Posted: 09 May 2024

From a sermon given on 05 May 2024:

And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.
(Judges 6: 11, 12)

The Israelites had been reduced to an animal like existence living in caves with all their produce and animals taken. The Midianites allied themselves with Amalekites and together raided the Israelites seasonally sweeping from the East across the country plundering it off its crops and animals. And they cried out to the Lord who sent them a deliverer.

The person to be commissioned for this service was Gideon. When the angel appeared to him, Gideon was threshing wheat not on the threshing floor in a wine - press in order to hide it from the Midianites. The angel addressed him as a mighty man of valour and he definitely got perplexed. Although Gideon was a giant - brave and courageous, he had lived a life of obscurity, timidity and fear.

And like Gideon, many of us have not realized our full capacity for the things that we would want to achieve in life. God has put a seed of greatness in every one of us. We may still be hiding from our "Midianites" (our tormentors, intimidators, critics etc.) because we fear them. You have been a sleeping giant. It's time to arise and accomplish your God given goals and visions! You have to embrace the challenges ahead of you and take calculated risks!

Further Readings:

There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
(Joshua 1:5)

Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
(Isaiah 41:15)

And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
(Luke 1:28)