(Judges 6:11 – 14)
but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee”? (Judges 6:11-14 KJV)
Israel had a character flaw which is their inability to keep their promises to God. On many occasions they made promises to God in their troubles but never keep their promises when the going gets good. When the children of Israel broke their covenant relationship with God, He often allowed their enemies to afflict them.
God disciplines us to that the devil will not touch us and so that we will not stray away from His presence. At this time, God used the Midianites to afflict the children of Israel because of their disobedience, self-will and rebellion against the laws of God. Self-will or rebellion is idolatry. Every time the children of Israel will plant and the Midianites will come and loot their harvest.
The
oppression became so bad that the Israelites hid their crops and their
harvest from the Midianites. Gideon was in hiding, threshing wheat by
the wine press when the angel of The Lord appeared unto him. Gideon was
afraid and in despair. God sent a message of hope and deliverance to
Gideon through His angel. God’s message to him was “the siege is over”.
God gave Gideon His word that He will deliver the children of Israel
from their enemies and He was going to use Gideon for that deliverance.
Like Gideon and the Israelites, we may be going through fear and
oppression in the hands of our enemy but in God’s own time, He will send
deliverance. He will give us victory and every siege shall be over in
Jesus name. Amen.
In Deut. 30:15-20, God told the children to choose between blessing and
cursing and between life and death. Choosing life and blessing is always
the will of God for us. We must continue to walk in obedience to the
will of God. In Joshua 23:12, God warned the Israelites about their
disobedience. We must also get in the habit of praising and worshipping
continually because praise and worship will get us to the place where we
need to be. God wants to bring us from obscurity into His light. We
must say to ourselves “I don’t want to have what God doesn’t want me to
have”.
