My pastor had a tough week last week. While he didn’t go into detail, apparently, several families in our church are going through hard times.
One of the issues he dealt with was serious health issues for one of our teenagers. Zeus has some type of heart valve issue that needs extensive medical attention, but the family has no insurance and little money. As a church body, we gathered around Zeus and his parents to pray for his healing and for God’s hand to be all over the situation. My heart broke when Zeus’s mom sunk to her knees in the middle of the prayer, her hands clasped together in fervent, desperate prayer for her precious boy.
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| Zeus with his honorary siblings (upper left) |
Please pray for Zeus. Pray for God to work miracles in his body and his life. Pray for his parents to allow our church family to love on them as much as we’ve been loving on Zeus. (He has been attending our church with friends, and today was his parents’ first time with us.) Pray that Zeus would firmly believe that God has a plan for his life, plans to prosper him and not to harm him, plans to give him a glorious future.(Jeremiah 29:11)
I can only imagine the emotional weight a pastor must carry as he shepherds his flock. Of all the pastors I have had in my life, no pastor has been as compassionate and hands-on as Gary. His love for the people of the Heart of Mesa is obvious within the first minute of meeting him. Well, I’ll take that back…his love for all people is obvious within the first minute of meeting him.
When we hurt, he hurts.
Gary admitted, “This week, the power of darkness swept in like a flood.”
When he cried out to God for help, the Lord led him to the book of Judges.
Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD;
and the LORD gave them into the hands of Midian seven years.
The power of Midian prevailed against Israel.
Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens
which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.
For it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites
and the sons of the east and go against them.
So they would camp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza,
and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey.
For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts for number,
both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate it.
So Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried to the LORD.
Now it came about when the sons of Israel cried to the LORD on account of Midian,
that the LORD sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them,
“Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘It was I who brought you up from Egypt
and brought you out from the house of slavery.
’I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors,
and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land,
and I said to you, “I am the LORD your God;
you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live.
But you have not obeyed Me.”‘”
Then the angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah,
which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press
in order to save it from the Midianites.
The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him,
“The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior.”
Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us?
And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about,
saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’
But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
The LORD looked at him and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian.
Have I not sent you?”
He said to Him, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh,
and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”
But the LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you,
and you shall defeat Midian as one man.”
Judges 6:1-16
How do we deal with those times when it seems as if the enemy has the upper hand?
1. Know your enemy.
The Midianites were great in number and power. Like swarms of locusts, they swooped in and destroyed everything in their path. Their goal was disaster, devastation, and death. They stole away the Israelites’ freedom and turned them into prisoners of fear, hiding in caves and crevasses. What kind of life is that?
Our enemy is the same. Followers of Christ are in the minority. We are bombarded on every side with attacks on the ways of God. The enemy’s goal is to steal, kill and destroy, and he will never stop scheming and taking swipes at us.
Just as the Israelites were no match for the Midianites, we have no chance of defeating our enemy in our own strength.
2. We are the target.
As the Midianites went about with their violent terrorism, the Israelites were “brought very low.” Their hope was lost. They believed God had abandoned them.
Relentless attack has a way of wearing us down. It’s like running into a brick wall over and over in an attempt to break through. Eventually, you will get tired of getting back up again and will just stay down in exhaustion and defeat.
Our enemy is relentless. He never gets tired of harassing and horrifying us. He thrives on our groans and grimaces. He delights in our despair and depression.
But we must not forget! We are more than conquerors! We are overcomers! We will be victorious in the end because of Whose we are! (Romans 8:37)
We can’t find victory in our own strength, but if we cry out to the Lord, He will deliver us, and it will always be in a supernatural, unconventional way.
3. God Uses Nobodies to Bring About Deliverance!
Gideon was a nobody. The Lord found him hiding in a winepress threshing wheat. He knew that if the Midianites found him, they’d take the wheat, leaving his family with no food and probably no Gideon.
Despite his cowering, God called him “valiant warrior.” God knew what was in store. He gave Gideon a title he could only live up to if he allowed God to be his strength.
Gideon’s questions are questions I think we’ve all asked at some point. I know I have.
Why? If the Lord is with us, why is all this bad stuff happening???
What? If the Lord is there, what happened to all the miracles I’ve heard so much about??
Where? Where’d you go, Lord? You have abandoned us!
The Lord responded to Gideon’s questions with a question of his own. Have I not sent you?
Who me???? Gideon responded to the Lord’s calling with a defeatist attitude. I’m just a nobody, Lord. I’m from the nobody tribe, a nobody family, and I’m the youngest of the nobodies.
Lord, this world is scary. I can’t fight the enemy on my own, but in your strength I can scale any stronghold the enemy seeks to erect in my path. Your children are overcomers! Help us to live it!
God wants to use all us nobodies for great things! None of us are anything apart from Him, but when His presence and power come into our lives, we can conquer anything the enemy throws at us!
Once Gideon quit playing games and making excuses, he gathered 32,000 men to fight the Mideonites.
Too many, God said. 22,000 were sent home for being afraid.
Still too many, God said. 9700 more were sent home for laying down face-down in the stream to drink water instead of lapping it out of their hands like a dog where they could remain alert while taking a drink.
God used 300 men, some trumpets and some empty jars to defeat the mighty Midianites. (See Judges 7 for the whole story)
We are valiant warriors with the sword of the spirit (the presence and power of God) firmly in our grasp.
Just as Gideon was able to lead a small army of 300 men to conquer more than 100,000 Mideonites, God will take each of us and use us for victory! Are you ready?
