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When Gideon heard the angel say,
"The Lord is with thee," he looked up with wonder, and said,
"Is the Lord with us? Then why does He let the Midianites come
and destroy us? Why does He not work miracles for us, as He did for
our fathers and deliver us from our enemies?" The Lord said,
"Go now, I send thee to save Israel from the Midianites."
Gideon was fearful: he had faith in God, but his faith was weak and
small; and he could not believe that he should save Israel.
"How can I save my brethren?" he said; "I am poor; all my
family is poor, and I am the least in my father's house." But
the Lord answered, "I will be with thee; I will give thee power to
smite the Midianites." Gideon
now began to think that it was not a man, nor an angel, who was talking to
him; for neither a man nor an angel could give him power to conquer his
enemies: and he said, "Wilt thou give me a sign, that I may
know who thou art? Stay till I come again, and bring my offering
with me." Then Gideon went into the house, and made ready a
kid, and cakes of flour; he put the flesh into a basket, and the brother
into a pot, and brought all out to the oak tree where the angel was
waiting. The holy angel did not want food to strengthen him, as
weak, sinful men do: but he accepted Gideon's offering, and told him
to lay the flesh and the cakes upon the rock, and to pour out the
broth. Gideon knew not why, but he obeyed; and then the angel of the
Lord touched, with his staff, the flesh and the cakes, and fire came out
of the rock, and consumed them. The angel departed; Gideon knew not
how, nor where; but now he knew who that angel was. Then Gideon
cried with holy fear, "Alas, O Lord, God, for I have seen an angel of
the Lord face to face." But God comforted him, and said,
"Peace be unto thee; fear not, thou shalt not die:" and
Gideon named the place "Jehovah-shalom," or "The Lord send
peace," and built an altar there to the Lord. Gideon
was young and poor, but God did not forget nor despise him. Gideon
wished to serve the Lord, and prayed for health and strength, and God
heard his prayer. God does the same now. He says, "I love
them that love me, and they that seek me early shall find me." Proverbs
13:17. He wishes the young to come to Him; to believe in Jesus, to
pray to Him, to love Him, to give Him all their hearts, all their
affections. Then every thing will be well with them, and God will
give them peace in all their fears and sorrows.
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