Key Scripture: Judges 6–7
Translation Note: All quotes given are from the World English Bible (WEB), with Hebraic names restored.
Sometimes YHWH calls us to something that feels far beyond who we believe ourselves to be. Almost immediately, we begin making a list of our inadequacies: we are not strong enough, experienced enough, confident enough, or knowledgeable enough. We imagine that someone else would surely be a better choice, someone braver, stronger, more gifted, or more certain in their faith.
And then we meet Gideon.
When Gideon first appears in Scripture, he is not standing boldly before Israel or leading an army into battle. He is not overflowing with confidence or speaking courageous words of faith. He is hiding. Yet YHWH looks at this frightened, uncertain man and sees more than Gideon can see in himself. Gideon sees who he is in that moment; YHWH sees who he can become when he learns to trust Him.
That is what makes Gideon’s story so encouraging. YHWH’s call is not limited by the person we are when He first calls us. He knows what He can form within us as we walk with Him in faith and obedience.
One of the beautiful truths running through Gideon’s story is that YHWH does not require us to possess courage before He begins working through us. He meets us in our fear and teaches us courage along the way. He confronts the idols competing for our trust and removes the things we are tempted to rely upon instead of Him. Through it all, He patiently teaches us that faith is not about becoming confident in ourselves. Faith is learning to become confident in Him.
Israel’s Impossible Situation
Judges 6 opens with Israel in a desperate place. For seven years, the Midianites have oppressed them, repeatedly invading their land and devastating their crops. Life has become so difficult that the Israelites are hiding in caves and strongholds, and eventually their suffering drives them to cry out to YHWH.
We might expect YHWH to respond immediately by sending a deliverer, but first He sends a prophet. Before addressing the enemy surrounding Israel, YHWH addresses the spiritual condition within Israel. The prophet reminds the people of YHWH’s faithfulness: He brought them out of Egypt, rescued them from oppression, and gave them the land. Yet despite all He had done, they had not listened to Him. Their suffering under Midian is real, but Midian is not the deepest issue. Israel has forgotten the One who delivered them.
Israel wants YHWH to remove its enemy; YHWH wants Israel to return to Him. They are seeking relief, while He is pursuing restoration.
We can find ourselves doing something very similar. We cry out, “YHWH, please change my circumstances,” when perhaps He is inviting us to look more closely at what He wants to change within us. This does not mean our circumstances do not matter to Him. Rather, His purpose may reach deeper than simply making our lives easier. We often ask for deliverance from the difficulty; YHWH may use the difficulty to bring about transformation within us.
And into this broken nation, YHWH chooses an unlikely man. His name is Gideon.
The God Who Meets Us in Hiding
When we first meet Gideon, he is threshing wheat in a winepress so the Midianites will not see him. It is a striking picture: the man whom YHWH is about to use to deliver Israel is hiding. Fear has affected not only how Gideon feels, but how he lives.
Fear can do the same thing to us. We may never hide in a winepress, but we can still build hiding places of our own. We hide from conversations we know we need to have, responsibilities we are afraid to accept, and opportunities that require us to step beyond what feels safe. We hide behind insecurity, excuses, and even familiar descriptions of ourselves: “I’m just not that kind of person.” Sometimes those words may be true. But sometimes they are simply another way of saying, “I am afraid to take the next step.”
Then YHWH meets Gideon in his hiding place.
The angel of YHWH addresses him as a mighty warrior and tells him that YHWH is with him. The greeting almost seems strange. Gideon does not look courageous. He does not feel powerful. Nothing in his present circumstances suggests that this frightened man hiding from Midian will soon stand against Israel’s oppressors.
But YHWH sees beyond the hiding place. He knows what Gideon does not yet understand: Gideon will not need to become strong enough on his own. What he needs is to learn that YHWH is with him.
This is not a lesson in self-confidence. YHWH is not telling Gideon to look within himself and discover his hidden greatness. Gideon’s transformation will come as his attention shifts away from his own inadequacy and toward YHWH’s sufficiency. His courage will not grow because he becomes increasingly impressed with himself. It will grow because he becomes increasingly convinced that YHWH can be trusted.
