11 And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
12 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.
13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh 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.
14 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?
15 And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.
16 And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.
17 And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. Judges 6:11-17
The story opened with an angel sitting under an oak tree watching a distressed man called Gideon who was troubled (along with all Israel) by the nation of Midian who enslaved them.
Gideon and his people were limited, no one could run an open enterprise, they have to go into hiding to do whatever they have to do else the enemies would take over their substance.
When you perceive an enemy, you live cautiously and work with caution. Instead of Gideon ran a farmland in acres or hectares for fear of the enemy ran his farm in clusters. Instead of feeding a nation he settled merely to feed himself and his family.
A limit imposes on us how far we can go!
A limit also impairs our judgment and erodes from us our common sense. Instead of taking the wheat to a threshing floor, he took it to a winepress. Instead of treading he flays a little at a time thus creating more labour and time spent on the grain.
The limits on a life will increase often lead to more labours and exertions. When there is a limit, what we could earn within a month could take us a year or more. Limits do not allow us to be on the top. There is no way we could maximize our potentials when there are imposed limitations.
The angel of the Lord assessed the situation as he sat under the oak. God will never leave anyone to perish, in our crisis he is there. But too often we are forlorn and hopeless as we despair asking repeatedly: “God, why can’t you do something about this situation!”
As you keep lamenting, God is also saying repeatedly to you: “My son do something about the situation. The limit is off!”
God has his emissaries whether in the form of man or angel bringing the good news that he is all out for our good. He has put around you all the assistance you will ever need; nothing missing of his graciousness. All you need do is to begin to take the required actions.
In verse 12, “the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said, the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour”. There are two powerful truths that we should take cognizance of. If we do, our lives will take new meaning from this very day.
The angels first words to Gideon are: “the Lord is with thee”. This is the most powerful assurance any man can seek for. We get into the rut, fearful, jittery and give up because we often think that we are all alone in the fight. But if the perspective is changed and we know that the Creator of heaven and the earth is on our case, we will surely begin to react to the issue at hands differently.
God is with you, this is why you have evidence of clustered help, support and protections. If it has not been God, it could have been worse. God is with you, that is why it is not yet over with you; he is working out something marvelously great.
When God is with you, you should have no fear of any limit because God is beyond the limits of life.
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. 3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. Ps. 27:1-3
For our perpetual remembrance of his abiding presence God gave us his son Jesus Christ so that we will never have a shaken confidence in him.
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Matt 1:22,23
Emmanuel means God with us, is God’s token to every man that God is on our side irrespective of what we are passing through. Deep in our heart and in our surrounding, God is saying I am with you, if only you will believe: I can heal your situation and give you all encompassing salvation on every front of life.
It is no longer the question whether he is with you; the question is whether you have the knowledge of his presence. The knowledge that God is with you will activate miracles and wonders that will put off the limit. Only believe.
Even when God is angry, it is for a moment. Don’t allow the devil sell you the lie that God is forever angry with you. No, God is with you – Emmanuel!
5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Psalm 30:5
After setbacks, crises, troubles and challenges he wants joy to come your way.
God told Gideon: I am with you.
The second thing he told Gideon is this: You are a mighty man of valour.
When we were young we were taught like this: That God looked into Gideon’s future and in the light of those exploit he is going to carry out he was called mighty; that God called him what he would become. But based on Bible deeper truth, God has made every man mighty based on what he has done already, we only need to walk in his truth and life. The substance we are made of is fundamentally responsible for our strength.
As we have higher laws, so we have higher truth:
We shall go from one level of glory to another as we are being exposed to the truth of God’s words. The truth of God’s word we know will determine how much we will enjoy him. The law of perpetual health is better than healing. Abundance supply is better than barely enough. In degree, we could settle for the good, the acceptable or the perfect.
To some, they believe their life victory has already been won, but to others they still need to go into spiritual warfare. Both are correct alignment according to our faith but the two experiences will define many things in the two kinds of belief: One will have quantum of rest while the other may be agitated by many battles to deal with in a lifetime: the choice is yours.
Someone said: Gideon went into battle. Yes he went into a battle but it was a fight which God had won before it began. If you must engage in any battle in life, it must be one which is already finished by faith in Christ Jesus.
