Judges 6

Judges 6:11  Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day at the gym.  Most people at the gym don’t know that I’m a pastor – they just know that I teach group fitness so they don’t usually ask.  But the other day I made reference to our church having Vacation Bible School and my friend and I started to talk about church and I was found out.  You see when people find out that I’m a pastor one of two things usually happens.  Either I start getting the “life story” of how they grew up in the church and somehow they have gotten away from it over the years or they look at me strangely, end the conversation quickly, and make a dash to the closest exit.

Well my friend went with the “life story” route.  She shared how she grew up in the church, got away from it, but then once she had kids, her family started attending regularly.  And now – she finally gets it.  She understands salvation and gave her life to Christ.  Well – to tell the truth, I did a mental “wait a minute.”  This person is nice enough, but has a gruff exterior.  She rarely has a smile and complaints are quicker out of her mouth than compliments.  In my mind it didn’t add up.

It reminded me of one of my favorite people in the Bible, Gideon.  I love Gideon!  I love how he is timid, how he complains at the angel, and how God eventually turns him into a Mighty Man of Valor.  But Gideon started out afraid.  He had heard the stories of God and His greatness.  How God had brought his ancestors through so much.  But Gideon was, “beating out wheat in the winepress.”  A winepress was usually at a low point on your property.  It was well hidden so no one could see when you were pressing grapes and making wine.  Wine was expensive and you didn’t want your neighbors to know what was going on.  On the other hand, beating out wheat was the process of separating the wheat from the chaff.  Usually this was done at a high place.  You would toss the wheat and chaff up in the air and the chaff would blow away in the wind and the wheat would settle back down.  But this was typically done in the open so the chaff would have a chance to blow away.

Gideon was afraid – he wanted to hide what he was doing from the Midianites.  Kind of like my friend.  She seems to be hiding her faith from the world.  I’m not sure why yet – if it’s fear or uncertainty, but her light is definitely not shining for the world to see.

Eventually Gideon gets over his fear (or at least he does what God asks of him while being afraid).  We need to get over our fears and do what God is asking us to do (or maybe just do it with a little fear!)  Our light needs to shine.  We need to look different than the world does.  People should be able to spot us and realize there is something different.  Different in how we approach the day, different in how we treat other people, different in how we live our lives.  We need to be beating out wheat from the highest hill for everyone to see!!

As you go through your day – make sure to let your light shine!

I’m praying for you!

Pastor Amy