Gideon immediately voices the question that has probably been troubling him for years. If YHWH is with Israel, why has this happened? Where are the wonders their fathers had told them about? Gideon feels as though YHWH has abandoned them. That is remarkably honest. And Scripture doesn’t hide Gideon’s questions. There are seasons when our circumstances seem completely incompatible with the promises of YHWH. We read about His faithfulness. We sing about His goodness. We tell other people that He is near. And then quietly, somewhere inside us, we wonder:
- “Then why am I here?”
- “Why hasn’t this changed?”
- “Why hasn’t that prayer been answered?”
- “Where are the mighty works I’ve heard about?”
Gideon’s faith is not born because he never questions. It grows as he learns to trust YHWH in the middle of his questions. And YHWH’s response is fascinating. He sends Gideon.
“But I Am the Wrong Person”
Gideon’s response reveals where his attention immediately goes: “How can I deliver Israel?” He looks at his family, his position within that family, and his own apparent insignificance. Gideon measures the calling by his qualifications and quickly concludes that he does not measure up.
YHWH does not respond by trying to improve Gideon’s opinion of himself. He does not say:
“You are stronger than you think.”
“You need to believe in yourself.”
“You have had the heart of a warrior all along.”
Instead, YHWH gives Gideon something far greater than self-confidence:
“Surely I will be with you.”
That is the foundation upon which Gideon’s courage will be built. The question is no longer, “Am I strong enough?” or “Do I have what it takes?” The question becomes, “Is YHWH with me?”
This changes everything. Gideon is looking at the calling and then looking at himself, comparing the size of one with the weakness of the other. YHWH invites him to look somewhere else entirely. Gideon sees everything he lacks; YHWH points him toward everything he needs. Not greater status. Not greater natural ability. Not greater confidence in himself.
His presence.
And sometimes our awareness of weakness is not an obstacle to faith at all. It may be the very thing that teaches us to stop depending upon ourselves and begin depending more fully upon Him.
Before the Battlefield Comes the Altar
But before Gideon ever confronts Midian, YHWH gives him another assignment. There is an altar to Baal in Gideon’s own household, and YHWH tells him to tear it down.
That order matters. Gideon’s first battle is not against the enemy in the valley; it is against the idolatry at home. Before YHWH sends him into a public confrontation, He calls him to an act of private obedience. Before Gideon can become an instrument of deliverance for Israel, he must deal with the false worship that has taken root among his own people.
We can easily overlook that same work in our own lives. We want YHWH to address the things causing us difficulty, to solve the problem, mend the relationship, open the door, remove the obstacle, and calm the storm. We want Him to deal with our Midian, while sometimes hoping He will leave our Baal alone.
But YHWH loves us too deeply to deal only with the enemies around us while ignoring the idols within us. Sometimes, before He changes our circumstances, He draws our attention toward a place of misplaced trust, compromised obedience, or divided loyalty and gently but firmly says, “First, this altar needs to come down.”
What Are We Trusting Besides YHWH
An idol is not merely an ancient statue. At its heart, idolatry is about misplaced allegiance, worship, and trust. Anything that begins occupying the place belonging to YHWH needs to be confronted.
- Sometimes that can be approval.
- Sometimes money.
- Sometimes security.
- Sometimes reputation.
- Sometimes comfort.
- Sometimes control.
And here’s a difficult possibility: The thing we are most afraid of losing may reveal something about where we have placed our trust.
Gideon cannot lead Israel toward freedom while leaving untouched the very idolatry that has helped keep the nation in bondage. The altar must come down, and Gideon obeys.
But notice how he obeys. He does not tear down the altar in a sudden surge of fearless confidence. He does it at night because he is afraid. And that detail makes Gideon’s story beautifully honest. He is afraid, and he obeys anyway.
We sometimes assume that courage begins when fear ends, but Gideon shows us something different. Biblical courage does not always mean that fear has disappeared. Sometimes it simply means that our desire to obey YHWH has become greater than our willingness to surrender to fear.
Gideon is still learning. He is still afraid. But he is no longer allowing fear to have the final word. With every act of obedience, YHWH is leading him another step out of hiding and another step toward faith.
