Bible Story Lessons

The people of Israel were afraid again and ran to hide in their caves.   They peeped out and there below them was the enemy, the Midianites.   They had once again had brought a great army into Israel.  They did this every year at harvest time so that they could steal all the crops, sheep, cattle and donkeys.  As a result, the people of Israel were poor and very hungry.  There were just too many of the Midianites, so God's people couldn't protect themselves.

Finally the Israelites could stand it no longer and cried out to God for help.  God answered by sending them a leader named Gideon.  But, what a leader!  He was hiding in a wine press when God spoke to him, hoping he could thresh his wheat without being seen by the Midianites!

An angel came up to Gideon and said, "Hail, mighty warrior!"  Gideon thought, "Who me?  No, you can't possibly mean me!"  But yes, he was the one that God had chosen!  Gideon was very afraid just like everyone else in Israel, but nevertheless God had chosen him to fight the Midianites.

Gideon nervously went out and gathered as many soldiers as he could find.  He did not mess about and landed up with an army of 32,000 men!  "Cool," he said, "Lord this lot will surely wipe the floor with those Midianites .... Come on, Lord, let's go!"

"Not so fast, Gideon," said God when He saw how many men Gideon had gathered.  "What do you mean, Lord?" Gideon replied, "We need as many as possible to mow the enemy down!"  But God replied, "No, you have too many men, so tell anyone who is afraid to go home!"

"All right, Lord, if you say so," thought Gideon as 22,000 men waved goodbye to him and scuttled off as fast as they could back into their caves.   That left only 10,000 men to fight the Midianites.  Gideon thought, "Surely the Lord will be satisfied with this tiny army!"

But God spoke to Gideon again, "You still have too many men.  Take them to a stream to get a drink of water and only keep only those men who lap up the water like dogs.  Send home anyone who kneels down to drink."  Gideon's heart sank as he thought, "Oh no, not again, Lord!"   However, Gideon was obedient and so he said, "Yes Lord, if you say so."

Gideon folded his arms in despair and watched as a few men lap the water like a dog, while 9,700 men went home, and only 300 stayed to fight the Midianites!  "Gosh," thought Gideon, "I thought my last army was tiny, but this one?  It's pitiful!"

Fortunately, Gideon was obedient and faithful to God.  That night God sent Gideon down to spy on the Midianite army.  While he was creeping around in the bushes, he suddenly heard some Midianites talking about how scared they were of the Israelite army.  He thought, "Scared of that little old army of mine?"

By now Gideon was sure God would help him, so he began to prepare his men for the battle.  If you were sending soldiers to war today, you would give them tanks, aeroplanes guns and bombs.  But, what did Gideon do?  Well, he just rounded up a bunch of torches!  Not those with batteries in, but just sticks wrapped with rags and dipped in oil.   You had to set them on fire and then carry them around!  Even stranger, Gideon sent men rushing round to gather up all the clay jars and cattle horn trumpets they could find!

His men stood there marvelling as Gideon counted them, "298, 299, and yes, 300!"  Poor man!  He had lost all his marbles this time!   The Midianites were going to die laughing at this tiny army!  Anyway, late that night, Gideon called his men together and gave each one a flaming torch and told them to hide them inside their jars.

He led out his army, saying, "Go very quietly men and surround the Midianite camp."  That put a man every half kilometre or so!  "Hey Gideon, hallo there!" whispered one soldier, "It's rather lonely out here!"

Just then came Gideon's signal!  All the soldiers blew their trumpets, broke their clay jars, held up their flaming torches, and yelled as loudly as they could, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!"  Children, why don't you try it?  Come on, one, two, three, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!"

The Midianites were caught by surprise, and were so terrified that they started fighting and killing each other as they ran this way and that.  "Out my way!" they roared as they scattered their equipment in their haste to run away.  The Israelites laughed and cheered and then chased them clean across the border!  That night Gideon won a great victory for the Lord and broke the power of the Midianites.  After this Midianites never bothered Israel again.

When you feel afraid, remember what God could do with one man and his tiny army.  Our God is a big God and God is bigger than all our fears.  Ask Jesus to help you be brave, and then think about how big God really is - He is bigger than the world, the sun and even the universe.

In no time at all, your fears will begin to go as you begin to trust God, and His peace and love will fill your heart!  Be like Gideon, don't trust in huge armies, but trust in our wonderful God!

God bless.