Gideon Tests the Lord!

Mo. 12/30/13: Judges 6:11 – 12                           Who appeared to Gideon?

Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

Who appeared to Gideon? The Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon.

Tu. 12/31/13: Judges 6:36 – 38                               What was the first test?

So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said—look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water.

What was the first test? The wool fleece was to be wet, the ground dry.

We. 1/1/14: Judges 6:39 – 40                              What was the second test?

Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.” And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.

What was the second test? The opposite: two days went by! God waits.

Th. 1/2/14: Judges 7:19 – 22                      What weapons did the 300 use?

So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp … and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands … and they cried, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” And … the whole army ran and cried out and fled. When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled.

What weapons did the 300 use? They used trumpets, pitchers and voices.

Fr. 1/3/14: 1 John 4:1 – 2                                            Are we to do likewise?

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God

Are we to do likewise? Yes, we are to test spirits: the test is Christ.