By Olubunmi Adebayo
Every man has his fear – big or small, old or young, rich or poor: we all do.
Whereas, the expectation of God for us is that we operate in faith, and not fear.
No wonder the word of God says :
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2Tim 1:7).
The question therefore is how do you grow from pervasive fear into a robust faith according to the expectation of God?
To answer this question, we shall be going through the Gideon route today – Gideon, the man who was seen by God as a mighty warrior, but who saw himself as weak and a weakling, grossly enmeshed in palpable and circumstantial fear.
May I let you know that the story of Gideon is one of the clearest examples of how God walks us from our fear and grows us into faith.
When God found Gideon, we should be reminded that it was not on a battlefield where he was fighting, not at all – he was busy hiding in a winepress, threshing wheat in secret, so that the enemies who were grossly overwhelming – the Midianites, would not take the material from him :
“And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites”.(Judges 6:11).
The dire situation of the land according to Judges 6:6 was as follows :
“And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD”.
Please know that fear is not necessarily a lack of spirituality. Sometimes it is a natural response to real pressure, oppression, failure, and, or past disappointment. Gideon was therefore afraid because his situation was genuinely frightening, as it were.
To amplify his real fear, Gideon reminded God that his tribe – Manasseh, was the smallest in Israel, his family was the weakest in Manasseh, while he himself was the last among the many sons of his father.
But the Angel of the Lord called him thus : “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior-“Judges 6:12.
Let this occupy your spirit mind – “God does not define you by your fear, your family, your background, or your present hiding place. He defines you by what He is about to do through you”.
Faith therefore begins when we start to see ourselves the way God Himself sees us.
Gideon went through an honest struggle process with doubt. Note that Gideon did not pretend about the reality of the situation on ground. He asked sincere questions :
A) If the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Judges 6:13.
B) How can I save Israel? :
“And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house”.( Judges 6:15).
C) Then he asked for signs, twice, with the fleece – wet fleece / dry ground, then dry fleece / wet ground (Judges 6:36-40).
Pay attention to the fact that at the point of C) above, his FAITH had started rising out of fear. Also, prior to this, God did not rebuke him for asking in sincerity as we human beings would have done.
God patiently answered him step by step, and turned his fear into faith thereby.
Doubt is therefore not the opposite of faith, it is refusing to move that is. God is patient with honest questions. He will confirm His word if we truly seek Him, but we must not use “seeking confirmation” as an excuse to keep hiding from him or his assignment for us.
To be concluded tomorrow, God willing.
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©️ Olubunmi S Adebayo.
