Judges is one of the most fun books in the Bible to read—and one of the most depressing. The pattern throughout the book is easy to pick out. Israel, who was supposed to triumphantly conquer the promised land and honor their covenant with the Lord, fails miserably; the Lord punishes them with oppressors, as he warned them he would in that same covenant; the people repent and cry out for mercy; and the Lord sends a judge to rescue them. Whoever said God’s only a God of grace in the New Testament? Judges is a story of God showing grace that was very undeserved, over and over and over again.
It's almost comical how when Gideon blames God for abandoning his people, the Lord’s angel doesn’t reproach him for forgetting the terms of the covenant or challenging God’s authority; he simply tells him to go where he is sent. God is working redemption, and you, Gideon, get to be involved. “Me?” Gideon responds, “But I’m no one. I don’t have the stuff of greatness in me. I’ll never do great things, Lord.” Again, what the angel doesn’t say is as important as what he does say. He doesn’t give him false encouragement by telling him he’s great. He reminds him that God is great. And that’s enough, because God will be with him.
Gideon is one of many people in the Bible that is the last person you’d expect God to use, and yet he uses anyway. God is unconcerned with human-invented standards of status or importance. At creation, he imbued us with a belovedness and importance that supersedes any standards the world comes up with. In fairness, there was only one Gideon; God doesn’t use everyone to rescue his people from oppression. But God desires for us all to be involved, in our own uniquely tailored ways, as he works grace and redemption for his people. Let Judges remind us of how much grace and redemption this God really gives, and let us joyfully, thankfully enjoy it. And when we hear our God tell us to go, let us go—knowing the Lord is with us.
