I am honored to be with you tonight as we honor the class of ’22. This is about you, a celebration of your accomplishments and we are so very glad to share in your joy tonight. Resilience. That is the theme for this evening, and for this class, I can’t think of a much better one than that! I want to go to Judges 6 as a jumping off point to address this theme. What we find recorded there is a truly pathetic situation. It has only been a hundred years or so before that God had led His people into the land of promise, having delivered them from Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm, passing them through the waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan River (at flood stage) on dry ground. God fought for them and had given them houses and vineyards they hadn’t worked for in the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. But now, Judges 6 has them fearing for their lives, impoverished by oppressors, living on the margins in caves and under the clefs of rock. Now, I’m not the biggest camping fan – but even the biggest fan probably wouldn’t like this kind of long-term living arrangement, dragging out for seven years without the comforts of home. Israel cries out to God, who makes it clear this has happened because of disobedience. But that’s not really what to focus on – I’d rather focus on the plan. Because God has a plan, like He always does, and goes to visit Gideon. And the plan is this – Gideon, you are my mighty warrior. You’re going to save my people.
Gideon has some objections – yes, he’s heard the history of deliverance from Egypt, but he’s living a different reality. He’s been camping out like the rest of his people for the past seven years. He’s seen the hoards of enemies swarm down like so many locusts and take everything. Even their camels are as uncountable as sand on the seashore. The Midianites are overwhelming, powerful, wealthy, superior in technology, and ruthless. He answers God, “This is where we are, and God, you put us here.” God ignores all that and simply tells him, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from Midian’s hand.”
Yeah. About that strength thing. You see, there are a couple of other pieces of information you may have overlooked. I’m from the weakest clan in Manasseh and I’m the least in my family. Go in the strength that I have? I haven’t got much.
I think I know what Gideon was looking for. Moses was looking for it to when God told him to speak to Pharoah. Elijah in I Kings 19 when he fled to Mt. Horeb also had the issue. But God answers. He makes clear – “Go in the strength you have.” Outnumbered? Go in the strength you have. Desperate living conditions? Go in the strength you have. Overwhelming odds? Go in the strength you have. A global pandemic? Go in the strength you have! The worst political divisions in our lifetime? Go in the strength you have! Gas as $4.70? Go in the strength you have! A major land war in Europe? Go in the strength you have! Hostile spiritual environment? Go in the strength you have! Do we honestly think God doesn’t see the challenges? He knows them all, intricately! Gideon – weakest in your tribe, youngest in your family – Go in the strength you have….
And Gideon. One other thing. You have forgotten. I already said it when I greeted you at first, but I’m going to say it again… Yes. Go in the strength you have….
….and I will be with you! Oh boy. That makes all the difference. That’s what Gideon needed to hear, and let’s be honest, that’s what we need to hear! If God says to do something, He will be right there with us while we’re doing anything He’s telling us to do! And it is precisely this knowledge that has empowered God’s people for millennia! It is what allows David to sing in Psalm 3, I will not fear the tens of thousands who have set themselves against me – why? Because you, O Lord are a shield about me and the lifter of my head.
How about this?
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing greatness is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. II Corinthians 4.
Or this?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8.
Now we made a shift there from Old to New Testament and Gideon didn’t understand it all fully, welcoming things more from afar (Hebrews 11:13). He constantly needed reminders of God’s presence, that’s what that fleece thing is all about, and that’s not something we need anymore as vessels of the Holy Spirit – but that’s not where I’m going – we’re shifting from the Old to the New Testament and we’re talking resilience. And resilience, like most good things, ultimately has its roots squarely planted in the Gospel! And what is that Gospel? Simply the thing that Paul declares is of first importance, the thing that is the bedrock foundation for all our faith, that which without we are to be pitied above all people, and it is this – that Christ died for our sins according the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day….
Death – burial – resurrection.
What could be more resilient than passing from death to life?! What could be more resilient than resurrection?! And it is the living out of the risen Christ and being daily filled with the Holy Spirit that allows us to mount up on eagles’ wings, running without growing weary, and walking without being faint!
Good ol’ Ben Franklin famously said the two things in life that are sure are death and taxes. Well, Jesus took care of death. But we will face our Midianite army, we will face the tens of thousands, just like we have faced them the last couple of years as a group. That is certain, straight from the mouth of Jesus – “In this world you will have trouble” But what is the next part of that verse? “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” So. In whatever step we take tomorrow. Go and live the resurrection! Go in the strength you have! And go in the knowledge that we serve a God who will never leave you or abandon you, a God who says, as you live out my will, “I will be with you!”
Thank you! I especially needed that tonight.