Divine strength

Zechariah 4:6 ‘This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.’

This is the promise verse for this year and it reads Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. We cannot walk with our own strength but by the spirit of the Lord. We the children of God must always surrender to the Lord God to be guided by his power. In the Bible we can see many instances where God strengthens his children and led them in their way.  In Judges 6:14 ‘And 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?’ We may hesitate sometimes to proceed with our strength but when our strength unites with the Holy spirit, we will be victorious. In this verse we see the Holy spirit says to proceed with the strength we have. The God who guides us is mightier than everything. When we lean upon him, we can do greater things. We see the Lord strengthened Gideon and guided him. Today, let us meditate on the blessings we receive when we depend upon the divine strength of the Lord.

Strength that delivers

Judges 6:11 ‘And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.’

Here we see Gideon was threshing the wheat to hide it from Midianties who were destroying the crops of Israelites. We read in Judges 6:4 ‘And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth.’ Gideon strives to rescue wheat from Midianites because they threatened to destroy them. It was a crucial situation where Gideon was saving the grains with fear. But the divine strength delivered them. The wheat/grains here refer to the work of our hands. Even in our lives, our savings and earnings are exposed to certain risks. In such fearful situations, the hands of the Lord will deliver us.

We read in Judges 6: 3 ‘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;' We see many people came against the people of Israel and they were observing their work to destroy them. Both Gideon and the Israelites were filled with fear that their enemies might destroy their earnings. Wheat is for our survival/livelihood and in this situation the enemies are coming against their survival. The divine strength of the Lord intervened and changed their fears. Every force that comes against our livelihood will be destroyed by the hands of the Lord. The divine strength of the Lord will continue to protect us. The Lord who delivers us will deliver us and it will strengthen us.

Strength that does mighty things for us

Judges 6:12 ‘And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.’

The Lord knew the situation of Gideon and he motivated him. He called him as a mighty man of valour. Even after knowing the strength of Gideon he called him as a mighty man of valour. He prepared him to do mighty things by saying that the God who makes you mighty is with you. We read in 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, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.’ Gideon started questioning the Lord with self-pity. Gideon uses unwanted phrases and questions. Even after Gideon says all these things in verse thirteen, the Lord did not seem to be bothered. The Lord allows all these situations only to make to become a mighty man of valour. He went on to motivate Gideon in Judges 6:14 ‘And 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?’ The Lord asks Gideon to proceed with the strength of his to save the people of Israel. Even in our lives, we might be like Gideon filled with questions and self-pity. Today, the divine strength is going to intervene in our lives and it is going to lead us.

Strength that does great things

Judges 6:16 ‘And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.’

In this passage the Lord prepares Gideon by saying that ‘Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man’. The Lord assures Gideon that he will defeat the great Midianites as one man. In Judges 6:33 ‘Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.’ As recorded in this verse, we can see the amount of people gathered against the children of God. Our Lord is a God who uses the small ones to defeat the great ones. The Lord chose the weak Gideon and strengthened him to be a mighty man. He made him do great things. Like how the Lord used the little boy David to defeat a giant. According to the scripture, we should belittle all the big problems coming against us. Just like David we just need a pebble to defeat our enemies. As recorded in I Corinthians 1:27-29, the Lord chooses the foolish things in the world to confound the wise. All the big things that come against us, we can easily defeat them as small things. May the Lord strengthen us to pass over mountain-like things with ease. With the strength of the great one, we can do great things.

Strength that gives peace

Judges 6:23-24 ‘And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Jehovahshalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.’

Here we read that Gideon built an altar called Jehovah Shalom. In the place where there is no peace, the divine strength that gives peace is descending. In Judges 6:22 ‘And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face.’ Gideon sees a vision and he petrifies having seen the angel of the Lord face to face. Gideon thought he might not be alive after seeing the angel of the Lord. For a person who concluded that his life has come to an end, the Lord grants peace to him. The divine strength of the Lord removed the fear of Gideon and gives him peace. In these days, the fears of infections are catching us. We have the fear of death every single day. The Lord has called every one of us to be alive to proclaim his righteousness.

In the beginning of Judges 6:1-2, we can understand the power of Midianites was so oppressive. The people of Israel prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. The Midianites ruled over them completely. We might be wondering like the people of Israel looking at the contrary things. The people of Israel were given a promise to be blessed upon the mountain as we read in Deuteronomy 32:13 ‘He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock’ But the situation was different when they climbed the mountains. When the enemies came to destroy their peace, the Lord did not permit them to touch his children. The Lord God fulfilled his promise gave them the blessings he had prepared for his children. He made them inherit the blessings peacefully. As read in John 14:27 ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.’ Nothing and nobody can come against the divine peace of the Lord. Amen.