The Youngest Son of the Poorest Clan Changed Everything

This is our first Kitchen Video — a study of Gideon in Judges 6. Let’s begin with a brief review of where we’ve been, before pressing into the text.

Review: A Nation Under Judgement

We’re looking at God dealing with a nation. A nation can sin just as an individual can sin, and God’s response to national sin is national chastisement. He used three instruments: the Midianites as the main force, the Amalekites, and the children of the east. The net result was poverty — extreme poverty. This matters, because God sees and understands that money is a serious issue. When a formerly prosperous nation goes into decline, that is God trying to get our attention.

When things became bad enough, the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. And God’s first response was to send a prophet. The prophet reminded them of the covenant: the reason these things are happening is because you have not obeyed the first commandment. You have feared — that is, served and worshipped — the gods of the Canaanites. That is your problem.

Then God moves to action. He sends a man. That man is Gideon. And that is a lesson in itself: God uses people. When you pray for the nation, you can pray that God would send someone — and you can be watching for that someone.

The Winepress and the Altar

Gideon is found at a winepress, threshing grain. Not far away stands a pagan altar to Baal and an Asherah pole beside it. This was a cultic place, a dark place — a symbol of Israel’s departure from the Lord. They were looking to Asherah for fruitfulness, to Baal for protection and power. What did they receive? Want of bread and conquest by their enemies. The gods they trusted delivered nothing.

Who does God come to? Not a poet, not a lawyer, not a celebrity. He comes to a worker. And what does he find in Gideon? A man whose mind is on the Lord — not in an abstract, merely devotional sense, but on the Lord as the director of nations, the Lord of history. Gideon understood covenantal cause and effect: if we go away from God, he will withdraw from us. That if-then covenantal thinking is what we need today.

God does not require 51% of the population to turn to him for things to change. He needed one man. That in itself is an encouragement.

The Commission

Verse 14: Then the Lord turned to him and said, Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?

Gideon is being commissioned to save Israel. And we need to widen our understanding of what salvation means. The salvation of Israel in Exodus was victory over enemies, liberation, and conquest. Christ’s salvation is not merely a matter of the personal heart — it is cosmic. For God so loved the world — the cosmos, the whole order of things. Salvation affects the whole world.

This is what makes the difference between a man simply doing his work and a man transforming his situation. Hard work alone would never have saved anything. What makes the difference is the call of God. God takes a man who is already diligently working and, by his call, transforms what that man is able to accomplish. If we go at God’s commission in obedience, there is no limit to what we can accomplish in Christ.

The church has a standing commission: Go and make disciples of all nations — Matthew 28:19-20. Like Gideon, we are being asked to do an otherwise impossible thing. The means is faith and obedience. That is exactly what Hebrews 11 tells us about Gideon — he accomplished what he accomplished by faith.

The Objection

Verse 15: O Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Behold, my clan is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.

This should make us think of David — overlooked, the youngest son, and yet the one chosen. Gideon’s objection is not a lack of faith but an honest reckoning with reality. And the Lord’s answer cuts straight through: Surely I will be with you.

That is the answer. Not a long explanation. Not a list of resources. The answer to the question of how we accomplish the impossible is God’s presence — his empowering, assuring presence. We may be waiting for permission from someone else, waiting for finances, waiting for the right conditions. The only green light we need is knowing God’s will and knowing God will be with us.

The Lord’s presence is not there merely to give us good feelings. It is there to equip us to fulfil our calling. You shall smite the Midianites as one man. If you want to strike a blow against the enemy, you are going to need God’s presence to do it. Many are trying to defeat their enemies through Facebook posts, through complaints on X. The question to ask is: is it working? Are you landing any blows? The way to fight effectively is to listen to God’s commission, obey it by faith, and look to the Holy Spirit for power.

The Sign

Verse 17: If now I have found favour in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me.

Gideon was not exhibiting unbelief. The Bereans were praised for testing what even the Apostle Paul taught them. Gideon was in a cultic area, surrounded by the possibility of deception. He had to know this was truly the Lord. The Hebrew word for sign is oth — aleph, vav, tav — strength, connection, covenant. He knew he needed this word to be of the covenant.

He was doing what 1 John 4 commands: Test the spirits. This is godly diligence, not doubt. We too need to be bedded firmly on Christ the rock — not floating in vague impressions, but connected, locked in, certain of our calling. In order to do the great task before us, a vague faith will not serve.

Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to you and bring out my offering and set it before you. And the Lord said: I will wait until you come back. There is patience here, and there is dialogue. God is not roaring at Gideon for asking questions. He is understanding, understanding, understanding. That should reshape how we think about God — and about how we deal with others who ask hard questions.

There is much more to come in the next episode, where the offering itself will take centre stage. For now, be encouraged: God is with us and understands our circumstances. The Holy Spirit within us is not there merely to give us a feeling — he is there to equip us for our daily responsibilities.