people in your life to affirm you. I'm going to maybe, you know, speak. And I do believe this. I believe, and I think we got to be careful of it. But God, through his spirit and through the truth of the word, causes us to have encounters where he affirms things to us of what he's speaking and what he's saying. And you can't prescribe it, and sometimes you can't even describe it. But here's just what you know that God in these moments just says, All right, I know you're struggling, so I'm going to give you what you need. Now will you trust me and be obedient? And so here's the encouragement for us. I think we all can identify with Gideon. Our faith is weak sometimes. We're intimidated. We're afraid. What if we mess up? What if we didn't hear correctly? But the thing that I appreciate about Gideon is his fear and his questions push him back to the Lord. God, will you just confirm this for me? You know, he doesn't run to some soothsayer. He doesn't run to the men and say, hey guys, do you think we can do this? He goes back to the Lord and says, God, will you confirm this to me? And here's what I think that we see about people with faith. Their doubts don't push them away from the Lord, they push them deeper into the Lord. People of faith are not just people who struggle, or I mean who don't struggle. We have questions and doubts. But we allow those doubts to push us deeper into the Word of God. We allow those doubts to push us more into trying to understand God and what He's doing because we say, God, I do trust you. I don't know that I understand all that you're asking of me, but I do trust you. I don't know that I understand all that's going on in here, but I do trust that your word is clear and divine and authoritative. And so I'm not going to doubt you. I'm going to ask you to help me understand it better. I'll give you an example, then we'll be done. John the Baptist. No greater man has been born of woman, said Jesus of John the Baptist. Now I don't know about you, but that's pretty high praise. John the Baptist prepares the way for the Messiah. This is his calling. This is his responsibility in life. And that's exactly what he does. He comes and preaches an unpopular message of repentance and baptizes with a baptism of repentance. Turn from yourself, turn from your sin, turn to the Lord, and by the way, he's on his way, he's coming. Then, a matter of fact, even when John's disciples began to leave him and follow after Jesus, and John's disciples said, Are you concerned? Like all your disciples are leaving and they're following this guy. And he says, What? He must increase, I must decrease. Behold, he's the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. Now, what's interesting is John winds himself up in prison because John, and I can identify with this, struggles to keep his mouth shut. He publicly rebukes Herod for his affair and calls him out over it. And Herod doesn't like it, so he has him put in prison. And while John is in prison, he begins to doubt. Is Jesus really the one? Could I have misread this? And so he sends a couple of his followers to Jesus and says, Are you the one or should we be looking for someone else? Now here's what's amazing about that moment. If he really didn't think Jesus is the one, are you gonna ask Jesus if he's the one? Right? I mean, you if you think Jesus is an imposter or liar, you don't go ask him because you that tells you that he's not trustworthy. So so we know even in his doubts, he doesn't doubt fully. You want to know why? Because he goes to Jesus and says, Am I right on this? And Jesus doesn't rebuke him. Isn't that interesting? Jesus doesn't tell his disciples, no, you go, you go tell him. Or don't even tell him. He knows. I mean, has he not seen? Did he not baptize? But Jesus just says, go tell him this. And he points back to an Old Testament prophecy that affirms what the Messiah is going to do. And he says, This is what I'm doing. You know this is true. And you know what? Even in the midst of our faith, our faith can be weak. God doesn't call you to be superhuman. He calls you to trust him. And when faith is weak, here's what we do we don't run, we dive back into Dad, don't be mad, but I really want to go swimming. God, don't be upset, but I really need this. I really want I need I need help in this. And God answers, isn't it that good to know we have a God like that? Father in heaven, we thank you for your patience, for your goodness, for your grace, for your mercy. But then also, God, that you call us to do things that are beyond us because it shows us who you are and it gives you the glory. God, I know in this room we're called to live by faith. Sometimes our faith is strong and sometimes our faith is weak. God, that's why we stand on grace. That's why we trust in you. And God, in those moments where our faith begins to weaken, would you help us not to run but God to push even more in you, trusting and knowing that you are the source of truth for us. Be with those who can't be with us today. I pray for Raymond. I pray for Mike Johnson, who's recovering from surgery. I pray for many others who in this room are healing, they're going through tests and procedures that are awaiting news. Father, there's some that can't be with us today because of their ill illnesses and ailments. And God, would you just uh Lord be with them? Father, I pray for our Wednesday night equip groups that are going to start a week from tonight. Father, I pray that you would raise up in our church men and women who are going to strive to be people of faithfulness, discipline their lives to be what you've called us to be. And Father, I pray that in our church we would see a change in our family. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to see changes in our community and culture because of what you do through us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.