Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” – Judges 6:11-13

It’s a familiar story, the calling of Gideon. I also think it’s a familiar happening, if we can but see it. I think this happens all the time, albeit not usually with the outwardly spectacular results that happened in Gideon’s case (read Judges 8-9).

But this happens. Perhaps it has happened to you.

There are a few things we can discern about Gideon even in this short passage. First, he’s scared, threshing his wheat in a winepress. I’ve had some experience with wheat, and a wheat thresher/combine. I’m also insanely allergic to wheat dust. Threshing wheat in an enclosed winepress would be miserable for me, and my guess is it wasn’t much fun for Gideon either. He was hiding because he was scared. Unless you’re in a child’s game, hiding is never much fun, and generally only done in grave necessity. Hiding demonstrates anxiety, fear of being found out, terror.

Many of us live in fear. Fear of the future, fear of enemies, fear of circumstances, the wrong kind of fear of God. This happens.

In the midst of this the Angel of the Lord appears, bringing joyful tidings of the Lord’s presence, and royal compliments to Gideon’s valor. Who is this Angel of the Lord? Bible scholars call this appearance a theophany, meaning a pre-incarnate visitation by Christ himself.

Gideon responds to the Lord with no small measure of cynicism and bitterness. “If the Lord is with us, why?”. That’s ironic, to say the least, because the Lord was standing right there. But Gideon couldn’t see. He didn’t perceive the Lord’s presence. This happens. It might happen to you, more than you think. We are, many of us, even as believers, dull of sight regarding the presence of the Lord. It’s common as believers to intellectually assent to God’s omnipresence and Jesus’ promise to be with us always, especially when all is well. But when you’re scared and at your wits end, you’ve got to know it in your gut. Gideon didn’t know it, not yet. In his defense, I often don’t either. This happens.

But here’s the beautiful thing that happens! The Lord God has no fear, and has perfect sight, and is infinitely valiant! He sees his children not as they see themselves, but rather as he has made them to be. You and I don’t often perceive the workmanship that we are, partly because we’re locked into time. So what we may only see as a half-formed and useless block of, well, something, God sees as a glorious work of art. God is not blinkered as we are,

“The Lord is with you, O might man of valor.” True words, though Gideon did not yet understand them.

This happens. I hope it has happened to you. It happens when God’s presence breaks into your despair. It happens when you find yourself used by him in ways you never would have thought possible, for things you never thought you could do. It happens when he saves you out of desperate straits and sets your feet on solid ground. It happens when God transforms you into a beautiful vessel of light and blessing to others, his courage courses through you, and against all odds the obstacles fall and his kingdom expands.

The story of Gideon gives me a hunger to have the Lord’s valor and to see his delivering work.

After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”

As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.” Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. – 1 Samuel 1:1-18

Have you ever longed for something so badly that it hurt?

We humans have a problem with God. At least most of us do. It’s the problem of time.

Back in the day, I remember watching spy movies or military/action movies, and there was always that moment after the mission had been fully described, when the protagonists would exchange meaningful, determined glances and then one would growl “synchronize watches”. This was before precision, digital time pieces synchronized by satellite to the atomic clock. Back in those days, people had to get their watches all set to the same time so that each member of the team would know when the next step in the mission was to occur.

Most of us love ourselves and have a wonderful plan for our lives. We’d like that plan to unfold, post-haste, and so we look to God in prayer and, though we dress it up in spiritual language, what we’re really saying is “OK God, let’s get this mission started. Synchronize watches”. Unfortunately, for many of us, God’s watch, his timing, doesn’t synchronize with ours.

It’s tough to wait. It’s tough to see others wait, especially when they look to you to tell them why God isn’t answering. Hannah had been waiting a long time to receive the son that she longed for.

A few things to keep in mind:

1. It’s not wrong to desire things of the Lord. He is the Giver of all good things. Now, I’m not saying that our desires are always good, or that everything we want is good. It’s important to ask ourselves why we desire something. The answer may surprise us. Often our desires are wrong or misguided. But it may be the case that God has placed the desire in your heart for a reason.

