Day 32 - Jdg 6:23

Do not Fear and Fear God

Jdg 6:23 - But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”

Gideon has just seen an angel of the Lord and the words to Him are, "Do not fear, you shall not die." He would not have been commanded to not fear if their wasn't reason for fear. The angel of the Lord in all his holy array and beauty and glory just set fire to his offering and then disappeared. But the Lord still speaks these kind and gracious words to Gideon who in turn builds an altar before the Lord and names it, "The Lord is peace." What a great reminder that in the midst of fear, if we fear God only, we can have peace, a peace that passes all understanding. As Isaiah 8 attests that when we fear Him, he becomes a sanctuary. This vision of God emboldens Gideon to obey and follow the commands of God to the point where he destroys the altar to Baal that night. The verse belies his true motive by doing it at night: Jdg 6:27 - So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime." These honest words describe not only the condition of the Israelites spiritual state, but also that even seeing an angel of God, Gideon was still filled with fear. Whether it was a statement of his shrewdness, the reality of the present state of the the Israelites, or true cowardly fear, Gideon still gets the job done and it is an encouragement to us that God is gracious with fearful people like us.