Judges 6:1-10; Philippians 1:12-17; Luke 11:29-35

The story of Gideon begins in difficult times. The people have stopped following God and started following the ways of the nations around them. God, in His anger, sets His hand against them to discipline them with seven years of suffering at the hands of their enemies in Midian. It is in the midst of this suffering that we encounter a vision of the heart of God for His people. God will raise up a champion, albeit an unexpected one, and save them in a way that will clearly show both His power and His love. Through these events we will see how this is a smaller version of the story of how God rescued the whole world through another unexpected warrior a few centuries later. Today, we set the scene for Gideon’s story, and see that his times might not be so different than ours today.