Messianic Perspectives

Guest (Male): Stay tuned as we talk about Jehovah, God of the Valleys. Today, right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Liz Ayelo: Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinct first-century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Ayelo. Today, Dr. Gary Hedrick will be talking about how we can trust the Lord, not only when we’re enjoying those mountain experiences, but also when we’re trying to find our way through the valleys of life. I’ll be back later with information about a special offer. But first, here is our Bible teacher, Dr. Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: Welcome, listening friend. It’s always good to have you with us. If you’ve tuned in for the first time today, we’ve been studying the seven valleys that are found in the Old Testament because each of those valleys represents a unique aspect of God's plan for His people. For example, so far we’ve seen that the Valley of Eshcol was a place of plenty. Secondly, we saw that the Valley of Achor was a place of purging. And now today we want to look at the Valley of Jezreel, which was a place of power. It’s where the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and it’s found in Judges chapter six.

This was a period during Israel's history when they were oppressed by a nomadic people known as the Midianites. But there was a reason for that oppression, as we find here in verse one of Judges chapter six. Look what it says: "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel." Because of Israel's idolatry, the Lord had allowed the Midianites to oppress them for seven years.

Each year at harvest time, the Midianites would sweep through Israel by the tens of thousands and burn the crops, leaving chaos and destruction in their wake. That's why the Midianites were compared to swarms of devouring locusts or grasshoppers. Judges 6:6 says, "And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites." Whenever word came that the Midianites were on their way, the Israelites would run for the hills where they could hide themselves in caves.

Finally, in desperation, they did what we all do when we’re finally desperate enough to do it. And that is, the Israelites cried unto the Lord for deliverance from their oppressors. You see, God is a disciplinarian par excellence. He knows how to apply just the right amount of pressure so that we know we’ve got to get our act together. We’ve got to make some changes. That's what repentance is. It's an inward changing of the mind that results in an outward changing of the life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And that's why sometimes God allows us to get to the end of our rope. It’s a form of discipline. In the book of Hebrews, it says, "For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Hebrews 12:6. In the Greek, it literally says, "For whom the Lord loves, he disciplines and spanks every son whom he receives." So here in Judges, this was Operation Woodsbhed, where God was spanking His children.

He's correcting them by administering punishment, and the paddle He's using to spank them is the Midianites. And when we administer discipline to our children, of course, it’s very important that we measure it very carefully because if you don’t mete out enough discipline, you’ll just make them angry, provoke them to anger and more rebellion. And on the other hand, if you dish out too much discipline, then you’ll break their spirit.

But when God disciplines us, my friend, He knows exactly the right dosage to get the job done. Some of us He has to hit us over the head with a two-by-four to get our attention because that's what it takes. Others of us may not require such stringent measures. But one thing you can be sure of, after seven years of oppression by the Midianites, the Lord had Israel's attention. They were at the end of their rope, my friend. They were desperate, and they cried out to the Lord.

By the way, have you ever noticed that this same cycle takes place throughout the Old Testament? First, God's people fall into sin. Then God sends judgment. Then Israel cries out to the Lord, and then God responds and delivers them. It’s a cycle that’s repeated over and over in Israel's history. They sin, they’re judged, they call on the Lord, and they’re delivered. Then they go along for a while pretty well, and then it starts all over again. They sin, they’re judged or disciplined, they call on the Lord, and then they’re delivered.

And that's what's happening here. They’re at the point in the cycle where they’re calling on the Lord. Now, it's interesting that God's response was to call a man, Gideon. He didn’t form a political action committee. He didn’t convene a meeting of the board of directors. He called a man. Name any great work of God that's been done in the last 4,000 years and, without exception, you can trace it back to one person God used to get the job done.

In the days immediately prior to the flood, it was Noah. In the days of the Exodus, it was Moses. At Mount Carmel, Elijah. In the days of the Reformation, Martin Luther. The Methodist Church, John and Charles Wesley. The Baptist Church, Roger Williams. Moody Bible Institute, D. L. Moody. China Inland Mission, Hudson Taylor. Salvation Army, William Booth. You see, originally these were not institutions. They were men. Men of flesh and blood. Men, and in some cases, women, who gave themselves to God and who were mightily used of the Lord.

