- First name of the Jehovah compounds we have is Jehovah-jireh, the Provider of redemption is revealed in the book of Exodus.
- In Exodus the next name is also revealed, Jehovah-rophe, the God who heals the wounds.
- The came Jeovah-nissi at Rehoipdim, the God who is the banner over our battles
- Jehovah M’Kaddesh, The God who sanctifies, is revealed in Leviticus.
Today we’re going to look at Jehovah-Shalom, God is Peace, and how we respond to that!
Judges 6: 11-24: 11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
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.”
14 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?”
15 “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.”
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favour in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”
And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”
19 Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. 22 When Gideon realised that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”
23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
It seems Gideon had to go through un-peaceful battles under this promise!
Introduction:
I want to say a few things about the peace of God before we proceed. You see we seem to have a view that we cannot do anything unless we feel peaceful about it, but by peace to we mean the absence of fear and apprehension, or do we mean confident in the outcome? I think for most we interpret this as the absence of fear, but actually it should be confidence in the outcome!
Let’s take a quick snapshot at what happens to Gideon immediately after this encounter in the winepress! He goes and destroys his father’s altar to Baal and builds an altar to God. Great! Good start. But he does it at night because he is afraid of his family and the men of the town (verse 28).
Now he was obedient, but he did it scared!
This is not a picture of a man of God who is peace-filled but one who is obedient but fearful of the consequences to himself! Even then it’s his dad who sticks up for him (verse 32).
You see when we talk of the peace of God we talk about it in such ethereal terms, we make it so wishy-washy, that we almost make it unobtainable!
Being strong and courageous means sometimes doing something even when we’re scared! Look with me quickly at Joshua 1:6-7a, 9:
“Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous… Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD will be with you wherever you go.”
Why the commands to be strong? Because on the inside Joshua wasn’t at that moment! He was scared. Fear is a shameful lack of courage!
The peace of God Guards our heart and our mind! Philippians 4:7: “… the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus!”
This means our hearts and minds, our emotions and mental faculties, are protected when we are in His will. There may be turmoil’s. But that is why this peace of God is above our intellectual understanding, somehow we just know it’s going to work out.
Peace is ultimately wrapped up in a Person and is fully realised in the coming of Christ who came to share shalom with us. John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
The peace that the Prince of Peace provides is far different than anything we can find in the world. The world bases its peace on its resources, while God’s peace depends on a relationship.
In fact, in John 16:33 Jesus said that the world will actually be against us: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
We have confidence in the outcome because of He who has promised the outcome! He is faithful and true! (Rev 19:11)
Meaning of Shalom and use in OT:
Since there is no single English word that communicates the richness of Shalom, we need to study some synonyms to grasp the broad spectrum of its meaning.
In the O.T Shalom is translated as:
- Whole (Deut 27:6)
- Finished (Daniel 5:26)
- Full, as in ‘full measure,’ (Gen 15:16)
- To Make Good, to make good a loss, or make restitution (Ex 21:34; 22:5-6).
- In a material sense it is also translated Welfare and Well (Gen 43:27)
- Pay or Perform in the sense of completing obligations to the Lord, (Psalm 50:14)
- Perfect about 20 times (1 Chron. 29:19 KJV).
This is the basic ideas behind this one word, a harmony of relationship or reconciliation based upon the completion of a transaction, the payment of a debt, the giving of fulfilment.
Shalom is translated ‘peace’ a 170 times or so.
The general idea is of completion and fulfilment and brings with it the sense of wholeness and harmony in relationships, especially with God. For Gideon to hear shalom from God meant that he was at harmony with the Holy One.
Turn with me to the Book of Judges. This book records a very tough time in the history of Israel.
Judges 2:18-19 summarises their spiritual situation: “Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.”
The very last phrase of this book gives us insight into why things were going wrong for them: “…everyone did as he saw fit” (Judges 21:25).
And because of that, on seven different occasions we read of God’s people cycling through a period of rebellion which led to reckoning from God. After suffering for some time, they would eventually repent and then be restored to a time of rest and peace.
Let’s look at four ways we can break out of cyclical living from Judges 6.
1. Recognise our worries (1-5).
It was during one of these all-too-common episodes that God called Gideon on the scene.
We find the nation of Israel, in typical fashion, having turned their backs on God once again. After a time of prosperity, the people had gotten proud and then pushed God away.
That happens in our lives too, doesn’t it? We receive a few blessings, and then we start to drift away from our spiritual moorings. Our church attendance becomes spasmodic, we slowdown in our serving, and we end up becoming selfish with our time, talents, and treasures.
Verse 1 tells us that because they did evil in the eyes of the Lord, an oppressor was unleashed in the form of the mighty Midianites.
They were extremely powerful and oppressed the Israelites mercilessly. The name Midian means “strife.”
