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0:20 When God wants to do an impossible task, he takes an impossible person and crushes him. 0:26 Leave room in your life for the crushings, because that's part of the curriculum that very few people will tell you about. 0:31 Now, guys, I can't remember where I heard this quote for the first time, but it is a quote that Chuck Swindah gave at a conference as he was summarizing some things that he had heard from another pastor named Alan Redpath. 0:41 And this quote really has just been stuck in my brain because I'm constantly surrounded by stories of men who are feeling absolutely crushed by their circumstances. 0:48 And they don't see any way out or any purpose in the crushing. 0:51 And I'm here to tell you this week that there is always a purpose in the crushing. 0:56 And there's a very important caveat here if you are obedient to the call of God. 1:02 This week on the Daily Blade, we're looking at historical figures from the Bible and how God used their crushing for his glory. 1:08 On Monday, we looked at Nehemiah. 1:10 Yesterday we took a look at Moses, and today we're going to be looking at Gideon. 1:14 So before we get to Gideon, we have to look at kind of the whole downward spiral of Israel leading up to his time. 1:19 So if you go to the early parts of the book of Judges, we see that the Israelites pursued evil in God's sight. 1:25 They abandoned the same God that delivered them from Egypt. 1:28 They began to worship false gods. 1:30 And God isn't exactly a huge fan of that. 1:32 So he delivered them over to their enemies. 1:34 So God raised up judges to save Israel from those enemies and oppressors. 1:39 And there was kind of a you know rinse and repeat pattern of this. 1:42 So when each judge would die, Israel would turn their back on God. 1:47 They would go back to idolatry, and then they would become corrupt, and then they would refuse to abandon their stubborn ways, and then there would just be this cycle of stupidity and unfaithfulness. 1:55 And as we march towards the story of Gideon, we see that the people of Israel were under the oppressive control of the Midianites for seven years. 2:03 Okay. 2:04 So if we go to Judges chapter six, in verse 11, it tells us that Gideon, this is a quote here, Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press to hide it from the Midianites. 2:15 Okay, we actually need to pause right here because in our modern day we don't really understand what uh the beating out of wheat or the threshing of wheat, we don't know what that process was like and why someone would do it in a wine press and why that would even be odd. 2:26 So essentially, if you were threshing wheat, you would do that above ground, where the wind could actually help you, you know, separate out the different contents of what you're working with, right? 2:35 That kind of helps you do the whole job. 2:37 So to do it in a wine press, underground, would be incredibly foolish and make the job almost impossible. 2:43 And Gideon was doing this because he was terrified that if he did the process above ground, that the Midianites would see him and that they would, you know, I don't know what, smack him around or something like that. 2:53 So now let's get to verse 12. 2:55 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor. 3:02 Now, this is obviously very funny because Gideon was so afraid of the Midianites that he was threshing wheat underground, but then the angel of the Lord, which may or may not be the preincarnate Christ, calls him mighty man of valor. 3:16 I mean, that's pretty on the nose, right? 3:17 I mean, you're literally doing something in a cowardly way, but you're being called a mighty man of valor. 3:23 But here's the thing Gideon wasn't acting in a cowardly manner for no reason. 3:28 Like he was part of the same group of people that had been crushed and oppressed for seven years by the Midianites. 3:34 I mean, the guy was scared, and you can't really blame him for being scared. 3:37 I mean, during those seven years of crushing oppression, Gideon was actually being prepared for something, but he didn't know that. 3:44 And God had something more for Gideon, but he needed to give Gideon the time to get ready. 3:49 And it wasn't immediate for Gideon, even after this call. 3:52 You know, he's called by the Lord. 3:53 He still had some flashes of cowardice along the way, and you can read about it in the book of Judges. 3:58 But if we go to Judges 7, we see that Gideon was going to militarily oppose the Midianites. 4:04 But God knew that if the Israelite army defeated the Midianites, the Israelites would eventually just boast in themselves, like they had done it, right? 4:11 They would think they had got the job done. 4:12 They didn't really need God. 4:13 So God wasn't having that. 4:15 He eventually tells Gideon that he is going to reduce his 22,000-man army down to just 300 men. 4:22 And at that point, the only way possible for that group of men to win would be if God had a hand in the outcome. 4:29 So in Judges 7, it shows us that 300 men under Gideon's leadership won the battle. 4:34 God had delivered the Midianites into the hands of the Israelites. 4:37 And so at this point, you might think that Gideon may still have missed out on the opportunity to give credit where credit was due. 4:43 But if you go to Judges 8, verse 22 and 23, we see that God had finally gotten through to Gideon. 4:49 Here we go. 4:50 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian. 4:59 Verse 23. 5:01 Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you. 5:07 The Lord will rule over you. 5:10 And how was Gideon able to have this perspective? 5:14 I mean, my contention would be that it was because of the crushing that he experienced. 5:18 He experienced a crushing that could only be overcome by the work and the power of the Lord. 5:23 I would even say that had Gideon not experienced the fear and cowardice that he had earlier in his life and the crushing oppression, he likely would have made a bunch of different decisions. 5:33 He probably wouldn't have trusted the Lord to lead his men to victory. 5:36 He probably wouldn't have reduced his fighting force to the number that God said. 5:40 And even if he had experienced the victory, he likely would have taken the opportunity to get some credit for himself, right? 5:47 Instead, he trusted the Lord. 5:50 And he saw God in a very mighty way use his crushing for good. 5:56 So, guys, are you experiencing oppression right now? 5:59 Have you been in a long period of confusion? 6:02 Do you feel like you're being crushed by your circumstances? 6:05 Can you sense that God is wanting you to do something that doesn't seem to make sense, but that shows your complete reliance on him? 6:13 Just know that if God is telling you to do something, he's not doing it for no reason. 6:18 I mean, that may seem obvious, but I've just had too many conversations with other men and too many thoughts in my own brain that cut directly against what God would have us to do. 6:27 So, men, hear me. 6:29 Leave room for the crushing. 6:32 It's on the other side of the crushing where we will experience victory.