Yes, it’s a bad thing to look at God as a cosmic ATM, where we punch up what we want and it gets delivered. Plus, he isn’t going to demean himself and destroy you by being that for you anyway. But it is also misguided to assume that all your desires are selfish. For reasons that we’ll soon see, Hannah’s desire wasn’t.

2. Persistence and pain in prayer is normal for one seeking the Lord. Prayer is hard work. It’s harder work than most of us know. Hannah poured her soul out before the Lord. As my pastor mentioned last Sunday, one side effect of this is that it turned Hannah into a theologian. Just read the first part of 1 Samuel 2 to see what I mean. Rather than holding what’s in our heart inside, it is infinitely better to pour it out to the Lord. This is being real before God. And we learn, at his gentle hand, to sort out the ungodly desires from those that please him.

Look at the heroes of Scripture. They wept and pleaded and bled in prayer. And God used them mightily.

3. The gift is often received in faith before it is received in life. “Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.” Hannah had not yet conceived, but still the promise from God spoken through the less-than-Godly and hitherto relatively clueless prophet Eli spoke to her spirit. Hannah knew God, and so she knew when the promise was given, before she conceived. The sense of the passage is not that she mentally forced herself to believe she had received, or to claim she had the promise. She just knew.

4. God’s purposes will blow your mind. The story of Scripture is God surprising his people with the enormity and creativity of his plan. Hannah prayed urgently and with many tears for a son, and I believe this urgency was from God. And through this faithful woman God brought forth Samuel, who was such a pivotal player in the life of the nation of Israel.

God wanted Hannah to pray, and pray hard, for a son. He had plans for Israel and Samuel was extremely important to those plans. Hannah didn’t know this, but she did know the desire, and she did have a heart to take her desire to the only One who could fulfill it. As believers, we so often stand dumbfounded in the early light of the first day of the week, in the first dawn of incomprehensible joy before an empty tomb, still not understanding the promises of our Lord.

Pour out your soul to God. Give him your desires. Let him replace the ones that don’t please and honor him. Who knows what God can do through the answers you will receive?

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:10-12 (ESV)

Do you notice in this passage, this “finally” passage of Ephesians as Paul wraps up that glorious epistle, the “embiggening” of the battle we face as Christians?

We are more than conquerors, but we still have a battle to fight within which we will conquer. Paul is here reminding us of this, but, at least for me, he is also attempting to lift our eyes; he is getting us to see how big this battle really is.

The battle takes strength. And not our strength. We’re to be strong in the Lord, and in his strength. This battle will require armor for protection. But not our armor. His armor. And not just part of it. The whole armor of God is called for.

We’ll have to stand against our enemy. And not just any enemy. We’re standing against the evil one, the devil. And not just against the lesser parts of his power. It’s not the popularized head-spinning, green spewing, “Gettttt Outtttt”ing of pop culture demon-lore that we’re to fight, at least not usually. We’re to stand against the schemes, the “wiles” of this being who, in the category of evil brilliance, towers over every would-be human schemer and planner of evil. This enemy is Satan, who schemed Adam and Eve right out of the garden and right out of fellowship with God with a piece of fruit. That’s who we’re to stand against.

And, on a wider scale, we’re set against not just any set of enemies. Certainly not enemies of flesh and blood. If our enemies were other people – and, tragically, a lot of us live our lives as though other people are our enemies – well, that would be a battle we could probably handle on our own. But our enemies are the unseen rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, immortal and unfathomably wicked demonic forces of evil that Satan took with him when he rebelled against the Lord. And they positively hate us.

This is a big battle. Do you feel small? Powerless? I think that is half of the Holy Spirit’s desire in this passage penned through Paul. The other half of his desire is to cause us to lift our eyes to our mighty Captain, our great Savior and Lord, who has put our enemies under his feet. In him, and only in him, we are more than conquerors.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. – Colossians 2:13-15 (ESV, emphasis mine)

I have an end of year devotional up, at Thinklings: On This Last Day of the Year.

May you have a wonderful, God-filled 2011.