"If at first you do not know Him"

      ¹¹ Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites. ¹² The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, you mighty warrior." ¹³ Gideon answered him, "But sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian." ¹⁴ Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you." ¹⁵ He responded, "But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." ¹⁶ The LORD said to him, "But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them." ¹⁷ Then he said to him, "If now I have found favor with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. ¹⁸ Do not depart from here until I come to you, and bring out my present, and set it before you." And he said, "I will stay until you return."
     ¹⁹ So Gideon went into his house and prepared a kid, and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour; the meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the oak and presented them. ²⁰ The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so. ²¹ Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. ²² Then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the LORD; and Gideon said, "Help me, Lord GOD! For I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face." ²³ But the LORD said to him, "Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die." ²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it, The LORD is peace.¹

      Before we even get started, the first thing we need to know is that when the Hebrew Bible says "angel of the LORD," it's not talking about a guy with wings. No, the "Malek Yahweh" (and the "Malek Elohim") do not refer to angels but to Almighty God. This is one reason we had to have the voice of Roger this morning.

      We are now into our second week of Unlikely Heroes and Heroines. This week you may well be wondering why we have Gideon as headliner. Here's what old Gideon is famous for:

      1. Cluelessness
      2. Impertinence
      3. Hubris---Challenging the LORD
      4. Waffling

      The Bible tells the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

      Gideon is the fourth judge in the book of Judges, and when we run across him things are not good. In fact, they're awful. The situation is dire. The Israelite people are in hiding. The land and crops have been devastated by the Midians. (Remember the basic story line in the book of Judges? Israel rejects God. God rejects Israel. The people cry out to God for mercy. God raises up a leader. God saves.)

      Our hero is hiding inside a wine press, threshing the little bit of grain he can get his hands on in the middle of a famine. Maybe he doesn't want others to know he's got some. Maybe he doesn't want to be seen by the enemy. Who knows? A winepress was not made for threshing grain.

      If God were making a movie of this, God would definitely cast Woody Allen as Gideon. The booming voice of God greets the trembling, meek Gideon, "GREETINGS, Oh, mighty warrior!"

      Gideon cowers in the corner. He tries to take cover. There is none.

      "Who, me? Are you talking to me? Where have you been? Haven't you been reading the papers, buddy? Don't you know we are under siege here? Heat and drought like no one has ever seen, no crops, no food, and the economy in the toilet? How can you be talking about deliverance when things are so awful? Are you some kind of a comedian?"

      "I have picked YOU to fix this, Gideon."

      "Oh, no, not me. You got the wrong guy. I don't have the connections. I'm a 90 pound weakling. Look at me. Just look!"

      We don't know why Gideon doesn't recognize God as God, he just doesn't. Maybe he was too scared. Maybe he was too preoccupied. Maybe he just wasn't paying attention. Whatever the reason, the tension builds in this story as we, the listeners, know this is GOD speaking to Gideon and Gideon keeps digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole. Clueless.

      One of the most difficult things about living the way we do today, surrounded by creature comforts and technology, is that we have simply lost the ability to recognize liminal moments. Because of this, it makes it really hard to know God. The stress and anxiety of daily life, the breakneck pace we all get caught up in, the way we are bombarded by information, advertising, news, demands and requests, has made it almost impossible for us to notice God. even when God is virtually knocking our door down. It has made it all but impossible for us to know God when we see him.

      We under siege every bit as much as Gideon and the Israelites were, crushed under the giant thumb of the Midian empire. The siege we are under, even if our lives aren't all that busy anymore, is like a spiritual desert where we have all but given up on being able to experience or know God. This is every bit as much a crisis as the loss of land and crops.

      If the LORD is with us, why all this awfulness? We do not recognize messages from God. Our ability to receive and pick up on these messages is next to nil. We often do not take time to listen. Even when we pray, we are so caught up in talking to God, we may not even think about listening for God's still, small voice. We are so caught up in our own occupations and preoccupations, there is absolutely no psychic or spiritual room for an encounter with the divine.

      Even Gideon, though, finally gets it. The encounter with the Malek Yahweh continues. God doesn't leave. God keeps after him. It begins to dawn on Gideon that this may be more than your ordinary drop in visitor. There is an inkling that we catch wind of when Gideon asks the strange visitor for a sign. This could be interpreted as arrogance on Gideon's part ("I won't believe you unless you give me some proof") or as merely a sign of his lack of faith ("I will believe you when I see it.")

      Then something really shifts in the story, when Gideon decides to play the role of the host. "Wait here. I am going to get us something good to eat. Don't move."

      This seems key. Gideon slows down. Gideon hangs in there with this strange messenger. Gideon goes outside himself. He offers generous hospitality. Gideon goes way overboard, like the host who always has triple what is needed for the guest meal. Gideon makes a sacrifice.

      Gideon doesn't truly "get it" until after the sacrificial meal. God provides a sign. A blaze of fire and poof! God disappears. Gideon asked for a sign, and God gave it. God later goes on to use Gideon to lead Israel into victory over the Midianites. God uses the weakling, the un-seeing one, the one who didn't even recognize God staring him in the face, to save God's people.

      I am always suspect when people say "God called me" or "God appointed or anointed me" when the result of this is to make them richer, more powerful, more popular, or better liked. I think we should all be suspect.

      How do we know a message is from God and not just our own desire to confirm what we want or believe or hope for? The story of Gideon gives us some clues:

      1. God often asks people to do things they don't want to do.
      2. God sometimes calls people to do things for which they feel completely unequipped.
      3. God takes us out of our comfort zone.
      4. People do not necessarily end up rich or powerful when they answer God's call. That's not part of the deal.

      It was, finally, in the sacrifice, that Gideon knew and recognized God. It wasn't in victory, or in wealth, or in power, but in sacrifice. Gideon didn't know God at first, but God stuck with him. God kept after him. God kept knocking at his door. Just as God keep after the Israelites. Just as God kept after God's people for so long and to such an extent that he sent Jesus, the one who was described by one my great heroes, Albert Schweitzer:

      "He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake side, He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: "Follow thou me!" and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is." (Albert Schweitzer, Quest for the Historical Jesus.)

      If at first you do not know Him, stop. Listen.

      If at first you do not know Him, wait.

      If at first you do not know Him, look for the sacrifice.

      If at first you do not know Him, be patient. He will reveal himself to you.