Deliverance: Where is the God of Miracles?

 

A number of years ago, my father died.  I was living in Southern California and he lived about six hours away in Northern California.  I received a phone call that he was in the hospital and that he had probably reached the end of his life.  So, I left to go see him, one last time.

On the way a tow truck in front of me dropped a chain that hit the freeway and bounced up into the engine compartment of my car, damaging a number of the hoses and belts. 

I had to wait for a tow truck, and then rent a car to continue to get to the hospital, where my father was.  It took about twelve hours.  My father was slipping into death and was lying on the bed.  He had tubes down his throat, his eyes were closed and he was nonresponsive.

I laid hands on him and prayed for him, asking God for more time.  Then my mom and I went to get something to eat. I hadn’t eaten all day.  When we got back, all of my father’s vital signs had revived and he was sitting up and removing the tubes. I got to spend a day with him before he died.  A Miracle.

All of us have times when we’re struggling.  All of us have times of great need; times when we think our circumstances are impossible. All of us have times when we need a miracle!  I believe there are times when all of us read our Bibles, and see the miracles that God has done, and think to ourselves, “Where is the God of miracles, now, when I need Him.”

Judges 6:11-13 (NKJV)
^6:11 Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. ¹² And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!" ¹³ Gideon said to Him, "O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites."

Where is the God of Miracles?

At this time in Israel’s history, they were being harassed by the Midianites. Words often have double meanings.  In the Bible Midian is a place, a nation; but the word Midian in Hebrew means strife.  Another word for strife is struggle.

We’ve all heard about Shammah and the beanfield.  He fought and defeated the Philistines, protecting the harvest.  The Philistines represented the cares of the world.  He kept the cares of the world from stealing the harvest.  The Midianites in our text represent great struggle or hardship.  So, this is a time of great hardship for Israel.  Midian sweeps in and destroys their crops., keeping them poor and in need.  Every time they think they’re getting ahead; Midian comes in and beats them down again – over and over.  At this point Israel is desperate for a leader that can destroy Midian and deliver them from this oppression.  They’re crying out for deliverance.

How many times have you felt like Israel? 

“Every time I think I’m turning a corner in my finances – In my marriage – In my job – In whatever it is, something comes along and kicks my feet out from under me, and I’m right back where I started!”

That’s what Israel had been going through for the past seven years.  They’re tired, they’re beaten down and they need deliverance.

It’s in the middle of all this, that our text takes place. We come across Gideon and he is out at the wine press, threshing wheat.  The wine press is not the place to do that.  He’s doing it in hopes of keeping it from the Midianites. He’s hiding; he’s avoiding them.

That’s when the Angel of the Lord comes along and sits down under the Terebinth tree, and he says to Gideon, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

He hears those words, and he can’t believe it.  God is with us?  Really, God is with us?  The God my fathers talked about?  The One who did miracles?  The One who opened the sea?  The One who delivered the people from Egypt?  We need that God, now and I don’t see Him!

“Where is the God of miracles, now?

I’m willing to bet that Gideon isn’t the only person who’s ever felt that way.  Maybe even you’ve felt that way.  Maybe you read your Bible and you see powerful things:

Blind men who can see!  Lame men who can walk!  Demons cast out – defeated!  Dead men raised!  You say to yourself, “Where is the God who does that? How come I never seem to get miracles when I need them?  Why doesn’t God move like that for me”

God showed up for Gideon.  God came to him.  It was after seven years of troubles. (Seven is the number of completion.)  You can say God came to him when it was time.  Israel’s trial was over – It was time for deliverance.  God had seen that they had suffered enough!

Are you suffering, right now?  Are you struggling, right now?  Are you looking for a God of miracles?  Do you need deliverance?  He’ll come.  He sees, He knows,  He’s a deliverer.  He will deliver you.  Maybe you’ve prayed and nothing happened.  Maybe you’ve given up.  God knows, there have been a lot of people who’ve walked away.  People who’ve left God, saying to themselves, “There is no God of miracles!  I needed Him and He wasn’t there for me!”

Isn’t that what Gideon is saying?  “The God of miracles?  There is no God of miracles, anymore!  If there is, where is He?  Where’s the God miracles?  These Midianites are killing us!”  But the angel of the Lord has shown up, to call on Gideon to deliver his people.

Mighty Man of Valor

Judges 6:14-16 (NKJV)
^6:14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?" ¹⁵ So he said to Him, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." ¹⁶ And the Lord said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man."

