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Fear is a powerful
emotional force—it can literally scare us to death. Positively, fear can
keep us from taking unnecessary risks. Negatively, fear can paralyze us—it
can keep us from walking through doors God has opened. Even when we know God
is with us, the "fear" of the unknown may be present. But fear can always be
overcome by power, love, and self-discipline, all of which come from God (2
Timothy 1:7). "Butterflies in the stomach" are normal, but they should not
rule the day.
Don't let what you don't know make you afraid. Let Who you do
know give you courage to step through God's open doors.
Judges 6:11-40
11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that
belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in
a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.
12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with
you, mighty warrior."
13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this
happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about
when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the
LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."
14 The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save
Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?"
15 "But Lord, " Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest
in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."
16 The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the
Midianites together."
17 Gideon replied, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign
that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come
back and bring my offering and set it before you."
And the LORD said, "I will wait until you return."
19 Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made
bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he
brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
20 The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread,
place them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And Gideon did so.
21 With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD
touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock,
consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared.
22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed,
"Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!"
23 But the LORD said to him, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to
die."
24 So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is
Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
25 That same night the LORD said to him, "Take the second bull from your
father's herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar to
Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
26 Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this
height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the
second bull as a burnt offering."
27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But
because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at
night rather than in the daytime.
28 In the morning when the men of the town got up, there was Baal's altar,
demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull
sacrificed on the newly built altar!
29 They asked each other, "Who did this?"
When they carefully investigated, they were told, "Gideon son of Joash did
it."
30 The men of the town demanded of Joash, "Bring out your son. He must die,
because he has broken down Baal's altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside
it."
31 But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, "Are you going to
plead Baal's cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall
be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself
when someone breaks down his altar." 32 So that day they called Gideon "Jerub-Baal,"
saying, "Let Baal contend with him," because he broke down Baal's altar.
33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined
forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.
34 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet,
summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.
35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also
into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.
36 Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have
promised- 37 look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If
there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know
that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said."
38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed
the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one
more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the
fleece dry and the ground covered with dew."
40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was
covered with dew.
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