And here in Judges, when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, He responded by raising up a man, Gideon, son of Joash, to be the deliverer of His people. And then once again, harvest time came. They knew the Midianites would be coming. Gideon only had 32,000 fighting men with which to defend Israel against the invading Midianite hordes. Most of these Jews were just farmers who had come out of the fields to join Gideon's army. They weren’t soldiers. They fashioned farm implements into weapons.

They turned plowshares into swords and pruning hooks into spears. And they were going to go up against 135,000 Midianites and Amalekites who were trained, seasoned warriors. The Israelites were outnumbered by a ratio of four to one. Gideon's first instinct was probably to set up recruiting offices and training camps all over Israel so they could beef up their army. But God wanted to make a point. He wanted His people to know that He was the same God who had delivered their forefathers from the hands of the Egyptians and that He could deliver them from the hands of the Midianites.

He wanted there to be no doubt about the fact that this was going to be a supernatural deliverance. Zechariah 4:6 says, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." A supernatural deliverance. So here’s what the Lord did. He said, "Gideon, you’ve got 32,000 men. That's too many. Tell the ones who are afraid they can go back home." Well, he didn’t have to say that too many times. 22,000 of them packed up their duffel bags and went back home.

That left only 10,000 men of Israel to go up against 135,000 Midianite warriors. Now the odds were thirteen to one against Israel. From the standpoint of military logistics, that is, from a human standpoint, things for Israel were going from bad to worse. So what did the Lord do next? He said, "Gideon, you’ve still got too many men." Judges 7:4: "And the Lord said unto Gideon, the people are yet too many." Now most of us, if we had been in Gideon's shoes, or his sandals, probably would have been wondering at this point if the Lord knew what He was doing.

But Gideon doesn’t even blink an eye. He obeys God's instructions explicitly, without question and without hesitation. That's the mark of a man of faith, isn't it? Obedience. You see, faith is more than just believing because you never know whether or not you really believe something until you’re willing to act on it. Like the trapeze artist who was doing his high-wire act over Niagara Falls many years ago.

And he went back and forth, and the spectators were applauding. And then he took a wheelbarrow and filled it with sandbags and he said, "How many of you think I can take this wheelbarrow across the falls?" And they were all cheering ecstatically that they believed he could do it, and they were cheering him on. And so he took the sandbags out of the wheelbarrow and said, "Alright, who would like to go for a ride?" And the crowd got silent. There were no volunteers.

They all said they believed he would make it across with that wheelbarrow, but no one was willing to put his life on the line. And that's why the name of Gideon shows up in God's Hall of Fame in Hebrews chapter eleven. Because he was willing to put his life on the line. In Hebrews eleven, it talks about all the great men and women of faith in the Old Testament. And then in verse 32, it says, "And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson."

You see, Gideon's listed here among these great heroes of the faith because of his obedience. He was willing to put his life on the line. I like that song, "A Few Good Men." It says: What this dying world could use is a willing man of God who dares to go against the grain and work without applause. A man who’ll raise the shield of faith, protecting what is pure, whose love is tough and gentle, a man whose word is sure. God doesn’t need an orator who knows just what to say. He doesn’t need authorities to reason Him away.

He doesn’t need an army to guarantee a win. He just needs a few good men. Men full of compassion who laugh and love and cry. Men who face eternity and aren’t afraid to die. Men who’ll fight for freedom and honor once again. He just needs a few good men. And it's just as true today as it was in the days of Gideon, my friend. Well, that's all of our time for today. On the next program, we’ll see what happened after the Lord cut Gideon's army down to just a few good men. We’ll see you then. Take care. Bye-bye.

Liz Ayelo: Thank you, Gary. If you’ve enjoyed today’s program, you may be interested to know that this series of studies is available on compact disc for a suggested contribution of just $6 to this ministry. Just visit our secure online store at MessianicSpecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, PO Box 345, San Antonio, Texas, 78292.

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If you’re listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. This is Liz Ayelo. Join us next time, won’t you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on Jehovah: God of the Valleys, right here on Messianic Perspectives. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas, and is made possible on this station by the free-will contributions of our listeners in this area.