We turn to the book of Judges
chapter six. The fact that Gideon is said
to be an illustration of faith in this great 11th chapter of
Hebrews ought to make us study him very carefully. He was one
of the judges that God raised up to deliver Israel. His name
means warrior. And indeed, he was a warrior
of the faith. Now look in Judges chapter six,
verse one. Well, let's look at the last
phrase of verse 31 of chapter five, and the land had rest 40
years. 40 years of rest and prosperity
and blessing. And the children of Israel did
evil in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord delivered them into
the hand of Midian seven years. Look back in chapter 4, verse
1. And the children of Israel again
did evil in the sight of the Lord when Ehud was dead. And this kept happening over
and over again. Look in chapter 2, beginning
in verse 18. And when the Lord raised them
up, judges, then the Lord was with the judge and delivered
them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge.
For it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason
of them that oppressed them and vexed them. And it came to pass
when the judge was dead that they returned and corrupted themselves
more than their fathers in following other gods to serve them and
to bow down unto them. They ceased not from their own
doings, nor from their stubborn ways. And the anger of the Lord
was hot against Israel, and he said, Because this people have
transgressed my covenant, which I commanded their fathers, and
have not hearkened to my voice, I also will not henceforth drive
out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when
he died, that through them I may prove Israel, whether they will
keep the way of the Lord, to walk therein, as their fathers
did keep it, or not. Therefore the Lord left those
nations without driving them out hastily. Neither delivered
he them into the hand of Joshua. So we have one of those cycles
going on in the time of Gideon, back to chapter 6. And the children of Israel did
evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into
the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed
against Israel. And because of the Midianites,
the children of Israel made them dens, which were in the mountains
and caves and strongholds. And so it was when Israel had
sown that the Midianites came up and the Amalekites and the
children of the East, even they came up against them and they
camped against them and destroyed the increase of the earth. Till
thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither
sheep, nor ox, nor ass. For they came up with their cattle
and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude.
For both they and their camels were without number, and they
entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished
because of the Midianites. And the children of Israel cried
unto the Lord." As is always the case, they brought all of
their trouble on themselves. Don't you find that's true with
you? The trouble that comes your way, you've brought it on yourself. And they were greatly oppressed
by the Midianites, greatly impoverished, and then they cried to the Lord. I want to ask you a question.
Is it not true that anything that causes us to cry to the
Lord is a mercy? It may not appear to be a mercy
at that time, perhaps very difficult, and indeed it was for the Israelites
at this time. Everything they did was impoverished.
They were in a terrible strait. You know, it's kind of sad that
it takes affliction and trouble to cause us to cry out. Out of
the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Verse 7, And it
came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord
because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet unto
the children of Israel. which said unto them, Thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought
you forth out of the house of bondage, and I delivered you
out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that
oppressed you, and braved them out from before you, and gave
you their land. And I said unto you, I am the
Lord your God. Fear not the gods of the Amorites
in whose land you dwell, but you have not obeyed my voice."
The Lord reminds them that all of their troubles were homespun,
they were all their own fault. You know, our own responsibility
has to be kept before our eyes. Our own responsibility. He said,
I told you, and you didn't obey my voice. Verse 11, now here
we're introduced to Gideon. While the Lord reminded them
of their own responsibility, He still had mercy on them. Aren't you thankful for that?
My sin, every problem I have is my fault. But thank God He
is merciful. He sends Gideon, verse 11. And
there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak, which was
in Oprah, that pertained unto Joash, the Abba is right. And his son, Gideon, threshed
wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. He was
afraid of the Midianites. He was, you know, everything
they would grow, the Midianites would come and take. They were
trying to starve the children of Israel to death. Everything
they did, they would destroy and attack, and it would go wrong.
