Audrey Hill

#6. God senses Gideon's fear and lets Gideon hear his enemy tell another about a small round loaf of barley bread tumbling down into their camp. He dreams that it strikes the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed. When the friend responded that it could be only the sword of Gideon, the Israelite and God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands. This gave Gideon the courage he needed and he worshiped God. This encouraged and strengthened Gideon to hear this from his enemies own mouth. I pray that God will do this to Iraq. That he will put fear into them so that they will easily be defeated.

#5. Why lappers over kneelers? Lappers are more alert - they are aware of their surroundings and are always ready for battle. -- But then it could have been that God was just looking for the smallest number of men in a group. God performed a miracle that day by letting 300 men (with torches and trumpets) defeat 135,000 men or more. God found that Gideon trusted Him enough to obey Him even when things don't seem to make sense. That is some very powerful faith. That kind of faith is priceless.

#4. So many times we want it to make sense sto us before we do something. We want to do God's will but we are afraid of failing, and, yes, we are afraid of what the world will say about us. As gripofhisgrace said - "We forget how big God is."

If a big army had defeated the Midinites - they would have bragged about how they did it. God would not have gotten the Glory. God wanted them to know for sure that He had delivered them. God promised Gideon that he would save him and deliver the Midianites into his hand. Gideon trusted God. With God all things are possible. Without Him - where would we be? God was going to work a miracle and He wanted Israel to realize that.

When we ask God for a sign about something we are unsure of - it is just making sure God is in it. I think it is good to hear from God. I don't think that there is a danger in doing that. There may be a danger in asking God to prove himself.

I think that Gideon put the fleece out to make sure that God would save Israel by Gideon's hand. Gideon did not have very much confidence in himself and wanted God reassurance. I don't think it was unbelief - he just wanted to make sure they would win. It didn't seem to make God mad because of the test.

1. God tells Giddeon to tear down the Baal altar and Asherah pole because the people are worshiping false gods. The positive thing that he is to do to the false gods place is to build a proper kind of altar to the Lord on the top. The Asherah wood was used to offer the second bull as a burnt offering. The risks are very high. This is the people's god and they are not going to like it when they find out that it has been destroyed. Giddeon does this at night so they won't see who did it. But they find out and then want to kill him. His Dad takes up for his son. He said that if Baal was such a great god let him take care of himself. His dad said that he didnl't know about him but as for his house - they would serve the Lord. I do not think it was a sign of weakness. He knew God was with him and so he did it at night. These people were related to him in some way.

Hello everyone, My name is Audrey Hill. I live in Brandon, Mississippi. I have two grown daughters and they each have two daughters. This is my first time to do a bible study on-line and I am enjoying it very much. I have worked at the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board for 25 years and enjoy it very much.

4. God told Gideon that He would surely be with him and that they would strike down the Midianites together. Yes, this applies to our lives as christians. We only need to trust God that He will be with us in all that we do. He cares about us and wants to help us. All we have to do is ask. Phillippians 4:13 is a NT passage that teaches the same principles. My prayer: Heavenly Father show me what you want me to do and give me the strength to do this.

3. God saw Gideon as a mighty warrior. Gideon saw himself as the least in his family and his clan as the weakest in Manasseh. God's self-perception was most accurate. When Gideon made an offering to God by preparing a young goat and unleavened bread - he was surprised and frightened when it was consumed by fire. Maybe this helped Gideon to realize that this was God and that He was with him and gave him the strength he needed. God asks us to do things sometimes and it's not as big as fighting a battle - but we don't have the faith in ourselves that we should. We feel that we are too weak to do what God wants us to do (just like Gideon).

The reason for the oppressed state is because they worshipped the gods of the Amorites. They broke the commandment "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." They would be good for a while but then went back to their wicked ways. we are pretty much the same way. We are good for a while but drift back to our old habits.

Gideon wanted to know where were the miracles that they had heard about. They had not seen any and wanted to know why they were slaves to the Midianites. It was their choice to turn their backs on God. They did not obey him when He told them to have no other gods but Him. They would do good for a while - but then they would turn to other gods. We blame God because we can't see our own faults. The danger is - if we turn from God - He no longer protects us or hears us. The sin is in the way and keeps us from God.