Its the story of Gideon in Judges 6 and on, that made me pounder on the situation of our nation and the Christians that are in it!

So, what was the situation of Gideon and why was he acting as he was.

The nation
1 The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord handed them over to Midian seven years, 2 and they oppressed Israel. Because of Midian, the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the Qedemites came and attacked them. 4 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. 5 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 waste it. 6 So Israel became poverty-stricken because of Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the Lord.

God
7 When the Israelites cried out to Him because of Midian, 8 the Lord sent a prophet to them. He said to them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I brought you out of Egypt and out of the place of slavery. 9 I delivered you from the power of Egypt and the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you: I am Yahweh your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites whose land you live in. But you did not obey Me.’ ”

Gideon
11The Angel of the Lord came, and He sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the wine vat in order to hide it from the Midianites.

Now, first of all, let us agree that the reason of our oppressing situation today has nothing to do with this evil world that does not like us. It has EVERYTHING to do with disobedience, with stubbornness and with contentment!

So before we start pointing to the wrong person, in order to win this battle, we have to take responsibility and acknowledge our part of the deal.

Disobedience made God think and act… as He hand us over to…

It really helps us to address our prayers and our fight!

We might think that we were doing great in OUR OWN eyes, but according to this scripture, the evil here was IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD, about His laws and assignments to the nation!

So, in the crying out, there needs to be an awe ness of guilt, of responsibility and not of pity-partying! 

Observing the atmosphere in this nation, I notice that there somehow seems to be an agreement with the situation of oppression, not really understanding the nature of our identity in Christ and causing us to be smart in our hiding places. I tend to say that a prison is still a prison even despite the fact that we have put beautiful wallpaper on the walls. The intimidating way a government make laws and rules that limit the way we can operate can of course lead to trying to cope with it in a smart way. If we can not be in the open we find a way to do in anyway, forgetting that we make a BIG laugh of ourself. We forget that “the enemy” is observing the “progress” and they know our seasons and just come in on the right moment to again hit our hope and get rid of it by destroying the harvest.

No matter how “smart” we move in the present situation, it is only surviving and nothing more. With it it is creating a poor legacy of weakness and intimidation for the generations that follow.

So here is Gideon, dealing with wheat in a wine press, knowing that the season was not for the wine so they would not come and check that place. Smart but…

Gideon was part of the intimidated generation that at least did not wanted to go under but lacked the boldness to change the situation.

12 Then the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” 13 Gideon said to Him, “Please Sir, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all His wonders that our fathers 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.”
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not sending you? ” 15 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 house.”
16 “But I will be with you,” the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”

His reaction to all the praise the Angel of the Lord addressed him with was exactly as I described it, a reacting off disappointment which gave a real insight in his thought process: “Please Sir, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about? “

He struggled with the difference between the stories of old and the absence of their reality today. It was talking around the campfire, with a wonderful Blues song on the background, pity partying and weakening the generations to follow. WHERE ARE THE WONDERS YOU TALKED ABOUT?

Today
Now let us be clear, those generations that were talking about the good old days also were the ones that have been building the idols that God is going to address in a minute!

It seems to me that a generation is going to be called, not just to restore the peaceful environment of old but specifically is going to get rid of some Holy Cows!

Being part of the huge and encouraging prayer movement in the nation, I fear the fact that the cry we are sending up lacks the responsibility of drifting away and building our own way of serving our self created image of who we believe today God is! I fear the fact that we do not recognise the assignment God is giving to the Gideons in the Wine Press to deliver but first are called to destroy the focus of our worship!

While I have met them, I observed their struggle to recognise the “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior,” moment and are seeking a way to get confirmation for the intense assignment God is giving them. I felt to agree, encourage and support them, coming from outside the culture, to do it THE KINGDOM way and to fear Him and not them!

Understand that destroying the IDOL of your FATHERS is not the first thing a son would sign up for!

The Story of a nation, locked up in smartness and obeying ungodly laws, agreeing with an atmosphere that is far, far away of what God has for the nation of Sweden. I read daily the Words God speak over the nation in order not to get content and act smart in the way we called out the prison over the nation. 

Its time to respect the ANGEL in the WINEPRESS in order to receive the word and assignment to go out, destroy and deliver a nation in bondage.

O yes, the story goes on and I hope with the introduction I made, in order to bring it a bit closer to our current situation, that you will read it with different eyes!

The Moral of the Story
It’s the few that will be the first and in that way, let us prepare to follow them in God’s timing!