Because things were so bad, God’s people had left their homes and were living in holes in the ground, fearing for their lives. They had no peace at all; in fact, they were falling to pieces.
The Midianites were nomadic people, and would invade Israel every year at harvest time. Verse 5 mentions that they would come in like locusts and would ravage the land. As a result, God’s people were stressed out and were living in fear.
The first step to healing and wholeness is always to admit your situation before God. Are you in a mess, in distress, or living with stress? If so, put your worries into words.
2. Request What You Want (6).
Finally, after seven long years, the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help:
“Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.”
It’s beyond me why they would linger this long before turning back to God. It’s as if they waited until they couldn’t take it any longer.
Does that sound familiar? We know God is trying to get our attention but we hold out, thinking that we can handle it on our own. Even when God allows bad stuff to percolate through the pores of our life, we often refuse to repent and return to Him.
Friend, God wants to use the tough things you are going through right now in order to get your attention!
Has it been awhile since we’ve cried out for help? It’s time to turn to the only One who can help.
3. Receive His Word (7-21).
I love verse 7 because it shows that when we cry out to God, He will respond:
“When the Israelites cried out to the LORD because of Midian….”
In this case, He sends an unnamed prophet to remind them of their history and heritage and then he delivers the message that God expects total surrender and full devotion in verse 10: “I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites…but you have not listened to me.”
While God wants us to ask for help, He wants us to receive His Word, even if it hurts. This prophet is used by God to get them to see the depths of their depravity. Their main problem was that they had totally forgotten God, and they needed to admit that.
Gideon was threshing some wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. The Hebrew word used here expresses the idea of hiding.
A winepress was made out of stone and was built underground. When someone would thresh wheat they’d normally do it out in the open so that the wind could blow away the chaff. But Gideon is afraid of the Midianites and so he’s whacking the wheat with a stick in an underground bunker.
The mighty Gideon is a hero in hiding. He’s defeated and discouraged, filled with doubts and fears. He’s afraid of what was “out there” and he was also terrified “in here” (inside him).
Verse 12 tells us that the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
This time God doesn’t send a prophet, or even an understudy angel; He sends the “Angel of the Lord,” which most commentators believe is the pre-incarnate Christ! By the way, in the Hebrew, this phrase, “The Lord is with you” is the root to the name “Immanuel, God with us”, which was the name used for Jesus in Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23.
After being called a mighty warrior, Gideon questions God out loud, wondering why a bunch of bad things have happened to his people.
Verse 14 reveals that God “turned to him,” which literally means that He rotated, looked at Gideon and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
Why does he say, “Go in the strength you have”? To show that human strength is not enough!
Gideon responds by saying that his résumé isn’t very impressive. He comes from the smallest tribe, the weakest link in his clan, and he’s the youngest in his family. Gideon knows his own strength is not enough – His own strength has him hiding!
God confirms His priorities with His presence in verse 16, “I will be with you.”
Gideon is given a commission but is also promised the companionship of Immanuel.
By the way, did you notice that God never answered Gideon’s questions? That could be because the answer was obvious, or more likely it’s because Gideon’s obedience is more important.
What a good reminder for us. We often pepper heaven with our complaints and our questions while we cross our arms and do nothing. How dare we demand answers from God when we won’t even do what He has already revealed to us.
Gideon then has the gall to ask for the first of several signs just to be sure. He wants the Lord to wait for a few minutes while he runs off and bakes some bread and throws a goat on the grill. The meal is placed on a rock as an offering for the angel and then is consumed by God’s holy flames.
With the divine fire of acceptance falling upon Gideon’s offering, he responds the only way he can…
4. Respond in Worship (22)
When Gideon realises that He is in the presence of the Almighty, he cries out in verse 22: “Ah, Sovereign Lord!”
He is using the names Adonai and Yahweh. More evidence this is Jesus!
He has finally come to the point of submitting to the Sovereign LORD. But now Gideon is very nervous because he realises that he has been in the presence of God himself and he’s afraid that he will be struck dead. The words of Exodus 33:20 are probably ringing in his ears: “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
In verse 23, the LORD said to him (notice now that it is the LORD, not the Angel of the LORD), “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
I think we underestimate the impact these words had on Gideon. He and his people had not known peace for seven long years. They were all afraid and worried about dying every day. And now Gideon had casually conversed with Adonai-Yahweh, daring to question and complain to the King of Heaven.
God could rightly vaporise him just like he did to the meat and the bread in verse 21. But the Lord instead pronounced peace. Gideon was about to experience peace with God, with himself, and with others.
Don’t miss this. To a man who had not known peace in a long time, this was the premiere promise. He was bursting with joy because of this blessing and therefore he wanted to mark the occasion so he would never forget.
Look at verse 24: “So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace…”
The peaceful heart can worship God in any circumstance because the outcome is secure!
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