Session 9

Called

Judges 6:1-4,7-16

Memory Verse: Judges 6:16

Though Gideon considered himself inadequate, God called him to deliver His people from the Midianites.

Some of the most intriguing and exciting accounts in
all of the Bible are the “call” accounts.
When God had a job that needed to be done, He selected ordinary people
and equipped them in extraordinary ways.
He supplied the strength and protection they needed to get the job done
every single time.

The book of Judges has its fair share of such accounts,
including the story of Gideon.
From the start, Gideon had his concerns, but his fears
could not compare to God’s power and purposes.
Even though he was the youngest member of a
seemingly insignificant family, God used Gideon to lead and deliver
His people from an intimidating enemy at a vulnerable time in their history.

Ask:

• When have you felt inadequate for a task?
• Where did you turn for help? (PSG, p. 82)

FIRST THOUGHTS

We often compare ourselves to others.
This rarely has a positive result.
It either leads to pride because we think we are better than others,
or it leads to discouragement because we believe others are better than us.
It is especially confounding when God calls a person to serve Him
in some capacity when someone else seems better fit to do it.
God does this so that when the task is accomplished, God will receive
the glory for it.
Such was the case with Gideon. (PSG, p. 82)

ENGAGE

Context:

Explain the first several judges in Israel and the enemies they defeated with God’s help. Note that today’s session focuses on God’s call of Gideon.

Judges 3

• 9 When the sons of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them,
  Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
• 15 But when the sons of Israel cried to the LORD,
  the LORD raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man.
  And the sons of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.
• 31 After him came Shamgar the son of Anath,
  who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad; and he also saved Israel.

  Judges 4

• 4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
  5 she used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim;
  and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment.
  6 Now she sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali,
  and said to him, "Behold, the LORD, the God of Israel, has commanded,
  'Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun.

  Judges 6

• 13 Then 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 abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian."
  14 The LORD looked at him and said,
  "Go in this your strength
  and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?"

Judges 6 indicates the Israelites abandoned the Lord again,
so the Lord raised up the Midianites,
accompanied by the Amalekites and the Qedemites,
who oppressed Israel for seven years.
As a result, the Israelites were impoverished and cried out to the Lord. . . . After that, the Lord called Gideon to be the next judge to deliver Israel from their oppressors. Gideon’s account is the largest section in the book of Judges. (PSG, p. 83)

Transition:

If we asked Gideon how he compared himself to others,
he definitely would have fallen on the “inferior” end
of the spectrum. But God still called him, and God still used Him.