Fear Less - Part 2 [Notes]

The phrase, “Don’t be afraid!” appears in the Bible more than any other Biblical command—and for good reason! People of all generations have struggled to trust God when facing difficult or scary situations.

Join us for “Fear Less” and learn from the Biblical stories that can help us face our fears with faith.

Today's Takeaway // When we stand firmly on the promises of God, we can have stability in the midst of fear.

The Hebrew word šōp̱ēṭ has a wider connotation than the English word “judge.” It was a general term for leadership combining the executive (including military) and judicial aspects of governing. Thus the judges of Israel were primarily military and civil leaders, with strictly judicial functions included as appropriate.
– F. Duane Lindsey

The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land I had promised to your ancestors. I also said: I will never break my covenant with you. You are not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You are to tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed me. What have you done?
– Judges 2:1-2 (CSB)

Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a trap for you.” 4 When the angel of the Lord had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. 5 So they named that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the Lord.”
– Judges 2:3-5 (CSB)

God speaks to His children, either through the loving voice of Scripture or the heavy hand of chastening; and if we ignore the first, we must endure the second. One way or another, the Lord is going to get our attention and deal with us…
– Warren Wiersbe

The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. They worshiped the Baals and abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed other gods from the surrounding peoples and bowed down to them. They angered the Lord, for they abandoned him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.
– Judges 2:11-13 (CSB)

The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he handed them over to marauders who raided them. He sold them to the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies.  Whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord was against them and brought disaster on them, just as he had promised and sworn to them. So they suffered greatly.
– Judges 2:14-15 (CSB)

The Lord was moved to pity whenever they groaned because of those who were oppressing and afflicting them.
– Judges 2:18b (CSB)

The Lord raised up judges, who saved them from the power of their marauders…
– Judges 2:16 (CSB)

Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for the Israelites, the Lord was with him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive.
– Judges 2:18a (CSB)

Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly than their ancestors, following other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them. They did not turn from their evil practices or their obstinate ways.
– Judges 2:19 (CSB)

To recap the cycle, Israel would:

• Turn Away from God
• God would allow them to experience Oppression
• Israel would then Turn Back to God
• Being moved with compassion, God would Rescue them at the hands of Judge
• Israel would experience a period of Peace

“The lesson is enforced that it is the sin of the people, their abandonment of Jehovah and persistent idolatry, which entails upon them calamity, from which the Divine long-suffering and forbearance alone makes for them a way of escape.”
– A. S. Geden

“The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”
– Judges 6:1a (CSB)

“So the Lord handed them over to Midian seven years, and they oppressed Israel. Because of Midian, the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people of the east came and attacked them. They encamped against them and destroyed the produce of the land, even as far as Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to eat, as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. For the Midianites came with their cattle and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were without number, and they entered the land to lay waste to it. So Israel became poverty-stricken because of Midian,”
– Judges 6:1b-6a (CSB)

So Israel became poverty-stricken because of Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the Lord. When the Israelites cried out to him because of Midian, the Lord sent a prophet to them.”
– Judges 6:6b-7 (CSB)

The angel of the Lord came, and he sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite.
– Judges 6:11a (CSB)

His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.”
– Judges 6:11b-12 (CSB)

Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the Lord brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”
– Judges 6:13 (CSB)

“Chastening is evidence of God’s hatred for sin and His love for His people. We can’t conceive of a holy God wanting anything less than His very best for His children, and the best He can give us is a holy charac- ter like that of Jesus Christ. Obedience to the Lord builds character, but sin destroys character, and God cannot sit idly by and watch His children destroy themselves…Chastening assures us that we are truly God’s children, that our Father loves us, and that we can’t get away with rebellion.”
– Warren Wiersbe

The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!” He said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.” “But I will be with you,” the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”
– Judges 6:14–16 (CSB)

On that very night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on the top of this mound. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.”
– Judges 6:25-26 (CSB)

So Gideon took ten of his male servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city to do it in the daytime, he did it at night.
– Judges 6:27 (CSB)

“An Asherah pole was a stylized tree that represented the fertility goddess Asherah, Baal’s consort.”
– CSB Study Bible

But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead Baal’s case for him? Would you save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his own case because someone tore down his altar.” That day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, since Joash said, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he tore down his altar.
– Judges 6:31-32 (CSB)

All the Midianites, Amalekites, and people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Jezreel Valley.
– Judges 6:33 (CSB)

The Spirit of the Lord enveloped Gideon, and he blew the trumpet and the Abiezrites rallied behind him. He sent messengers throughout all of Manasseh, who rallied behind him. He also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, who also came to meet him.
– Judges 6:34-35 (CSB)

Then Gideon said to God, “If you will deliver Israel by me, as you said, I will put a wool fleece here on the threshing floor. If dew is only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry, I will know that you will deliver Israel by me, as you said.” And that is what happened. When he got up early in the morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung dew out of it, filling a bowl with water. Gideon then said to God, “Don’t be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece. Let it remain dry, and the dew be all over the ground.” That night God did as Gideon requested: only the fleece was dry, and dew was all over the ground.
– Judges 6:36-40 (CSB)

Plans // Take You at Your Word // Same God // Trust in God

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