He’s sitting under the Terebinth tree – It’s like an Oak Tree.  It symbolizes strength.  It symbolizes power.  He sits under that tree and calls Gideon:

“The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

At this point he’s hiding from the Midianites.  I’m thinking Gideon isn’t feeling like a mighty man of valor at that moment.  He’s hiding – he’s fearful – He’s not valorous, he’s not courageous.  Gideon has been complaining that God has forsaken them and the Lord says –

“Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.”

Me? Are you talking to me?  Who am I?  I can’t face all of Midian.  I’m not a powerful or brave man, I’m just a guy.  I’m just a man, I don’t have ANY power!  I’m just me.  Gideon knows who he is – He’s defeated before he even starts to fight!  It’s impossible – I’m weak! I’m useless! I’m the weakest in my father’s house.

You know, I get that – I understand that.  Sometimes I feel like I can’t do anything.  Look at me – I even need help to dress.  Have I accomplished anything?  Have I done anything to move the Gospel of Jesus Christ forward – to bring the kingdom of God to earth?

You know one time in Riverside…  Riverside has a lot of churches.  Big churches.  One has 15,000 people; another one has 11,000.  Big churches, lots of people.  So, we were outreaching at a night market.  And I met another pastor.  I had been there two years and so had he.  So we were talking and I asked him, just out of curiosity “How many people in your church?” Eighteen hundred!  Eighteen hundred after just 2 years. And then he says to me, “How about you?”  Thirteen… “Thirteen hundred?”  I didn’t want to answer.  Let him think that.  I couldn’t do it… “No, just thirteen!”

I was embarrassed.  I felt like an idiot.  I was like Gideon, “I’m worthless!  I’m weak!”  I am the least in my Father’s house.  Thirteen people; who was I to think I could deliver anything?

That’s where Gideon was at – That’s where some of you are.  “I’ve failed so many times – Who am I to think I could overcome, now?”  What did the Lord say, though?  What did he say to me?

“Have I not called you?  This isn’t your fight – I called you and I will be with you.  It’s time for deliverance, so pull up your big boy pants and fight!”

God is there in the middle of your suffering – And God will be there in the middle of the battle – And God will be there fighting alongside you.  I called you, and I don’t make mistakes. You can win this battle because God is with you. 

You can win this battle that you’re facing because God is with you.  God said, “Gideon you WILL destroy Midian, because I will be there!”  We need God to be there.

When God was about to deliver Israel from Egypt, Moses said, “If we go You have to come with us, because if You’re not going, I don’t want to go, either!”  God answered and said, “I will be with you.”  God will be with you, too.

A Miracle Happened

Judges 7:7-8 (NKJV)
^7:7 Then the Lord said to Gideon, "By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place." ⁸ So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

Judges 7:12 (NKJV)
^7:12 Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.

Gideon looks down into that valley and there’s the Midianites.  They can’t even be counted – there’s too many of them.  That’s a whole lot of problems.  That a lot of struggle – it’s never-ending.

That’s life.  That’s how life is, one struggle – one problem after another.  It never ends.  You get through one thing and a hundred more things are right there behind it!

Gideon looks back and he has three hundred men behind him.  How can he do this?  How can he win against these odds?  Because God was with him; and he did win – He defeated Midian!

Judges 7:16-18 (NKJV)
^7:16 Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers. ¹⁷ And he said to them, "Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do: ¹⁸ When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, 'The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!' "

That was God’s plan – three hundred men with no weapons – only trumpets, empty pitchers and torches:

Judges 7:22-23 (NKJV)
^7:22 When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled to Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath. ²³ And the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites.

The Lord set every man against his companion.  The Midianites turned on each other and destroyed themselves.  God delivered them.

Why would He do it like that?  Why did he cut the number of soldiers down from thirty thousand to three hundred men?  Here’s why:

Judges 7:2 (NKJV)
^7:2 And the Lord said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'

He wanted them to know it was Him that delivered them; that it’s God who brings the victory. It's funny how when things go good, we congratulate ourselves, and when they go bad, we blame God.  God wanted them to know who brought the deliverance.

Do you know why the Bible has stories like this?  Do you know why God set this in here? So that we can see that God delivers – That God is with us.  He said, “I will not forsake you.”  He’s there, right in the midst of your struggles.  He will deliver you from the Midianites – the struggles and problems – in your life, so that you will give him the Glory.

Two final things:

1)   That other pastor, he may have had a lot more people, He may have had a lot more money, he may have had a much nicer facility.  I had only thirteen, but that was thirteen souls snatched from the gates of Hell, not from some other church.  On August 5, 2021 that little church celebrated twenty years in that city.

2)      I needed that time with my dad!  I was afraid that he would pass without me being there!  Without me being able to let him know I loved him.  God did a personal miracle for me! 

 He IS the God of Miracles!