Gideon's Victory Over Systemic Racism And Poverty

Divine Intelligence Beyond The Human Mind!®

GIDEON’S VICTORY OVER SYSTEMIC RACISM AND POVERTY

Gideon was a judge over Israel in his era who defeated systemic racism. He refused to remain submissive to the repressive conditions, which brought dire poverty upon his people. He prayed to God and asked why? Judges 6:13: “And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of ….” Verse 15: “… behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” Gideon’s prayer moved God to answer him because of his faith and dedication to Him. Verse 14: “… the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?”

Gideon’s aspiration for economic freedom was higher than anyone was in his time. He believed that divine intervention could give him economic freedom from his powerful enemies. The Midianites and Amalekites were raging heathens and ruthless. They hated to see God’s people have economic freedom. Those Gentiles allied themselves against them to keep them in poverty. They took their hard labor by destroying their crops and livestock. They did not have sufficient food to feed their families. Judges 6:6: “And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites ….” Verse 2: “… the children of Israel made them … dens … and caves ….” They were too poor to get decent housing because of their powerful enemies destroying them economically. Verses 3-4: “And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them; … and destroyed the increase of the earth … and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.” God will not continue to protect our governmental system that will not assist its most vulnerable people who are working hard, but do not earn enough money to pay their bills. The Midianites rejoiced in seeing the people of God in poverty.

In Ezekiel’s era, in the Old Testament, he declared the old racial hatred of the heathens. God promised to judge them severely. Ezekiel 25:15: “Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred.” The good protestors in our time are God’s army standing up against racial hatred and destruction of people of color. The wise preacher King Solomon said, Ecclesiastes 3:15: “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.”

The Amalekites and the Midianites were extremely arrogant because of their wealth and power. They did not desire to share with those who needed their help. Gideon asked help from God. He prayed earnestly, and God delivered the nation of Israel. God heard his prayers. Jesus declared, St. Luke 18:7: “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?” When we have faith in God, and serve Him with a perfect heart, He will not only fulfill our needs, He will give us the desires of our heart. David proclaimed, Psalm 37:25: “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Gideon’s history is an example for those who serve God with a perfect heart. He did not do anything evil to get his needs met. He dedicated himself to God and prayed. God Himself destroyed his rich and powerful enemies. He was their refuge by fulfilling His word. Psalm 24:1: “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”

Only God could judge their atrocities. Judges 7:12: “And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.” Their enemy’s wealth was an indication of oppression in which they imposed upon Israel. They had innumerable camels. Each camel in those days was equivalent to an expensive top of the line vehicle! God sent Gideon to stand up for righteousness. He did not have to fight in that battle. God fought for him.

There is no victory in large numbers of people. Verse 2: “And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.” Verse 4: “And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.” Gideon sent back thirty one thousand seven hundred people who did not consecrate themselves to be a soldier in the army of God. They did not have faith in God or Gideon. Pitchers, lamps, and quoting the words, which the Lord emphasized to Gideon, were the power of the living God. Paul emphasized this metaphor to Timothy in the New Testament, 2 Timothy 2:4: “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”

Judges 7:22: “And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.” When Gideon’s army blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, divine intervention took over the battle, and the rest of the enemies fled from the presence of Gideon’s army. Gideon’s army consisted of three hundred men, but the Amalekites and Midianites were innumerable. They did not win the war with innumerable warriors because the Lord is a man of war. Judges 8:22-23: “Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you.” Gideon gave glory to God when he said, “I will not rule over you.” It was obvious to him, and to the people who followed him, that only God could give them a miraculous victory. The Lord fought against the wealth and weapons of war of their insurmountable and powerful enemies who allied against poverty-stricken people.

God answered Gideon’s prayer and defeated his oppressors. The weapons of Gideon’s enemies were instrumental in their deaths when the Lord intervened miraculously against them. Hebrews 10:30: “… Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord.”

The New Testament proclaimed that Gideon was a great patriarch of faith. Hebrews 11:32-33: “And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon …. Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises ….”

God blessed Gideon because he had a burden for his people. He was not only concern about the dire poverty of himself and family; the poverty of God’s people at that time also concerned him.

Jesus declared, St. Luke 6:38: “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

St. Mark 12:41-44: “And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing [less than a penny in that era]. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.” The widow woman was never poor again after she gave all that she had to the Lord.

Jesus’ concern was first to the poor. St. Luke 4:18-19: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

The Virgin Mary, who was the mother of Jesus, was the most blessed woman of all times. She was dynamic and emphatic when she revealed to her cousin Elizabeth that the angel of the Lord had appeared to her. St. Luke 1:52-53: “He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.” That was a metaphor of being spiritually empty. They have so much wealth, but do not have any spiritual power to resist the devil when he comes to them with thoughts of wrongdoings. When people of authority kill people, they do not understand that they subsequently kill themselves. St. Matthew 19:18: “Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder ….”

St. Luke 1:50: “And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.” True Christians are the ones who fear and obey the Lord. King David was explicit, Psalm 41:1: “Blessed is he that considereth the poor ….”

Conclusion, the Psalmist reminded humanity in all eras, Psalm 50:22: “Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.”

All Scriptures are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

The above sermon is among Pastor Marilyn Thomas' e-book titled, "DIVINE INTELLIGENCE BEYOND THE HUMAN MIND! ® From The Spiritual University Of God," consisting of sixty sermons. Click here for details at amazon.com, or here at Barnes and Noble.