Fear And Worship

Also I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My voice.’ ” Judges 6:10 NKJV

Judges Chapter 6 begins the story of Gideon. He was one of Israel’s Judges who helped deliver Israel from the hand of the Midianites. The chapter begins by informing us of the reason for the prevailing situation.

Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years. Judges 6:1 NKJV

The oppression by the Midianites was heavy and quite interesting. They didn’t brutalize the people physically or hold them captive rather they ravaged Israel’s land. They destroyed Israel’s source of livelihood. They ensured there was no food for the Israelites and their crops. It was economic oppression. They made Israel poor. Sound familiar? Poverty tends to become a very effective tool of control and enslavement. Yet it is also a very deceptive one. You are in your own land but you are in bondage.

No wonder Israel cries out to God for help, and God answers. The first thing God does is to remind them the reason for their bondage.

And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, ⁸ that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of ^[b]bondage; ⁹ and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. ¹⁰ Also I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My voice.’” Judges 6:7-10 NKJV

Verse 10 points to something quite interesting. God reminds them that He had commanded them NOT TO FEAR the gods of the Amorites in whose land they dwell. Israel had disobeyed this command. As a result, they ended up worshipping these gods and bringing God’s judgment upon themselves. In Judges 6:25 we see that Gideon’s Father had an altar of Baal.

In numerous places in the scriptures, we are instructed to fear the LORD. This is because of the indistinguishable relationship between Fear and worship. What you fear you will easily worship.

⁷ saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water. “Revelation 14:7 NKJV

If you fear men you will worship them. If you revere money you will worship mammon.

God did not want them to fall into the snare of fearing the gods of the Amorites because this would lead them down the wrong path. They disobeyed and we see the result.

It is also interesting that we see a lot in the story that has to be overcome. It is almost as if there is a prevailing sense of fear over the land. God has to battle this fear in Gideon and in the nation.

Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites .Judges 6:11 NKJV

Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.”²³ Then the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.” Judges 6:23 NKJV

So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him. But because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night. Judges 6:27 NKJV

Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.’ ” And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained. Judges 7:3 NKJV

 It happened on the same night that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. ¹⁰ But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, Judges 7:10 NKJV

The Nation had disobeyed God’s instruction not to fear and this had led to idolatry and bondage.

May the Fear of the LORD be so strong in our lives that we lose the fear of other things in our lives.