Have you ever heard of a man called Gideon in the Bible? If not, you need to read about ole Gideon. God used him in a great way in a terrible time in the lives of the Israelites. In Judges 6 the Bible tells us that God came to Gideon while he was threshing wheat hidden from the Midianites. You see the Midianites were “large and in charge” because once again the Jews had taken their eyes off of God and God was judging them by giving them over to be in submission to the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord came to Gideon, Gideon doubted everything the angel was telling him to do. The angel of the Lord told Gideon he was going to bring the Children of Israel back into favor again and that God needed him to stand strong. Gideon did the usual by asking “who me?” He told the angel to stay right there while he went and made some bread, with a lot of flour, and brought it back and then the angel had Gideon put it on a rock and he consumed it with fire. Then Gideon walked out of the meeting in power and confidence because he knew God was with him. In fact, when he realized it was God he said, “Oh no, I have been talking to God face to face.” God said, “Don’t be afraid, just do what I say.” Gideon had experienced the God of the Universe face to face and He was calling him. I just can’t imagine that meeting. Gideon knew it was God!!
Gideon needed to know that for sure because the Midianites had put worshipping idols ahead of worshipping the Lord. Anyone bucking that system would be killed for sure, so only God’s power was going to win the victory. The first thing Gideon did was to destroy the idols of Baal, including cutting down the Asherah fertility poles. The next thing Gideon did was to build God an altar in full sight of the Midianite leaders. The next thing Gideon did was to destroy the idols of Baal, including cutting down the Asherah fertility poles. They came to his father Joash and said “What in the world is your son doing, cutting down our idols. We want to kill him.” Joash told them in Judges 6:31 “Are you going to fight Baal’s battles for him? Are you going to save him? Anyone who takes Baal’s side will be dead by morning. If Baal is a god in fact, let him fight his own battles and defend his own altar.”
At that time God’s Spirit came over Gideon and he blew the ram’s horn trumpet and the Abiezites came out, ready to follow him. He called others to battle with him against the Midianites, and they all came to fight with Gideon.You would have thought that all of this was enough to prove that God was on his side, but Gideon wanted to see more proof. He proceeded to take a fleece and put it on that threshing floor and told God if it was Him to make the fleece wet with dew and leave the floor around it dry. God did just that, and instead of Gideon going “wow” this really is God calling me, he asked Him to do it again, but do it the opposite way this time, with the fleece staying dry and the floor getting wet. Guess what? God did it!!
The next morning Gideon got up early and gathered his troops right there with him. Then God did something very unexpected. God told Gideon he had too many troops and he needed to cut some of them out of the battle force. God cut the army down to 300 and Gideon positioned his 300 in such a way that they could look down on the Midian Camp and there were so many against them that it looked like sand on a seashore. So many they couldn’t even count them. After seeing the pure volume of those against him Gideon went and told them to watch what he did and instructed them to blow their trumpets all at the same time and when they did that God made the Midianites fight and kill each other and put the Midianites on the run. Victory by a group of 300 men led by a man of God who believed in God’s power and fought in that power. That is what I call Wild at Heart. The children of Israel needed to believe and see God move again because they had taken their eyes off of God and they were living in weakness and disobedience. They needed to see someone who would stand for God and Gideon was God’s Man for that battle. Here are some necessary qualifications for being a Wild at Heart Man of God.
1. Called by God- Be someone in God’s sights that God has equipped to know how to follow Him in the weirdest of circumstances.
2. Positioned by God – Be someone who is in the right place at the right time for God to use them.
3. Powered by God – Be someone God has put His mantle of power on and empowered to lead and conquer.
4. Addressed by God – Be someone God has spoken to and has seen the hand of God moving in their life.
5. Protected by God – Be someone God is protecting through all of their actions.
6. Led by God – Be someone God is giving instructions to with who, what, when, and where.
7. Needed by God – Be someone willing to follow God’s Call no matter what it may do to your life.
8. Wild at Heart – Be a person of adventure and faith that doesn’t faint at the thought of standing alone with God and trusting His power to be enough.
9, Someone who hates the status quo – Be someone who won’t bow to the ways of the world, but fights it all along the way. Vowing to never give up.
We need more like Gideon. When? Now! As disciples, we have drifted away from God and let the gods of this world invade our relationship with the Great I Am. It is time to listen for God’s call and be Wild at Heart. Time to stand. Time to fight. Time to cut down some idols that we have put ahead of our God. The odds may seem against us, but they are never bigger than our God! Time to build a new altar that exalts Jesus Christ our Lord in our lives and see the gods of this world defeated and bowing before our God once again. Are you Wild at Heart? Are there any Gideons out there? If so, blow your trumpet. It’s time to do battle!!!
The Pilgrimage continues….
David Warren