THAT SUBTLE SHIFT Part Two

Three hundred clay jars crash.

Three hundred trumpets blast.

The sound sends chills of fear through the hearts of the Midianites down in the valley below.

It sends thrills of victory through the hearts of the Israelites on the surrounding hills. As one man they yell, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon.” 

Gideon remembers the day he was commissioned. The words still ring in his ears: “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

This is Gideon, the well known hero we admired in Sunday school.

We first meet him receiving a visit from God himself who names him “mighty warrior”, assures him of His very presence and then commissions him to save Israel. This is Jerub-Baal who valiantly demolishes Baal’s altar, and who then works alongside God in the selection of soldiers for his army. This is Gideon who wins a war with a shout.

Everyone talked about Gideon. Some praised him, some berated him, but no matter what they said about him, his name fast became a household word. The townsfolk in Ophrah lifted his name high above their heads like some golden trophy. The seventy seven officials of Succoth cursed him while their wives poured oil on their scratched and bleeding backs. The widows of Peniel whispered his name to their sobbing children. The Israelites openly flattered him. “Rule over us”, they begged.

Gideon was famous. As a warrior, his conduct was blameless. If he were alive today his name would be on the New Year’s honours list. The twenty-first century church would refer to him as “a man of God”.

Gideon, why did you do it?

We can only speculate as we read and re-read the tragic events that follow the chronicles of his spectacular army career. Gideon, your hero image is totally ruined, tarnished beyond repair.

When did that subtle shift occur in Gideon’s heart?

With his lips he nobly refused the offer of kingship but in the next breath asked for a king’s bounty.

Did the tinkle of hundreds of gold earrings cascading onto the folds of cloth send quivers of emotion through Gideon’s heart? Did the glint of those hundreds of gold earrings in the bright sunlight blind his eyes to the shaft of greed that penetrated his heart at that precise moment?

Verse 27 of Judges Chapter 8 paints a dark picture of this man and his newly acquired gold. “Gideon made the gold into an ephod”.

An ephod was part of the priestly garments worn by those who ministered in the Lord’s presence. But this ephod would never be used for that purpose.

Could a “man of God” shift our eyes off God?

 “All Israel prostituted themselves by worshipping it there”.

The ephod made by Gideon became the focus of their worship. Their focus shifted from the invisible to the visible.

Blatant idolatry. So subtle. So devastatingly destructive. The shattering consequences wrecked havoc in the lives of his sons, in the lives of his grandchildren and in all the following generations.

I stop here and ask myself some questions.

Where are the eyes of my heart?

Could my emphasis of a particular doctrine take my eyes off the Lord Himself?

Do I permit “anointed teaching” to replace my personal relationship with the Anointed One?

Which truths deceive me into believing that they are more important than the Truth?

Do I worship “worship”?

Could the way I do things override the why or what for?

Could a “man of God” shift my eyes off God? Switch my focus from the invisible to the visible?

Lord, I lift my eyes and look at you. Doctrine slips into focus when I have a close relationship with you. You, the Anointed One are my personal Teacher. Human truth pales into insignificance when I believe you; it’s what you say about me that counts. Teach me what it means to worship you 24/7. Switch my focus from the visible to you the Invisible. IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU LORD.  IN YOU I MOVE AND LIVE AND HAVE MY BEING.