We now come to one of the best known characters from Judges, Gideon. After the peace gained under Deborah the people did evil again and were subjected to the Midianites for seven years. The oppression was so great that the people made hideouts for themselves in the mountains. They could never harvest much of a crop for the surrounding nations attacked and plundered them. The livestock too were ruined. Things became so severe that the people cried out to God.
The Lord sent them a prophet who told them the truth. The people needed to come to terms with their sin. They were responsible for the position they were in.
Then the Lord sent an angel to Gideon. So the Lord did two things. He sent a prophet to bring them to terms with their sin, and raised up a man to rescue them. The angel appeared to Gideon and announced "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior". This was news to Gideon! He did not see himself as a mighty warrior, and was not too convinced that the Lord was with him.
Gideon objected, taking "you" as referring to the whole nation. In this case there seemed to be precious little evidence of the Lord being with them. However, what the Lord meant was that He was with Gideon, and He was sending Gideon. He told Gideon to go in the strength that he had. This was not much, but we have to use the strength that we do have, then the Lord will do the rest.
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