Verse 12, And the angel of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ,
appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee. Thou mighty man of valor." Now,
what was it that made him a mighty man of valor? The Lord was with
him. Is anything else needed? Now,
he didn't view himself as a mighty man of valor, as we'll see, but
the Lord said, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. Verse 13, And Gideon said unto
him, O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this
befallen us? And where be all his miracles,
which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring
us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken
us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. It sure
doesn't seem like the Lord is with us. And the Lord looked
upon him, verse 14, and said, Go in this thy might. What's his might? The Lord's
with him. The Lord's with him. He's a mighty
man. If the Lord's with you, you're
a mighty man. You're a mighty woman. If the
Lord's with you. He said, and the Lord looked
upon him and said, Go in this thy might. And thou shalt save
Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee? And he
said unto him, O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold,
my family is poor in Manasseh. Weak is the meaning of the word
actually, utterly powerless. And I'm the least in my father's
house. Now you call me a mighty man
of valor. My family is the weakest in all of Manasseh, and I'm the
least of that bunch. So how can you call me a mighty
man of valor? Now, when God is gracious toward
someone, it's going to have an effect on how they view themselves
and how they view others. He said, my family is weak. I'm weak. I'm a weak. I'm not
a mighty man of valor. I'm weak. And when God reveals
himself to you, this you know, you're weak. You're powerless. Your only hope is that God would
do something for you. You can't do anything. And our Lord said, without me,
you can do nothing. Now, when the Lord gives you
grace to See this. This is what you see about yourself.
He may call you a mighty man of valor, but you say I'm the
weakest and it changes your views toward others. I'm the least.
I'm the least in my father's house. I'm the very weakest,
least one. Everybody's better than me. Everybody's
stronger than me. You really believe that about
yourself. There's some true esteeming others is better than yourself. You're going to be kind toward
others. You know, I was thinking about
this. If me and you make it through
tomorrow, we're going to need each other's forgiveness. We're
going to need to forgive one another. Be kind, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another. Even as God, for Christ's sake,
hath forgiven you. What a blessing it is to be enabled
to forgive somebody. What a blessing it is to be forgiven.
So in our relationship, oh Gideon, I'm the least, I'm the weakest. Yet Christ calls him a mighty
man of valor. Now Gideon says it sure doesn't
look like you're with us. Gideon was one who continually
needed assurance. He greatly mistrusted himself. Let's go on reading verse 16.
And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou
shalt smite the Midianites," catch this, as one man. As one man. Now do you see the
gospel there? As one man. We're saved by one man. And he
did it all, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Gideon, even with this assurance,
he still greatly mistrusts himself. Look in verse 17. He says, if
now I have found grace in thy sight, Then show me a sign that
thou talkest with me." He didn't trust himself. He said, I have
to have some evidence that you're even talking to me. This might
be a dream. This might be a... I just don't trust myself. I
understand Gideon, can't you? I mean, everything that happens
to me, I always... I'm always suspect of it. Knowing
me. Knowing how I can twist things.
He says, I don't even know if you're really talking to me.
So I need some kind of sign that will prove it. It was Gideon
who asked for the fleece. Look, in... Chapter 36, or I
mean, verse 36 of Chapter 6. And Gideon said unto God, if
thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said, he said he
would. He said, behold, I put a fleece of wool in the floor,
and if the dew be on the fleece only, and if it be dry upon all
the earth, beside then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel
by my hand, as thou hast said. And it was so. He rose up early
in the morning and thrust the fleece together and wringed the
dew out of it, the fleece, a bowl full of water. The Lord gave
him what he was asking for. Now look what he does, verse
39. And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be haught
against me, and I'll speak but this once. Let me prove, I pray
thee, but this once with the fleece. Let it not be dry only
upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.
And God did so that night, for it was dry upon the fleece only,
and there was dew on all the ground. He was someone who was
always looking for some assurance. Look in chapter 7, verse 9. And it came to pass in the same
night that the Lord said unto him, Arise, get thee down from
the host, for I have delivered it into thine hand. Notice it's
past tense. I have delivered it into thine
hand. But he had some accommodation for the weakness of his servant.
He says, But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Thura,
thy servant, down to the host, and thou shalt hear what they
say. And afterward, thou shalt, thy hand shall be strengthened
to go down unto the host. Then he went down with Thura,
his servant, to the outside of the armed men that were in the
host. And he heard something they had to say. So we see Gideon.
While he's a mighty man of faith, he's also a mighty man of mistrusting
himself, and he always needed to have it confirmed over and
over again from the Lord. Now back to chapter 6, verse 14, and the Lord looked
upon him and said, Go in this thy might, the Lord's with you.
And thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites, had
not I sent thee. There's his commission. And he
said unto him, O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold,
my family's poor in Manasseh, and the least of my father's
house. And the Lord said unto him, Surely I'll be with thee,
and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. God saves by one man. When David fought Goliath, if
David the one man won, all of Israel won. If David lost, all
of Israel lost. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, talking about Adam's sin, judgment came upon all men
to condemnation. Now, before I go on, this is
very important. By what Adam did, judgment came
upon all men to condemnation. You and I were condemned for
what Adam did. But before I take it to Further,
look at verse 12. Also, it says in verse 12, Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Not
only was Adam's sin charged to you and me when Adam sinned,
we sinned. And the reason it was charged
to us is because we did it. When Adam sinned, as I represented
of being united to him, we did too. Just as when Adam sinned,
you and I sinned also, when Christ obeyed God's holy law, every
believer obeyed that holy law. And they did it by one man. Back in verse 18 in Romans chapter
5. Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all
men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one,
the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."
Now, that all men obviously doesn't mean all men without exception,
because if it did, all men without exception would be saved. All
who he died for. All who believe. For as by one
man's disobedience, verse 19, many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one man shall many be made righteous. Salvation by one man. Thou shalt smite the Midianites
as one man. And that's exactly what the Lord
did. As one man, he accomplished salvation
for all of his people. Now, look in verse 17. And he said unto him, Gideon,
after giving this assurance, he said, Now, if I have found
grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with
me. Depart not hence, I pray thee,
until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it
before thee. And he said, I'll tarry, until thou come again.
And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes
of an ephah, a flower. The flesh he put in a basket,
he put in the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under
the oak, and presented it. And the angel of God said unto
him, Take the flesh, and the unleavened cakes, and lay them
upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. He
poured the broth upon the pieces of meat. Then the angel of the
Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and
touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and there arose a fire
out of the rock, and consumed the flesh, and the unleavened
cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed
out of his sight." Now, Gideon says, give me some assurance.
And what is the assurance he's given? The acceptance of the
sacrifice. Fire came out of the rock, it
consumed it, and there was nothing left, which points to the acceptance
of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. God accepted him. He accepted what he did, and
he accepted all that he did it for. Now, please hear me very
carefully. We all want assurance. I want
assurance that God has accepted me. I want assurance that God
has spoken to me. I want assurance that God loves
me, I want assurance. Now, if I derive assurance from
something in me, something I've done, something I believe, something
I've experienced, some change in me, if I derive assurance
from that, it is a false assurance. The only true assurance is the
acceptance of the sacrifice. God accepting what Christ did. You need a sign? We're given
the sign of Gemini. Three days in, three days out,
when the Lord was raised from the dead, that meant God accepted
him and accepted everybody he did it for. There is my assurance. God's acceptance of the sacrifice. I'm assured that God accepts
me Because I'm assured he accepted the sacrifice. That's where my
assurance is. It's not in me. It's not in the
fact that I'm a preacher or something I do or something I believe or
something I've experienced. My assurance is in the acceptance
of the sacrifice. When God raised the Lord Jesus
Christ from the dead, he was delivered for our offenses and
raised again for our justification. The sins of all God's elect were
put away, blotted out. And my assurance is God's acceptance
of that sacrifice. And any other kind of assurance
is a false assurance. What do you derive assurance
from? Let me say this regarding this
thing of assurance. Don't look for assurance. Look to Christ. And looking to
Christ, you'll have assurance. You look for assurance, and you'll
lose it. I guarantee you won't have any.
That's what you're starting looking for. That's putting the cart
before the horse. Don't look for assurance. Look
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to who He is and what He
did as everything in salvation, and you'll get assurance from
that. But if you start looking to yourself for assurance, you
don't deserve any assurance. Isn't that so? I mean, we don't
deserve any. What do you have to be assured
of? Is there anything about you that can give you assurance?
Well, if there is, you're deceived. Our assurance is Christ Jesus
only. That one man. Like Simeon said,
Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes
have seen thy salvation. He is my salvation. Let's go
on reading. Verse 22. And when Gideon perceived
That he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God,
for because I've seen an angel of the Lord face to face. He
thought he was going to get killed. Remember what the Lord said to
Moses? Nobody will see my face. A man sees my face, he'll die.
