Let God Be the Hero of Your Story
Sean Flanagan · Tidal Church Miramichi · August 30, 2026 · Heroes of the Faith series
Sean Flanagan looks at Gideon in Judges 6 to 8 and Hebrews 11. God chose a weak, fearful man and a tiny army so that salvation would clearly come from Him, and He is patient, gracious and forgiving even of Gideon's later failures.
More from Sean Flanagan · The Heroes of the Faith series
Topics: Faith, Grace, Forgiveness
Transcript
[0:00] This is Hebrews 11 starting in verse 32. I really love that first verse. I do not have time to tell. I don't have time. We just don't have time to get into it, but I would say we do actually have time this morning.
[0:45] We've got about 25, 30 minutes of time, and we're going to be looking at a guy named Gideon. This is our second-to-last week going through chapter 11 of Hebrews, and we're going to look at a guy named Gideon whose weakness was turned to strength. And when you think of Gideon, you know, I don't know if you know or can imagine what I look like in grade 12, but just imagine me like 50 pounds lighter. I was just like a scrawny, like, gangly little guy, and if you were to picture Gideon, that's kind of the picture you want to have in your head. He wasn't a strong, mighty guy. He was weak. There was a weakness to him, and God chose him to do something incredible.
[1:32] And we've got to think, you know, why, of all the people, of all the people God could have chosen, why would he have chosen this guy, this weak guy? And maybe, you know, we can relate to that feeling of being in over our heads and in a situation maybe in our jobs or our relationships, maybe just in our health, where we feel in over our head. We feel weak. We say, God, how can my weak weakness be turned to strength in this situation? So that's what we're going to be looking at. And so if you do have your Bibles, you can turn with me to Judges 6. This is where the story of Gideon is. It will be up on the screen, but it's always awesome if you have your Bibles to read through with me. We've got a lot of text to go through, so we're going to start in Judges 6, starting in verse 1.
[2:31] God gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves, and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel. Neither sheep, nor cattle, nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels. They invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.
[3:17] So the situation for the Israelites is really bad. It's a bad situation. If you can imagine the way it's describing the Midianites is that they're across the river. You know, you can almost imagine the Midianites like people from Newcastle or something. And, you know, I know we got people from Newcastle here and I'm glad you're here, right? But it just kind of helps to get the geography. So the Israelites are like people from Nelson, right? Or Chatham. And the Midianites, they're the people from Newcastle. And every time somebody from Nelson is going to the grocery store, every time they're out walking their dog, somebody from Newcastle comes over and just like swarms of them, thousands and thousands of them, and are destroying everything. It says their camels. They're like locusts. There's thousands of them. They're uncountable. So it's a big problem.
[4:03] It's a big problem. It's such a bad situation that they're out hiding in mountains and caves. It's a big problem. And so what's God's solution going to be? There's a big problem. There's a big army. What's God's solution? It's got to be a big solution, right? He's got to get a mighty warrior or a big army or, you know, he's got to send in the tanks, send in the angels or something, right? That would be a good strategy. God is going to choose the weakest guy. He's going to go to the weakest family and look, who's like the weakest guy in this family? I'm going to choose you. You're the one who's going to free the Israelites from Midian.
[5:07] When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, the Lord is with you, mighty warrior. Mighty warrior. We're going to see he's not that much of a mighty warrior. Why is God calling him a mighty warrior? Verse 13, pardon me, my Lord, Gideon replied, but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt? But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian. 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?
[5:54] Pardon me, my Lord, Gideon replied, but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family. My clan is the weakest and I'm the least in my family. The Lord answered, I will be with you and you will strike down all the Midianites leaving none alive. One of my favorite movies, and I probably talk about it too much, is Lord of the Rings, right? And if you're here, if you're attending this church, I recommend just watch those movies. You'll understand what I'm talking about a lot more. But in the Lord of the Rings, right, it's this great fantasy epic written by J. R. R. Tolkien, a Christian author.
