Another role modeled for us in Scripture of a true man of God is to be a warrior. This word often brings images of brutality and death. However, God called many men to rise to be warriors whom he also affirmed as being obedient servants of him. We learn what God is seeking in a warrior by looking at those he used in this role for his glory.
A man we will consider does not look much like a warrior when God finds him. In Judges 6, the Midianites were oppressing Israel. God needed someone to rescue them, and he chose Gideon. But where he finds him does not bode well for a man who would save a nation. When the angel of the Lord found him, Gideon was threshing grain while hiding in a whine press. To understand what is happening, picture a man who has a basket of harvested grain at his feet which he puts on a screen and tosses in the air, so the chaff is blown away from the good grain. This happens while he is hiding in a pit used to catch the wine when it is pressed from the grapes.
To his defense, if he did not work this way, the Bible says the Midianites would steal his grain that he and his family needed to survive. The irony comes when the angel of the Lord addresses Gideon from the side of the pit with God’s plan which is recorded in Judges 6:11, When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” At this point, Gideon did not look very mighty nor like a warrior. This paradoxical situation was affirmed more fully when we consider Gideon’s reply to God’s call. In verse 14, the angel reveals the warrior role God intends for Gideon to fulfill in saving Israel from the Midianites. God even promises he will go before him. This is Gideons reply from verses 15, “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” He made excuses! Then before Gideon would act, he asked God three times for a miraculous sign to affirm God’s plan.
But this turned around with one act from God’s hand revealed in verse 34, “Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.” Gideon did not become a warrior because he mustered his own courage or bravery. He only became a warrior through an act of faith that accepted the presence of God in his life and chose to trust that God would do what he said he would do. With his faith in the right place, Gideon marched against an army of 144,000 enemy soldiers with just 300 men armed with torches, trumpets, and water pitchers. With this unlikely scenario, God restored Israel by using a man who became the great warrior God called him to be.
As men of God, he has given us this same call. Your enemy is not a foreign army, it is much more formidable. Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” These are all the demonic forces at Satan’s disposal, and they are in full battle gear to defeat you. You are attacked in your own life through temptation, discouragement, fear, and anger that results from uncontrollable circumstances, and even physical pain. Your family is under the same attack as is your church and all those you care about.
As a man, the responsibility is yours for the defense against these attacks. You are to be the warrior on whom God can depend. You can only come through in this responsibility when you accept the presence of God’s Spirit in your life through an act of faith. You must also accept the weapons God provides for the battle. In verse 17 of Ephesians 6, we see what these weapons are, “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” There may be fear. You may feel at times like hiding in the pit of self-doubt and even wondering if God is there. It is then you must buckle on the armor, take up the sword and face the enemy head on. Be a warrior!