And Gideon scared to death. He thought, I've seen the face
of the Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Peace
be unto thee. Fear not. Thou shalt not die. Then Gideon built an altar there
unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah Shalom, unto this day
as is yet in Oprah of the Abbarite, the Lord our peace." Ephesians
2.14 says, He is our peace. And here, God being at peace with me, is
simply be being in the Lord Jesus Christ. And me finding peace
of conscience is knowing that all that God requires of me,
He looks to His Son for. My peace of conscience is knowing
that His righteousness is my righteousness before God. His
life is my life before God. His shed blood is my sin payment. He's all my peace. Jehovah Shalom! The Lord, our peace. You know what I think is really
glorious about this? Gideon believed the same gospel that you and
I believe. The gospel has not developed. It has not evolved. It's the same. He looked the
same place that you and I do. OK, verse 25. And it came to pass the same
night. That the Lord said unto him, now this is interesting,
when peace is established, war begins. And that's always the
way it is. When peace is established, war
begins. And it came to pass the same
night that the Lord said unto him, take thy father's young
bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw
down the altar of Baal that thy father hath. and cut down the
grove that's by it. That passage of scripture we
just heard from Psalm 119, I esteem all thy precepts to be right
and I hate every false way. Now he's being put to the test
about that. His father had built up a grove
to bale and an altar to bale and the Lord says, tear it down.
Tear it down. and build an altar, verse 26,
unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock in the ordered
place, and take the second bullet and offer a burnt sacrifice with
the wood of the grove, which thou shalt cut down. Then Gideon
took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had said
unto him, and so it was, because he feared his father's household
and the men of the city, that he couldn't do it by day, but
he did it by night, but at least he did it. At least he did it. He wasn't going to do it in the
daylight. He knew what would happen. The whole city would come down
and kill him. But he's going to do it at night. So they sneak
out at night and they tear down that altar of Baal. And they
cut down the grove and they rear up the altar of Jehovah for sacrifice. Verse 28. And when the men of the city
arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down. And the grove was cut down that
was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that
was built. And they said one to another, Who had done this
thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon,
the son of Joash had done this thing. Then the men of the city
said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die, because
he had cast down the altar of Baal, and because he had cut
down the grove that was by it. And Joash said unto those that
stood against him, Will you plead for Baal? Will you save him? He that will plead for him, let
him be put to death whilst yet mourning. If he be a God, if
Baal be a God, let him plead for himself, because one hath
cast down his altar. If he is a God, he can do something
about this. Therefore on that day he called him Jeroboam, saying,
Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar. Verse 33, Then all the Midianites,
the ones that were oppressing them, and the Amalekites, and
the children of the east, were gathered together, and went over,
and pitched in the valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of the
Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, and Abazar was
gathered unto him, and he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh.
who were gathered after him, and he sent messengers unto Asher
and to Zebulun and unto Naphtali. And they came to meet him. And
that night is when Gideon wanted to put out that fleece. Now,
God had promised, I'm going to use you to do this. You're going
to destroy him as one man. But Gideon said, I need some
more assurance. Now, you can find fault with Gideon for that
if you want, but I think it's very much like having to hear
the gospel over and over again. You don't hear the gospel once
isn't enough. I need to hear it over. I need to be reassured
by the Lord over and over and over again that this is true.
I believe now, but what happens tomorrow, I need to hear again.
And I need the same thing over and over again. That's what this
is. He needs to continually hear this reassurance from the Lord
regarding the gospel. Now, chapter 7. Then Jeroboam, who is Gideon,
the one who knocked down Baal, And all the people who were with
him rose up early and pitched beside the well of Herod, so
that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them
by the hill of Morah in the valley. And the Lord said unto Gideon,
The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the
Midianites unto their hand, lest Israel bont himself against me,
saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore go to proclaim
in the ears of the people, Whoever is fearful or afraid, let him
return and depart early from the mount Gilead. And they returned
to the people, twenty and two thousand, and there remained
ten thousand. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet
too many. Bring them down into the water, and I will try them
for thee there. And it shall be that of whom I say unto thee,
they shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee. And
of whomsoever I say unto thee, they shall not go with thee,
the same shall not go. So he brought the people down into
the water, and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth
of the water with his tongue, as a dog lapps him, shalt thou
set by himself, likewise every one that boweth down upon his
knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting
their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men. But all the
rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink the
water, and the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred
men that have lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites
into thine hand, and let all the other people go their way."
Now, the army, Gideon's army, is taken from 32,000 to 300. against a vast host that just
covered the ground, 300 men. So the people, verse 8, took
vittles in their hand and their trumpets and sent all the rest
of Israel, every man into a tent and retained those 300 men and
the host of Midian went beneath him in the valley. Now it came
to pass, verse 9, the same night with these 300 people You know,
the Lord always makes everything in such a way as where he gets
all the glory, doesn't he? I'm thankful he does that. With these 300, verse 9, And
it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him,
Arise, get thee down unto the host, for I have delivered it
into thine hand. The promise is spoken of in the
past tense. Now listen to this real carefully.