[6:41] And there's this evil, evil guy named Sauron and he has a plan to destroy the whole universe, right? The whole world, right? He wants to conquer everything. He's got orcs and goblins and trolls and all that. And who gets chosen to be the key person in the defeat of Sauron? Is it a mighty warrior? Is it an elf or a dwarf? Is it a mighty wizard? No, it's none of those things. It's a hobbit, a hobbit. And if you don't know what Lord of the Rings is, a hobbit, they're like, you know, they're like three foot five. They're just these little people. They're not very brave. They're not very smart. They're not very strong. And for some reason, it's a hobbit that gets chosen to defeat Sauron and defeat the great enemy. And Gideon is kind of like a hobbit.
[7:34] And we have to ask ourselves, why did God choose a hobbit? Why did God choose Gideon, the weakest guy, right, to defeat this big army of the Midianites? Why? And another question we could ask is, what do you think Gideon's response was? Are you sure? Are you sure you got the right guy? I don't know. Did you mean my older brother? Really me? And what happens next in the story, I'll just summarize it for you, is Gideon asks for a sign. He's like, can you give me a sign? Can you prove this to me that it's really me you want? And so the angel of the Lord says, yeah, go get a sacrifice and offering and bring it to me. So he does that. And the angel of the Lord touches his staff to the offering and immediately it goes up into flames.
[8:26] And so Gideon's like, okay, this is really the angel of the Lord. This is really God's angel. I've seen it with my own eyes. You know, Gideon, still probably a little nervous, not really trusting. So the angel of the Lord says, all right, I want you to go into town and destroy the altar to Baal. There's this statue in the middle of the town to this kind of demon. And I want you to go and destroy it. He's like, okay. And so he actually waits until the middle of the night. It says he waits because he's afraid. He's afraid of the people he goes in the middle of the night and he tears down the statue. And in the morning, the townsfolk, they wake up, they say, who did this?
[9:11] How dare they? Who was it? And they were able to trace it back. They say, oh, it's Gideon. We got to kill that guy. But then they keep on talking and Gideon's dad pipes up and he says, well, you know, Baal, he's supposed to be a God. And if he is a God, can't he defend himself? He said, well, yeah, I guess he should be able to defend himself. And so they say, well, okay, we'll let Baal defend himself and we'll let Gideon go. And so this is two times now, two signs that God has given to Gideon saying, yeah, I'm choosing you. I want you for this task. I'm not making a mistake. I want you. But then it says the people from Newcastle come over the river, the people from Midian, they come over, right? And there's thousands of them and they're starting to prepare for battle.
[9:59] And so Gideon, again, starts to have fear, this doubt, and he's nervous and he asks for another sign. And let's read together. In chapter six, let's go down to verse 36. Gideon said to God, if you will save Israel by my hand, as you have promised, look, look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. I'm going to take this piece of wool and I'm going to put it on the floor here. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said. And that is what happened.
[10:45] Gideon rose early the next day and he squeezed the fleece and rung out the dew, a bowl full of water. Three times now, God has shown Gideon, I'm choosing you. I'm going to be with you. You can trust me. Three signs is very gracious of God, right? Surely now, surely now Gideon has got to get it. Okay, all right. He's with me. Third time's the charm. Then Gideon said, verse 39, do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.
[11:31] That night, God did so. Only the fleece was dry. All the ground was covered with dew. How patient is God? He's very patient with Gideon, right? Again and again, Gideon is saying, you know, are you sure? Are you sure? Really me? And God's saying, yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you. He's giving him signs and it's easy for us to criticize Gideon. That's silly Gideon. He should have known. Come on, right? Four times, four signs. I'm sure glad I never act like that. I'm sure glad that I always trust God the first time. Anytime God asks me anything, I always do it. Not always, right?
[12:19] There are situations that God puts us in and we can say, God, are you sure? Are you sure it's me? You want me to do this? You want me to do this job? Maybe something at your work is very difficult. God, have you really placed me here to do this thing? Maybe it's a relationship you're in and you're thinking, God, are you sure I have the power to make this relationship work? Are you sure about this? Maybe it's a child that you're raising and you're up in the middle of the night and he's crying and you don't know why.
