The more closely we study the narrative of the Lord's dealings with
Gideon, the more we must be struck with the marvelous way in which He
prepares him for his after course. Like all God's servants, in all
ages, Gideon had to undergo a course of secret training and
discipline, ere he was fit to appear in public. The space of time
occupied in this training may vary, as may also the character of the
discipline; but of this we may rest assured that all who will be used
of God in public must be taught of God in private. It is a fatal
mistake for any one to rush into prominence without proper equipment,
and that equipment can only be attained in the secret of the divine
presence. It is in profound and hallowed retirement with God that
vessels are filled, and instruments fitted for His work.
Let us never forget this. Moses had to spend forty years at "the back
side of the desert" ere he was fit to enter upon his public career.
David had to feed his father's flock, ere he was called to rule the
nation of Israel. He slew a lion and a bear in secret, ere he was
called to slay Goliath in public. The great apostle of the Gentiles
spent three years in Arabia, notwithstanding his very remarkable
conversion and call. The apostles spent three years and a half in
companionship with their Master, and then had to tarry until they were
endued with power from on high. Thus it has been with all those who
have ever been called to occupy a prominent place in the Lord's work;
and even the blessed Master Himself--though surely needing no
training or discipline, inasmuch as He was ever perfect,--to set us an
example, spent thirty years in retirement ere He came forth in public.
All this is full of most wholesome instruction for our souls. Let us
seek to take it in and profit by it. No one can ever get on in public
work without this private teaching in the school of Christ. It is this
which gives depth, solidity, and mellowness to the character. It
imparts a tone of reality and a fixedness of purpose most desirable in
all who engage in any department of the Lord's work. It will
invariably be found that where anyone goes to work without this divine
preparation, there is shallowness and instability. There may perhaps
for a time be more flash and show in those superficial characters than
in those who have been educated in the school of Christ; but it never
lasts. It may create a momentary sensation, but it soon passes away
like the morning cloud or the early dew. Nothing will stand but that
which is the direct result of private communion with God--secret
training in His presence--the excellent discipline of the school of
God.
Let us see how all this is exemplified in Gideon's case. It is very
evident that this honored servant was called to pass through deep
exercises of soul before ever he took a single step in public action,
yea, before he ever unfurled the standard of testimony in his father's
house. He had to begin with himself, with his own personal condition,
with his own heart. Those who will be used for others must begin with
themselves. So Gideon found it. Let us pursue his history.
"And the Lord said unto Gideon, Surely I will be with thee, and thou
shalt smite the Midianites as one man. And he said unto Him, If now I
have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest
with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and
bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And He said, I will
tarry till thou come again. And Gideon went in and made ready a kid,
and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour; the flesh he put in a
basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto Him
under the oak, and presented it. And the angel of God said unto him,
Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and lay them upon this rock,
and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put
forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh
and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock and
consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the
Lord departed out of his sight. And when Gideon perceived that he was
an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! for because I
have seen an angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said unto
him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die" (Judges vi.
16-23).
Here we reach a profoundly interesting stage of Gideon's preparatory
course. He is called to enter practically and experimentally into the
great and universal law for the servants of God, namely, "When I am
weak, then I am strong." This is a most precious law, and one which
forms an indispensable element in the education of all Christ's
servants. Let no one imagine that he can ever be used in the Lord's
work, or ever make progress in the divine life, without some measure
of real entrance into this invaluable principle. We hold it to be
absolutely essential in forming the character of the true servant of
Christ. Where it is not known, where it has not been felt, where it
has not been to some extent realized, there is sure to be
unsubduedness, unbrokenness, self-occupation, in some form or another.
There will be more or less of self-confidence, and various points and
angles turning up here and there, and acting as a sad hindrance to all
that is good, useful, and holy.
On the other hand, when one has learnt that great family motto quoted
above--when one has learnt, in the divine presence to say, "When I am
weak, then I am strong,"--when nature has been weighed in the balance
of the sanctuary, there you will always find a measure of brokenness,
softness, and tenderness of spirit; and not only so, but also
largeness of heart, and readiness for every good work, and that lovely
elasticity of mind which enables one to rise above all those petty,
selfish considerations, which so sadly hinder the work of God. In
short, the heart must first be broken, then made whole; and, being
made whole, be undividedly given to Christ and to His blessed service.