Real carefully, the gospel is not what God will do. It's not what he's doing. It's
what he's done. I've had religious people say
to me on numerous occasions, what's God doing in your life?
I don't know. But I know what he's done. And
I'm resting in what he has done. That's my hope, what he has already
done. On Calvary's tree, he accomplished
my salvation. I don't have to look for anything
out of myself. He's already done it. Salvation in the past tense. Every aspect of salvation is
in the past tense. He's already done it. He said,
I have delivered it into thine hand. Aren't you thankful for
that? I have delivered it, but he knows Gideon. If thou fear
to go down, go thou with Thura, thy servant, down to the host,
and thou shalt hear what they shall say, and afterward shall
thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then when
he down unto Thura, His servant unto the outside of the armed
men that were in the host, and the Midianites, and the Amalekites,
and all the children of the east, lay along the valley like grasshoppers
for multitude, and their camels were without lumber, as the sand
by the seaside for multitude. This is how many people these
three hundred men were going to have to fight. And when Gideon
was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow,
and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and lo, a cake of barley bread,
a little thin biscuit. made of what only the poor would
eat, barley. It was the most meager thing
you could have to eat. A cake of barley, bread, a biscuit,
a cracker, tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent,
and smote it, that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent
lay long. Something supernatural took place.
And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the
sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel, for unto his
hand hath God delivered Midian and all the hosts. And it was
so when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and the interpretation
thereof that he worshipped. What else could he do? He worshipped
and returned unto the host of Israel and said, Arise! For the
Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of many." And he
divided the 300 men into three companies. And he put a trumpet
in every man's hand with empty pitchers and lamps within the
pitchers. Now here we have the preaching
of the gospel. First we have an empty pitcher. an empty picture. This is the
preacher. He doesn't have anything to say
of himself. He's an empty vessel. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. And he has a trumpet. That trumpet
is the preaching of the gospel. And he has a light within that
picture when it was to be broken. That's the light of how God saves
sinners by Christ. The only way you can understand
how God can be just and justify somebody like you when you're
unjust is through the light of the gospel. That's the preaching
of the gospel. They were to blow that trumpet. They had those lights in the
pictures. They were to break the picture and blow the trumpet
with one hand and show the light of the gospel in the other. Verse
17, And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise. And behold,
when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that I
shall do that as I do, so shall you do. When I blow with the
trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets
also on every side of the camp, and say, The sword of the Lord
and of Gideon. So Gideon and the hundred men
that were with him came into the outside of the camp into
the beginning of the middle watch. And when they had but newly set
the watch and they blew the trumpets and break the pictures that were
in their hands and the three companies blew the trumpets and
break the pictures and held the lamps in their left hand and
the trumpets in their right hand. to blow with all, and they cried
the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. And they stood every
man in his place round about the camp, and all the host ran
and cried and fled, and the three hundred blew the trumpets, and
the Lord said every man's sword against this fellow. All these
thousands started fighting with each other. They didn't do a
thing. All they did was blow the trumpets,
and everybody started killing one The Lord supernaturally defeated
the Midianites. The 300 blew the trumpets, and
the Lord set every man's sword against this fellow, even throughout
all the hosts, and the hosts fled to Bethsaida, and Zerath,
and the border of Abimeleib, and to Tabith. And the men of
Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher,
and out of Banesa, and pursued after the Midianites. And Gideon
sent messengers throughout all Ephraim, saying, Come down against
the Midianites, and take before them the waters of the Beth Barah
and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves
together, and took the waters into Beth Barndoreth. And they
took the two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeb, and they slew Oreb
upon the rock of Oreb, and Zeb they slew at the winepress of
Zeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and
Zeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan. The Lord defeated
them without any help from them." All they did was blow that trumpet
and hold out that torch. And God defeated their enemies. Now, when we observe the Lord's
table, here's what we're remembering.
The Lord did everything for us. When we see Zach confess Christ
in believers baptism, what does baptism say? When Christ lived,
I lived. When he died, I died. When he
was raised from the dead, I was. We confess the Lord does everything. That's what Gideon believed.
He experienced it, didn't he? The Lord does everything. And
what peace? And what joy we find in the Lord
doing everything. I can't take the stress or the
pressure of anything being on my shoulders. If it is, I crumble
because I know I won't. I'm not able. But the Lord does
everything for his people. That's what Gideon believed.
And that's what we believe. Let's pray together.