God Doesn’t Shame Gideon for Growing Slowly
One of the things I find most encouraging about Gideon’s story is the patience YHWH shows toward him. Gideon needs reassurance more than once. His fears do not immediately disappear, and his faith does not become unwavering overnight. He asks for signs and eventually puts out the fleece, revealing just how much uncertainty he is still carrying. While we should be careful not to make Gideon’s fleece a formula for determining YHWH’s will, we should pay attention to what the story reveals about the character of YHWH. He is remarkably patient with a servant who is still learning to trust Him.
Gideon’s faith is being formed gradually. Step by step, YHWH is teaching this frightened man that He can be trusted. The same man who once hid from Midian in a winepress is slowly learning to stand where YHWH calls him to stand.
That can be deeply encouraging when our own faith feels unfinished. Perhaps you wish you were stronger by now. Perhaps you are frustrated that certain fears still trouble you, or you compare yourself with other believers whose faith seems much more confident than your own. Do not mistake growing faith for failed faith. The fact that you are still learning to trust YHWH does not mean He has abandoned you. Gideon’s story reminds us that spiritual growth is often a journey, and YHWH is patient with us as He teaches us, one step at a time, to trust Him more deeply.
Then YHWH Makes the Situation Worse
By Judges 7, Gideon has an army. Finally, after all his uncertainty and fear, there is something visible he can depend upon. Perhaps the sight of all those men gave him a measure of reassurance. “Maybe we can actually do this.”
And then YHWH begins reducing the army.
It seems completely backwards. Gideon’s enemy is already too powerful, and yet YHWH’s answer is to make Gideon’s forces weaker, not stronger. But YHWH is teaching Gideon the same lesson He has been teaching him from the beginning: his confidence must not rest in what he can see, what he possesses, or what he can accomplish in his own strength.
Eventually, only three hundred men remain. YHWH has stripped away the very thing Gideon might have been tempted to trust, leaving no room for Israel to claim the victory as its own. Once again, Gideon must confront the question at the heart of his journey: Will he trust what appears sufficient to human eyes, or will he trust YHWH?
The man who once asked, “How can I possibly do this?” is learning the answer.
Not because you are strong enough. Because YHWH is with you.
This part of Gideon’s story can be difficult because we naturally associate YHWH’s provision with receiving more: more resources, more opportunities, more security, more clarity. But sometimes His preparation comes through subtraction rather than addition. Sometimes He allows what we have leaned upon to become smaller so that our dependence upon Him can become greater.
Gideon had an army he could see, count, and depend upon. But YHWH was teaching him that his security could not rest in numbers. If the army became Gideon’s source of confidence, then the gift could begin to take the place of the Giver. So YHWH reduced what Gideon could rely upon until the source of Israel’s victory would be unmistakable.
Sometimes we pray, “YHWH, make me stronger. Give me more. Help me feel more prepared.” And perhaps His response is, “I am going to teach you that I am enough.”
We ask Him to increase our strength. He teaches us to depend upon His.
Strength in Weakness
Gideon’s story is not an isolated example. This pattern runs throughout Scripture. Moses sees his inability to speak. David appears hopelessly mismatched against Goliath. Jeremiah believes he is too young. Yeshua chooses ordinary people as His disciples. Paul eventually describes the same truth when he speaks of divine power reaching its fullness in human weakness. Again and again, Scripture shifts our attention away from what people lack and toward the sufficiency and faithfulness of YHWH.
That should encourage every person who has ever whispered, “I can’t do this.” Maybe you cannot. Maybe the task really is beyond your natural strength, experience, courage, or ability. But perhaps that is not the most important question. The question is not simply, “Do I have what it takes?” but rather, “What might YHWH accomplish through a person who trusts Him enough to obey?”
Our weakness does not have to be the end of the story. Sometimes it becomes the very place where we learn most deeply that His strength, not ours, was always the point.
YHWH Gives Gideon One More Encouragement
One of the most tender moments in Gideon’s story comes as he approaches the Midianite camp. After everything Gideon has experienced with YHWH, he is still afraid. He has torn down Baal’s altar. He has called Israel together. He has watched YHWH reduce his army. Again and again, he has taken another step forward in obedience, yet fear continues to accompany him.