It is impossible to run the eye along the brilliant array of Christ's
workmen, and not see the truth of this. Moses, Joshua, David, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, in Old Testament times; and Peter,
Paul, and John, in those of the New, all stand before us as vivid
illustrations of the value of broken material. All those beloved and
honored servants had to be broken in order to be made whole--to be
emptied in order to be filled--to learn that, of themselves, they
could do nothing, in order to be ready, in Christ's strength, for
anything and everything.
Such is the law of the household--the law of the vineyard--the law of
the kingdom. So Gideon found it in his day. His "alas!" was followed
by Jehovah's "Peace; fear not," and then he was ready to begin. He had
been brought face to face with the angel of God, and there he learnt
not only that his family was poor in Manasseh, and he the least in his
father's house, but that in himself he was perfectly powerless, and
that all his springs must be found in the living God. Priceless lesson
this, for the son of Joash, and for us all!--a lesson not to be learnt
in the schools and colleges of this world, but only in the deep and
holy retirement of the sanctuary of God.
And now let us see what was Gideon's first act after his fears were
hushed, and his soul filled with divine peace. His very first act was
to build an altar. "Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord,
and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the
Abi-ezrites." He takes the happy place of a worshiper, and his worship
is characterized by the revelation of the divine character. He calls
his altar by that precious title, "The Lord send peace." He had gone
through many and deep exercises of soul--exercises which none can know
save those who are called out into a prominent place amongst God's
people. He felt the ruin and the weakness of all around him. He felt
the fallen and humiliating condition of his beloved people. He felt
his own littleness, yea, his own emptiness, and nothingness. How could
he come forward? How could he smite the Midianites? How could he save
Israel? Who was sufficient for these things? It is all very well for
those persons who live an easy, irresponsible kind of life; who know
not the toils, the cares, and anxieties connected with the public
service of Christ and the testimony for His name in an evil day. These
know nothing of Gideon's painful exercises of soul; nothing of the
pressure upon his spirit as he looked forth from beneath the shade of
his father's oak-tree, and contemplated the dangers and
responsibilities of the battle-field. They can enter but feebly into
the meaning of those words of one high up in the school of Christ, "We
had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in
ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead."
These are weighty words for all Christ's servants; but we must be His
servants in reality, in order to enter into their deep significance.
If we are content to live a life of indolence and ease, a life of
self-seeking and self-pleasing, it is impossible for us to understand
such words, or indeed to enter into any of those intense exercises of
soul through which Christ's true-hearted servants and faithful
witnesses, in all ages, have been called to pass. We invariably find
that all those who have been most used of God in public have gone
through deep waters in secret. It is as the sentence of death is
written practically upon _self_, that the power of resurrection-life
in Christ shines out. Thus Paul could say to the Corinthians, "Death
worketh in us; but life in you." Marvelous words! Words which let us
into the profound depths of the apostle's ministry. What a ministry
must that have been which was carried on upon such a principle as
this! What power! what energy! Death working in the poor earthen
vessel, but streams of life, heavenly grace, and spiritual power
flowing into those to whom he ministered.
This, reader, we may depend upon it, is the true secret of all
effective ministry. It is an easy matter to talk about ministry; to
set up to be ministers of Christ; but oh, how has the professing
Church departed from the divine reality of ministry! Alas! the heart
sinks at the bare thought of it. Where are the Pauls, the Gideons, and
the Joshuas? Where are the deep heart-searchings and profound soul
exercises which have characterized Christ's servants in other days? We
are flippant and wordy, shallow and empty, self-sufficient and
self-indulgent. Need we wonder at the small results? How can we expect
to see life working in others when we know so little about death
working in us?
May the eternal Spirit stir us all up, and work in us a more powerful
sense of what it is to be the true-hearted, single-eyed, devoted
servants of Jesus Christ!