Being Called

Judges 3:27

“So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.”

There is a story in the gospels about when Jesus went home to see his mother and family. He made trip when His ministry was growing and everyone knew Him as the teacher and miracle worker. Upon entering his boyhood home, a funny thing happens. In Mark 6 it tells us that Jesus could not perform many miracles, he could only lay His hand on a few sick people because of their unbelief. The people of the town even said, “Is not this the carpenter’s son?” Even though Jesus was clearly the messiah, the people of his hometown had a hard time believing that God was with Him and even more that He was the Christ.

We find Gideon, the youngest of his family, having been visited by the Lord and called a mighty warrior even though he was hiding in a winepress afraid and alone. After the Lord speaks to Gideon, he asks the Lord to stay so that he can prepare an offering. The Lord stays and Gideon comes back with some meat and some unleavened bread. The angel directs Gideon to put the offering on a rock and the next thing you know, the angel touches the offering, it is consumed by fire, and right after that, the angel of the Lord left. Gideon builds an alter there to the Lord. That same night, the Lord tells Gideon to tear down the alter to Baal and the Asherah pole in his father’s house and build another alter to the Lord to sacrifice a bull on it.

Our verse comes in while Gideon obeys the Lord at night because he fears the townspeople. When everyone wakes up and realized their alter to Baal was torn down as well as the Asherah pole, they were not happy. Verse 29 tells us that they did a “careful” investigation and found that Gideon did all of it. Furious, they demanded Gideon from his father Joash. I guess Joash must of had an wake up moment with the Lord because he defends his son and tells the angry crowd that Baal can defend himself if he is a true “God.”

You may be the only one in your family to have found Jesus. I know that one of my daughters, Amber, was the that kid. She found Jesus at a young age and that separated her from her family and some of those scars still ache today. Being called by the Lord can be easy for some and for some it is very difficult like Gideon. When the Lord tells you to break down your own father’s alters and after doing so, the town wants to kill you, I would say that is a bad day. All I can say is what the Lord told Gideon when he first met the Lord, “I will be with you…”. Someone today needs to hear that. The Lord is with you! In the middle of a family squabble over religion or at work defending your faith in Christ, He is with you!

If you have accepted Christ then you are called; called out to change the world and spread the good news of gospel. That is our job. What our job is not, is to make everyone happy when they hear it. Even Jesus told his disciples that they will be persecuted because of Him. Ephesians 6:13-14 tells us that having done all we can to stand for Christ, we must stand firm and hold our ground just like Gideon did. Being called can be tough but the Lord has called you “MIGHTY WARRIOR.” Today, stand for Christ and defend your faith.