“…he worshiped God.” (Judges 7:15)

Gideon was one of the judges that God raised up over Israel when Israel “had no king and did what was right in their own eyes” (Jdgs. 21:25)

Now Gideon was not the most courageous of the Judges and he had a hard time trusting the Lord. But even through is lack of courage and lack of trust, the Lord used him to deliver Israel out of their sin for a season.

Gideon had some incredible times with the LORD. He met the Angel of the LORD earlier in his life and received the call to deliver Israel. He offered a sacrifice in the very presence of the LORD. He saw the Angel of the Lord appear and then vanish out of his sight in and exclaimed, “I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face!”, thinking he would die because of this. He demolished an alter of Baal in the night before anyone could catch him. He tested God twice when wanting to know if He would be with him. He used a fleece on the ground and in both cases and God did the miraculous. He heard the voice of God and was directed by God to thin out the soldiers.

But what brought about “worship” in Gideon’s heart. You would think any of the experiences above would have ended with …”he worshiped God.” But non of the above brought about worship. So what did?

Well Gideon was still afraid to go into battle against the Midianites, so God had him go down with his servant one evening to listen to what the Midianites had to say. Gideon and his servant, Purah, go down to the campsite of the Midianites and secretly spy on what is going on down in the enemy’s camp. Gideon overhears two Midianites talking (these guys would be equal today to two fellows who had no desire for God, hated Jesus followers, and wanted to conquer the world by their own ingenuity) and one tells of this odd dream he has and the other interprets the dream. Now remember these are two “lost”, “unbelieving”, “ungodly” , “unrighteous” and “self-loving” men. The second interprets the dream as “God is going to give us over into the hands of Gideon and the Israelites.” He was basically saying that God was going to win the battle.

After these words from a pagan man, unaware that a “follower of God” was listening in, Gideon WORSHIPS God. Who would figure – that is what brought Gideon to worship God and have all confidence in his Mighty Savior? – That is what it is and that is how the story goes. You must read the rest of the story to get even more humor from man’s point of view and awe in looking at what God actually does.

All of this to say, for the last few weeks, Lynda and I have been handing out cards from the students (who are pointers to Jesus) to people in NYC. We have no idea how God will ultimately use the verses they picked out to place on their cards or the words they selected to communicate a message about Jesus. But if God can use to pagan, unbelieving, self-seeking, idol worshiping Midianite men to cause Gideon to worship the LORD, how much can He also use these dear students words to minister to the countless folks in NYC. This is our prayer – May the name of the LORD Jesus be glorified and may He be loved by all who hear and learn of Him.