And YHWH knows.
He knows Gideon’s courage is still growing, so He graciously gives His frightened servant another reassurance. YHWH does not confuse Gideon’s lingering fear with failure. He meets Gideon in his weakness and gives him what he needs to take the next step.
Perhaps that is one of the most comforting lessons in Gideon’s story. YHWH knows exactly where our faith is strong and where it still trembles. He knows the fears we conceal from others, the thoughts we never speak aloud, and the anxieties we carry quietly within us. Nothing about our frailty surprises Him.
And still He calls.
Still He reassures.
Still He leads.
Still He is faithful.
As Gideon approaches the enemy camp, he overhears something that reassures him of what YHWH is about to do. And Gideon’s response tells us just how much has changed within him: He worships.
The man we first met hiding in a winepress is now bowing before YHWH on the edge of the enemy camp. The Midianites have not disappeared. The battle has not been fought. The army is still only three hundred men. Nothing around Gideon has changed yet, but something within Gideon has. Fear once dominated his perspective; now faith is teaching him to see his circumstances through the faithfulness of YHWH.
Sometimes that is what transformation looks like in our lives as well. The problem may remain. The diagnosis may still frighten us. The relationship may still be difficult, and the future may remain uncertain. Faith does not always give us certainty about what will happen next. It gives us confidence in the One who will be with us whatever happens next.
So we learn to say: “I don’t know what is going to happen. I don’t know how this will unfold. But I know who YHWH is. I know He is faithful. And I know He is with me.”
That is the faith Gideon has been learning all along.
The Battle Belongs to YHWH
Then Gideon and his three hundred men move forward. From a human perspective, they have been reduced to an almost impossible position. Yet this is exactly where YHWH has been leading Gideon. One by one, the things he might have relied upon have been stripped away until his confidence can rest in only one place: YHWH Himself.
Looking back, we can see that Gideon’s greatest battle was never merely with Midian. The deeper struggle was learning whether he would trust YHWH when everything around him gave him reasons to be afraid.
The winepress confronted his fear. The altar called him to obedience. The fleece revealed his uncertainty. The shrinking army stripped away his dependence upon human strength. And the battlefield became the place where all those lessons came together.
YHWH had been building something in Gideon with every fearful step, every act of obedience, and every moment of reassurance. Faith.
Think back to the Gideon we met at the beginning of the story. He is threshing wheat in hiding, carefully trying to keep the Midianites from seeing him. Fear has shaped the way he lives.
Now look at him again.
He is standing with only three hundred men, preparing to face the very enemy he once hid from. The contrast is remarkable. How does a man move from hiding in a winepress to marching toward Midian?
Not because Gideon suddenly discovered some hidden reservoir of courage within himself. YHWH patiently taught him faith.
That is one of the beautiful lessons of Gideon’s story. Courage is not necessarily something we either possess or lack. Sometimes courage is formed as we repeatedly experience the faithfulness of YHWH. Gideon learns something about YHWH, then takes a step. YHWH proves faithful, and Gideon takes another.
Step by step, obedience by obedience, Gideon discovers that the One who called him can be trusted.
The man hiding from Midian did not need to discover how strong he was. He needed to discover how faithful YHWH is. And that discovery changed the way he faced his fear.
Maybe You’re Still in the Winepress
Maybe you are hearing Gideon’s story and thinking, “But I’m not standing on the battlefield. I’m still back in the winepress.”
Then remember this: YHWH knows exactly where to find people who are hiding. He did not wait for Gideon to become courageous before calling him. He did not stand outside the winepress and demand that Gideon conquer his fear before He would work with him. He met Gideon where he was, in the middle of his fear, and began patiently teaching him to trust.
Perhaps the same is true for you. YHWH may not be asking you to face the whole battlefield today. He may simply be asking for the next step of obedience. Have the conversation. Offer forgiveness. Repent where repentance is needed. Let go of what you have been clinging to. Tell the truth. Stop running. Tear down the altar. Entrust the uncertainty to Him.
You do not have to know how the entire journey will unfold before you begin walking. You do not need today’s courage for tomorrow’s battle. You need today’s faith for today’s obedience. Gideon did not travel from the winepress to the battlefield in one great leap of faith. He got there one obedient step at a time.
