Fearless: Gideon Courage for Wimps

Fearless: Gideon  Courage for Wimps

Do you remember sissy tests growing up?  We used to do the stupidest stuff like rubbing the back of your hand with an eraser until it bleeds, knuckle fighting, hand slaps, shooting bottle rocket fireworks at each other.  As I look back at things it seemed pretty stupid to do those things.  Abe Kuhn even told me about a guy who his mother helped in the hospital that she worked in who was drunk and was dared to put a fire work in his mouth and it exploded adn he lost almost half of his face.  We do some pretty dumb stuff and call them "sissy tests".  In the Bible Gideon a man who God really used started off as a wimpy sissy.  How do I know Gideon this man of God started off as a wimp? The angel of the Lord met him in a winepress where he was sifting wheat. You are supposed to press grapes in a winepress not sift wheat. The bible even says he was hiding from the Midianites Israel's oppressors (Judges 6:11-12)

Gideon the wimp became courageous and fearless by asking God to reveal himself by passing three sissy tests Gideon asked God to pass.  He became courageous not because He was a courageous guy, but because He saw God was a great God!

Sissy test #1:
Is this really you God? (Judges 6:16-17 angel of the Lord burns up an offering, fleece: Judges 6:36-40)

• The angel of the Lord revealed His power to Gideon by burning His sacrifice
•  The Lord showed Gideon it was really him in making the fleece dry and wet
• Gideon's confidence in God started to grow

Sissy test #2
Are you really gonna use me God? (cutting down the Asherah pole at night judges 6:27)

• Gideon was scared to follow God's directions to cut down the Asherah pole so He did it a night
• Later on His father had to come to His defense. Gideon Hardly stood up for Himself

Sissy test #3
Are you sure you only need 300 God?

• God delivering Midian into their hands with rams horns and torches 
• They started out with 32,000 men they went down to 10,000 men and finally down to 300 men
• These seemed like good odds for God 300 men with torches vs. an army as many as a swarm of locusts or as many as the sand on the seashore (Judges7:2)

How is God showing you his greatness and overcoming your fear.  If you are honest you and I are really wimps at heart, and are totally afraid in so many ways.  We need to put God to the test and see how great and big he is, and our fear will slowly disappear.