I was really excited Sunday to tell the story of how God met Gideon, and how Gideon discovered him to be Jehovah Shalom–which means God, who is Peace.  I would like to go over some of the Scripture here on the blog because it will be a lot easier to see what I was talking about.  I’ll split the story up, but you may want to read ahead.  I think you’ll find it really interesting.

The following is from Judges 6 in blue, and I’ll add some commentary:

¹¹ Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah…

The Angel is also referred to as Jehovah in this chapter which is a form of God’s name YHWH or Yahweh.  It’s possible that this visit from God, Himself, is Jesus even before the first Christmas!

Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. ¹² The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”

Gideon sees this stranger, but won’t really believe until later.  So, he isn’t extremely happy with the greeting (maybe even takes it for sarcasm) and goes on to say “If the Lord is really with us, then why are things so bad?”  Instead of feeling that God is close.  He feels abandoned.  He wonders, “If God is so powerful, then He would deliver His people.”

¹³ “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”

¹⁴ Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”

Here’s a funny turn of events.  Gideon is essentially saying, “If God is so powerful, then why doesn’t he save His people?”  And God literally turns the tables and says to Gideon, “Well, you’re a pretty strong guy, why don’t you rescue the people? That’s a good idea…In fact I’ll send you on that mission, right now.”  Gideon wastes no time in backpedaling and making excuses…

¹⁵ “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!”

How?  Good question.  How can anyone do God-sized things?  Here’s the answer…

¹⁶ The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”

As long as the Lord (literally, Jehovah) is with you, it’s gonna be a slaughter!

Gideon had obvious issues with his God.   But God isn’t going to smash Gideon because of the way he feels, He is, however, going to humble him.  I imagine all of us need some humbling when it comes to what we think about God.  This week God is going to confront some of the issues you have with Him…

It may be that you have

• some anger towards him
• or you doubt His goodness
• or you won’t give Him total control
• maybe you wonder if He’s even real at all.

You’re going to have to deal with this conflict before you can experience Jehovah Shalom…the God of Peace.  More on this later…