Maybe You’re at the Altar
Perhaps the battle before you is not really the first place YHWH wants to work. Maybe there is an altar closer to home, something you have tolerated, protected, relied upon, or allowed to occupy a place in your heart that belongs to Him.
You may be asking, “YHWH, why haven’t You given me victory?” while He is lovingly asking something even deeper of you: “Will you give Me your heart?”
Gideon’s story reminds us that public courage was preceded by private obedience. Before Gideon stood against Midian, he first had to tear down Baal. And perhaps the courage you are asking YHWH to give you will begin the same way, not with one dramatic act of bravery, but with one quiet act of obedience in the place where only He sees.
Maybe Your Army Is Shrinking
Perhaps you are walking through a season in which everything seems to be getting smaller. The resources are fewer than you expected. The opportunities seem limited. The plan you thought YHWH was unfolding no longer looks anything like you imagined. And perhaps you are wondering, “YHWH, I thought You were preparing me. Why does it feel as though I am losing the very things I thought I needed?”
Remember Gideon’s three hundred. Sometimes having less does not mean YHWH has left us. Sometimes it becomes an invitation to discover more deeply where our confidence has been resting. Gideon watched his army become smaller and smaller until there was no possibility of mistaking Israel’s victory for something accomplished through human strength alone.
Perhaps, then, weakness is not always the end of the story. Sometimes the places where our own strength feels most inadequate become the places where we learn most clearly to depend upon His. When there is less for us to boast in, there may be more room for YHWH’s faithfulness to become unmistakable.
Faith Isn’t the Absence of Fear
If Gideon’s story teaches us anything about courage, it is that faith and fear can sometimes exist in the same trembling heart. Gideon was afraid repeatedly. His transformation did not happen because fear suddenly disappeared. It happened because, little by little, he learned that fear did not have to decide whether he would obey.
Sometimes faith does not sound like, “I’m not afraid.” Sometimes faith sounds like:
“I am afraid, but YHWH is with me.”
“I don’t understand, but I will obey.”
“I don’t feel qualified, but He called me.”
“I don’t have enough, but He is enough.”
“I cannot see where this road is leading, but I know the One who is leading me.”
That is courage born from faith. It is not pretending that fear does not exist. It is knowing that fear does not get the final word because our confidence rests in Someone greater.
Come Out of the Winepress
Imagine someone walking up to Gideon as he threshed wheat in that winepress and saying, “Before long, you will stand against Midian with only three hundred men.” Gideon probably could not have imagined it. The frightened man in the winepress could not yet see the courageous leader he was becoming. But YHWH could.
And perhaps that is something you need to remember about your own journey. You may see only the fear you still carry, while YHWH sees the faith He is forming through every act of obedience. You may see your weakness, while He knows how deeply that weakness can teach you to depend upon His strength. You may see an impossible situation, while He sees another opportunity to demonstrate His faithfulness. You see where you are. YHWH knows where He is leading you.
So do not despise the winepress. Do not assume that because you are afraid today, you will always be ruled by that fear. And do not imagine that YHWH must wait until you become stronger before He can work through you. Gideon’s entire story tells us otherwise.
YHWH met Gideon in hiding. He confronted the idols close to home. He taught him obedience while he was still afraid. He reassured him when his faith trembled. He stripped away the numbers Gideon might have trusted. And step by step, YHWH taught a frightened man to trust Him.
That is the real transformation.
The great truth of Gideon’s story is not, “Look how strong Gideon became.” It is, “Look how faithful YHWH was.”
So when you face what lies ahead, resist the temptation to begin with the size of the enemy, the insufficiency of your resources, or the weakness you see within yourself. Begin with YHWH.
Who called you? Who is with you? Who has proven faithful?
And then take the next obedient step.
You do not have to become fearless before YHWH can use you. Courage grows as frightened people learn, one step at a time, that the One who called them can be trusted.
God doesn’t wait for courage. He creates it.
YHWH bless you and keep you; YHWH make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; YHWH lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26
Authored by:
Pamela Vallevand
Founder & Ministry Director
Whole Word Ministries