Hitting Rock Bottom

A series on the story of redemption
The story of Gideon
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Judges 6 

[Everybody has a story. Even God has one. His is a story about love and redemption and faithfulness. In this series we are going to take a closer look at God’s story through the lives of the people that He touched. How their story became His story of redemption. And how your story is also a part of it.]

  

You’ve probably hit rock bottom before. I have. My most painful experience happened a few years after getting married when our first child was still born. Everybody has their own story to tell.

 

Hitting rock bottom for the Israelites was directly related to the Midianites. For seven years, the Midianites and their allies would invade Israel, ruining their crops and taking their animals. Finally, the Israelites called out to the Lord for help.

 

That’s where Gideon’s story began. Like most of the Israelites, he was hiding in fear. One day, while threshing wheat in a winepress, an angel of the Lord addressed Gideon in the most surprising way.

 

¹² When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”     NIV

 

Of course, Gideon was anything but a mighty warrior. In fact, the first thing he said was to accuse the Lord of abandoning the Israelites. In reality though, the Israelites had abandoned the Lord by worshipping Baal and Asherah.

 

¹⁴ The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”     NIV

 

For Gideon, to “Go in the strength you have” meant taking that first small step towards living up to the name that the angel of the Lord had given him… mighty warrior. The defining moment occurred when he obeyed the Lord and took down his father’s Baal altar and Asherah pole. The following incident occurred.

 

³³ Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.      NIV

 

Even though Gideon wasn’t in a position of strength, the Spirit of the Lord came on him. From then on, Gideon was more decisive; more directed. Although he still needed encouragement from the Lord, he wasn’t hiding anymore.

 

Israel was constantly going through a cycle of sin and redemption. Like Israel, we do the same thing and sometimes hit rock bottom. But there is a silver lining. Here’s how Eugene Peterson put it in Matthew 5 from the Sermon on the Mount.

 

³ “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

⁴ “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.     MSG

 

We normally don’t feel blessed when we hit rock bottom. But sometimes redemption finds us there.

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

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