Judges 6

QUESTION: Cowardice to Faith - 1

ANSWER:

Judges 6 – Part 1

by Pastor Nathan Shepherd (Dive Chapel, Candle Key, Florida)

The last, worshipful notes of “On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand (all other ground is sinking sand)” died out. The band cranked into the song as if it were a classic rock standard and then brought it down to a quiet prayer.

Nathan Shepherd walked to the front of the Dive Chapel and prayed. “Good morning, Jesus. Thank You for this awesome creation you’ve given us to dwell in. Help us to follow you in assurance, in belief, in confidence. Lead us to do what you would ask each of us to do for Your Kingdom. Amen.”

“Welcome everybody. Thanks band, when you live in Hurricane Alley like we do, that one really rings true.

“Okay, gang, today we’re in Judges 6. I hope you all are enjoying this rock through the book of Judges as much as I am. Now if you’ll remember, last week our theme was doing what God calls us to do. Don’t be a chicken-whiner, don’t run off to the beach or go on a cruise or say ‘Hey, I’m going out of town.’

“Watch, pray, see what the LORD is doing and go join Him. Now, today, we’re going to look at the story of Gideon, but first, I want to review our overarching, umbrella theme for the book of Judges.

“As I’ve said before, the picture, the ongoing cycle in Judges and of our saved lives is a seven step, ‘circle of life’ and we need to break the cycle. As we are seeing, the top of the circle is us joyfully serving God. Then, we’re tempted, we have decisions to make and we tend to wander off into left field. Third, we find ourselves giving in to sin. We ALL blow it. Fourth, we look around and we’re stuck in the nasty muck of sin. If you’ve ever been out to Nine Mile Bank and tried to walk through that chalky, gray muck – that’s what I’m talking about. I lost a Converse All-star low-top out there in 1983, and it’s still there.

“Then, like the prodigal son, we find ourselves sorry about our sin and especially its consequences. So, at the sixth notch on the circle, we repent and the Lord delivers us from our sin. And we are back at the top of the circle, where we ought to be – joyfully serving God.

“But in Judges six, verse one, the nation of Israel goes right back to it. It says, ‘The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years.’

“Now the Midianites were the sons of Midian. Remember back to Father Abraham? His beautiful wife Sarah died and Abraham went off and married a nappy-headed woman named Keturah. They had six sons together. One of these guys was named Midian. Anyway, the six sons of Keturah – that might be a great name for a rock band, huh? These boys really hassled Isaac, so Abraham sent them away. The offspring of this guy Midian became mean, nasty, nomadic camel herders. In fact, there military strength lay in the fact that they could train their camels to track like a sports car through the desert sands.

“Now, continuing our theme of equating Canaanite tribes with sins. I’m going to state that the Midianites represent the sin of cowardice. Actually, it is the sin for fearing something other than God.

Judges 6 – Read Part 2!