[13:08] And he said, God, are you sure I have what it takes to do this? Are you sure I have the power to do this? God says, if I've called you to do something, I'll equip you. I'll empower you to do it. If I put you in this place, I'm going to give you the power to do it. People have been asking, how's it going? How's it going with James? How's it going raising the baby? And it's good. It's going really well. Some days are a little bit easier than others, but generally, I'd say we're enjoying it. We feel it is a little gift from God. And I say that to some people. I say, oh, well, watch out.
[13:55] Watch out when he turns one month, you know, that's where it really, you know, or three months, right? Or when they start teething, watch out, watch out, right? I just kind of smile and nod. Yeah, yeah, I know. I know it's tough. I know it's tough. But what I want to say, and I don't say it. I don't say it, but I want to say, do you know the God I serve? Do you know who he is? He's the God who provides power. He's the God who equips you to do something, right? I know it's going to be difficult. I know that the baby's going to be crying and screaming, and we don't have enough sleep, but I trust if God has called me to do something, he'll give me the power to do it. If God calls you to do something, he'll equip you. He'll give you the power, right?
[14:40] And that's the lesson that Gideon had to learn. And so Gideon gets together an army, right? So the Midianites have come over, they've crossed the river, and Gideon gets together a group of soldiers to take them on. And it's not as many. He doesn't have as many people as the Midianites, right? They're really outnumbered. And so what's God's strategy? What's God's big strategy to take on the Midianites? Surely it's got to be sending the reinforcements, right? Sending the angels, sending the tanks, right? Sending the elves or something, right? Like, let's get more people here because we've got a big army we've got to take. So let's see what God does. Judges chapter 7.
[15:50] Did I hear that right? Yeah, you've got too many. So God wants to reduce their numbers. Now announce to the army, anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mt. Gilead. So 22,000 men left, while 10,000 remained. Okay. God, all right, you got our numbers down, right? 22,000 have left. 10,000, now we're really outnumbered. This is bad, right? Okay, we've got to trust you, God. We've got to trust that you're going to deliver us here. All right, we're ready. What's your strategy? Verse 4.
[16:58] There the Lord told him, separate those who lapped the water with their tongues as a dog lapsed from those who kneeled down to drink. 300 of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The Lord said to Gideon, with the 300 men that lapped, I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home. So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home, but kept the 300 who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others. What's the deal, God? What's going on? You know, why? Why is God doing this? Why would he choose the weakest guy from the weakest family, the hobbit, right?
[17:46] And then he gets this army together and he says, nope, too many, too many. You got to win those. You got to get rid of those guys. Get rid of those guys. 300 against tens of thousands. Perfect. That's just the kind of numbers God likes. Why? Why? Because God says, he said, you know, if you had all those men, you'd think you did it. You guys would take credit. You would say, well, we did that in our own strength. And God is trying to show them, he's trying to show us that we don't have the power to save ourselves. We don't have the power to save ourselves. And he's trying to make that very, very clear to Gideon, very, very clear to the Israelites. I'm going to pick the weakest guy and I'm going to make you guys just 300 people to show you salvation comes from the Lord.
[18:38] The salvation comes from the Lord. It doesn't come from your own strength. It doesn't come from your own goodness, your own power. It comes from God. He's the one who saves us. And I hear people sometimes who, you know, don't want to become a Christian. And they say, I just, I can't do it. I just don't think I can pull it off. I just don't, you know, I just can't go to church. I couldn't say all the prayers and I just couldn't be good enough. I just don't think I have what it takes. It just seems too hard, right? And I would say to that, you're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. You don't have what it takes. I don't have what it takes. And in fact, that's the first step in becoming a Christian, right?
[19:26] That's the first step is to say, God, I don't have what it takes. I don't have the power to save myself. I don't have the power to live the way you want me to live. I admit. I admit it. So if you feel like you don't have what it takes, good news. You're right. You're right. You don't have what it takes. That's the first step. But the second step is saying, God, I trust you that you have what it takes. That salvation comes from you, right? That is why God sent Jesus to do what we couldn't do, right? That I couldn't live a perfect life. I couldn't do all those things. But God sent Jesus to live the life that I should have lived.
