The Hebrews, also called the Israelites, were finally in the land that the Lord promised to give them. However, once they were there they found it very challenging to live out their own end of the promise they made in return to the Lord through Moses. The Ten Commandments are very difficult to live out every day. So the nation of Israel feel out of the habit of living the way that the Lord intended them to live. They even worshiped other gods in order to try and receive blessings that they wanted.
Because of this, their strength and relationship with the Lord fell apart, and another nation came and took over the land of Canaan - people called Midian.
For seven years the people of Midian forced the Israelites out of their homes and forced them to live in caves and dens in the mountains. Wherever the Israelites planted wheat or plants for a harvest or gathered animals to raise for food, Midian would come and destroy it. The Israelites prayed to the Lord to rescue them from their poverty and starvation - and knew that it was because of
One Israelite named Gideon was the youngest in his family, and belonged to the smallest family group in Israel. But the Lord came to him one day while he was preparing some wheat in a large wine press with high walls (to hide it from the people of Midian).
The Lord said, "The LORD is with you, you mighty warrior!"
“My lord,” Gideon said to him, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are his wondrous deeds about which our ancestors told us when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ For now the LORD has abandoned us and has delivered us into the power of Midian.”
But the Lord promised that Gideon should not be afraid, that He, God the Father, would be with Gideon in his battle. When Gideon asked for a sign to convince him, the Lord set a rock on fire to consume Gideon's animal sacrifice. The Lord then instructed Gideon to take his father's bull and pull down the statutes of other gods that the people had put up and worshiped, and then to make an altar instead to the Lord, the God of Israel and to sacrifice his father's most prized bull on the altar.
The Israelites wanted to kill Gideon for having destroyed the altar to the god Baal, but Gideon's father convinced them that since it was the statue of Baal destroyed, then Baal himself should be left to kill Gideon - although Gideon did not die. Instead, he gathered his people with the Spirit of the Lord and prepared for battle against the people of Midian.
Even after all that, Gideon still wanted the Lord to prove that he would be with him. So he invented a test, where he put a fleece outside on a night when he knew there would be no dew on the ground, and asked the Lord to put dew on the fleece. In the morning, the fleece was so wet with dew that the water that Gideon wrung from it was enough to fill a whole pitcher. Soon, Gideon leads his people in victory over Midion even though they are outnumbered.
Connection & Reflection: The Lord is faithful to his promises even when we are not - and he gives his love and is close to us in ways that are greater than what we even asked for. Even when Gideon tells the Lord that he doesn't believe that he will help the Israelites, the Lord promises that he will, and allows Gideon to test his faithfulness over and over again. Then, he prepares to answer the Israelites' prayers with one of the youngest and least important people in the nation to show that their victory is given entirely by God the Father.
Prayer: Lord, just like you gave victory to the Israelites through the young Gideon, you prepare us now to remember that you came to us first as a small and young child. Thank you for your constant and unconditional love that you give us, even when we turn away from you and do not live the way we should. Please help us to realize each day how preparing for Christmas will help us to love you more and to grow more confident in your love for us.
Conclude with your favorite family prayer, or an Our Father, Hail Mary & Glory Be.
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