BibleBlox
23. gideon
/ judges 6-8 /
/ listen as you follow along /
The Israelite people were having a very hard time. 😞 Every year, mean 😠 people called the Midianites would come and steal their food. 🥘 Farmers would hide their crops 🌽 and animals 🐄 because the Midianites would take everything!
An Israeli man named Gideon was collecting wheat 🌾 in a secret place so the bad 😒 guys wouldn't see him. He was worried 😧 and scared. 😱 But then something incredible happened! An angel 😇 of God appeared to him and said, "God is with you, mighty hero!" 🦸🏻
Gideon was surprised. 😮 He said, "Me? A hero? 🦸🏻 I'm from the smallest family in my tribe, and I'm the least important person in my family!" But God saw something special in Gideon that Gideon couldn't see in himself.
God asked Gideon to save his people from the Midianites. To help Gideon believe, God did something amazing! Gideon brought a gift 🎁 of food, 🍱 and when the angel 😇 touched it with a special stick, fire 🔥 came out of a rock 🪨 and burned up the food! This was God's way of showing Gideon that He was really talking to him.
Gideon was still a little unsure, so he asked God for two 2️⃣ special signs. First, he put a wool fleece on the ground and asked God to make the fleece wet 💦 with dew but keep the ground dry. The next morning, that's exactly what happened! Then Gideon asked for the opposite - the fleece to be dry and the ground to be wet. Again, God did exactly what Gideon asked!
When it was time to fight, ⚔️ God did something strange. Gideon had 32,000 soldiers, but God said the army was too big. He wanted everyone to know that He 🙌 would save them, not the soldiers' strength. So God told Gideon to send home anyone who was afraid. 😳 22,000 soldiers went home! Then God had Gideon make another test. Only 300 brave men stayed - they were the ones who carefully watched while drinking water, 💧 instead of getting down on their knees.
With just 300 men, Gideon gave each man a trumpet, 🎺 a clay pot, 🥘 and a torch 🔥 hidden inside the pot. At night, 🌚 they surrounded the enemy's huge camp. 🏕️ Suddenly, they blew their trumpets, broke their pots, and shouted, "A sword 🗡️ for the Lord and for Gideon!" The enemy soldiers got so confused and scared that they started fighting each other! They ran away, 🏃🏼♂️💨 and Gideon's tiny group won the whole battle!
The people were amazed. They saw that God could do big things with just a few people who trusted Him. 🎉 Gideon showed that even someone who feels small and scared can be brave 💪 when God helps them.
22. jericho / 23. gideon / 24. samson