[20:16] And to die the death that I should have died. He did what I couldn't. So that now I can have salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Through his sacrifice, his blood for the forgiveness of my sins. I just have to admit. I just have to admit I don't have what it takes. And that salvation comes from the Lord. And we'll see here that salvation comes from the Lord. And so what God does is he has his 300 men and he gives Gideon a strategy. He says divide them up into three groups and give every man a trumpet, a jar of clay and a torch. And I want you to go and sneak down into the camp of the Midianites in the middle of the night.
[21:06] And what you're going to do is you're going to break the jars. You're going to light the torches and you're going to blow the trumpets. And the Midianites are going to wake up in the middle of the night and think that they're surrounded by thousands and thousands of people. So he gives them this trick that they're going to play on the Midianites. So let's read in chapter seven verse 19. Verse 19 says Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch just after they had changed the guard. So the middle of the night they blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets. They were to blow. They shouted a sword for the Lord and for Gideon.
[21:55] While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran crying out as they fled. When the 300 trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their own swords. So the Midianites wake up in the middle of the night. They hear all this crashing and the trumpets and the shouting. And they see the torches and they just start to panic and they just are hacking and slashing one another. And the story goes on that they run away and other Israelites come in and rout them and they totally defeat them and they kick them out. They kick out the Midianites. I think it's a good illustration for us as a church. We're not going to get swords and shields and we're not going to march over to Newcastle.
[22:42] That's not our strategy now. But we do want to share God's love with people in this region. And I know that sometimes that can feel overwhelming. How in the world can we share God's love with the thousands and thousands of people in this area? And there's maybe about 50 people here this morning. How are we ever going to make an impact? How can we ever make a dent in this city or this region? How can we do this? God loves using small groups of people to do amazing things. He loves taking a group of 300, a group of 50 and doing incredible miracles through them.
[23:30] And I really do believe that if we're faithful to God over the years together, we continue to listen to God, obey Him. We're going to see a victory. We are going to see a victory. We're going to see lives transformed in this city and in this region. Just 50 people. This is the place where God... I really do believe that we can have this insecurity and just think, oh, we're only 50 people. God really use us. No, this is exactly the sort of place God loves using. He says, oh, only 50? Perfect. That's a perfect place for my power to be made known. Only 50? I'm going to show you what kind of impact you guys can have.
[24:15] So I just want to encourage you. I want to encourage us that God can use us. God loves using a small group of people to make a big difference. And I wish that that was the end of the story. I wish that that was the end of the story and said, wow, they defeated the Midianites and it was all good, right? And Gideon, he just rode off into the sunset and everything was perfect. It was a rags to riches story. He just started out as this little guy. He saved the day and it was really, really good, right? Okay. But that's not the end of the story. And I was almost hesitant about whether or not to continue. And I'll just kind of summarize what happens next. But if you were to look in chapter 8, you'd think, oh, boy, things get a little bit dark there.
[25:05] He gets in this kind of argument with some other towns in Israel and he goes back and he ends up kind of killing some of his fellow Israelites. Oh, man, that's not very nice. That's not very good. Weird. And then, you know, once, you know, he saved the day. The Israelites are like, wow, you're so awesome. You're so great. Gideon, we want to make you king. We want to make you king. And Gideon says, no, no, no, no, no, no. God's your king. God's your king. But I've got an idea. Why don't every one of you give me a gold earring? Each of you, they all have gold earrings. Just give me one of your gold earrings. I say, hey, sure, great. We'll do that. We'll all throw one in. And they say so many people gave him gold earrings that he had about 40 pounds of gold.
[25:55] And it becomes this really wealthy, wealthy guy. And it says he took that gold and he ends up making an ephod out of it. And that's kind of like this priestly shirt kind of apron thing. And then it says they start to worship the gold ephod. And it's like, oh, man, okay, Gideon, hold up there. Let's just read this final section that says how Gideon's life ends after this great victory. So let's go to chapter 8, verse 27. Verse 27 says, Gideon made the gold into an ephod which he placed in Ophrah his town.
[26:41] All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there. And it became a snare to Gideon and his family. Thus, Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon's lifetime, the land had peace 40 years. Jerub Baal, that's Gideon, son of Joash, went back home to live. He had 70 sons of his own for he had many wives. His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech. Gideon, son of Joash, died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father, Joash, and Ophrah, the abbeyers.
[27:28] It's kind of a strange ending, right? It's kind of like, well, that's a little bit of a downer. I mean, it's sort of bittersweet because, you know, they have victory over the Midianites for 40 years. And then on the other hand, they start worshiping this apron. And they all worship this golden ephod. And then it says he has like a bunch of wives and a concubine. It's like, well, ew. That's not really what you want to hear. Is that a happy ending? I don't know. What's going on here? Why did this happen? And I think, you know, nothing can kill you like success. Nothing can kill you like success. When things are going well for you, right, when your job is going well, your career, your family, your finances, when things are going so great, that's when pride can start to come in.
[28:28] And pride comes before the fall, right? And I think with Gideon that that's sort of what happened to him, is that he forgot how weak he was. He forgot that God had called him out of obscurity. And there's a bit of a warning in that for us, right? When things are going well in your job, in your marriage, your family, your friends, your finances, when things are going well, that's when you got to keep watch, right? That's when you got to watch against pride. So there's a little bit of a warning there. But I think that there's also an encouragement. There's an encouragement. And it's encouraging because God gives Gideon four years of peace, right?
[29:17] That he actually did accomplish something and Gideon gets his name in Hebrews 11, right? Along with Noah and Abraham and Moses and all these heroes. Gideon gets in there. So God is so gracious that he kind of, it seems like he forgave him and said, well, yeah, you know what? You're a hero. You're in the Hall of Faith. You're good to go. And just as I end here, I just kind of want to imagine those final moments of Gideon's life. And it seems like, you know, because he's put in Hebrews that he was saved. And I would want to ask Gideon on his deathbed, you know, after he's made all these mistakes, do you remember who you were when God called you?
[30:04] Do you remember how weak you were? Do you remember how scared you were? Do you remember how many times you asked God to prove himself? And do you remember how patient God was with you? Do you remember how loving he was for you? Do you remember that he plucked you up out of obscurity and out of weakness, he turned your weakness into strength. Do you remember that? And I'm sure Gideon would have had regrets thinking about the mistakes that he's made. And I would tell him, it's like, you know what? God is so gracious. He's so merciful that thousands of years from now, your name is going to be written in this book alongside Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses.
[30:54] Your name is going to be written there. It doesn't matter. You've made so many mistakes. You've messed up so much, but none of your sins are too big for God. Not one of them. Not one of your sins is too big for God. It doesn't matter how weak you were, how prideful you were, how many times you messed up. There's no sin that's too big for God. He just wipes it all away with the blood of Jesus, forgiven, washed clean. And for you, I just want us to remember how weak we were when God called us, how weak and scared and doubtful when God called us, and how many mistakes we've made, and how patient God is, and merciful and forgiving.
[31:44] And maybe you're in a moment now where you feel like you've really messed up. You've really, really had some problems. I don't think that they're as big as the mistakes of Gideon. I don't think they are. And if God could forgive that, he can forgive whatever you've done. There's no sin that's too big for God's forgiveness. He's so merciful and so compassionate. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you. We thank you for your mercy, your compassion, your faithfulness, your goodness. Father, I thank you that you have taken us out of our weakness and given us strength through your Holy Spirit. I thank you that you've forgiven us for our doubts and fears and all the mistakes that we make that you forgive us.
[32:40] Father, I just want to ask if there's anybody in here who's feeling guilty, who's feeling like they've messed up, like they've sinned too much. Father, that you would just let them know that you would show them that you love them and that if they just admit their sins, that they're forgiven. That they're forgiven by the blood of Jesus. Father, we thank you. We praise you and we love you. I pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.