Fears God, Not Man

Fears God, Not Man

A HERO’S TALE

With God’s help, Gideon won a mighty victory for Israel over the Midianites with 300 soldiers and a bunch of trumpets, torches, and empty jars. Pretty impressive! But early on, this guy didn’t win any courage awards.

We already learned that when God first called Gideon, he was hiding in a big ditch. But before Gideon fought the Midianites, God tested Gideon’s courage another way. God told him to destroy his father’s altar to Baal and his town’s Asherah pole. Baal and Asherah were false Canaanite gods, and their idols were probably in the middle of town. If Gideon obeyed God, everyone would see what he was doing, and his father would probably get angry.

Gideon was scared. He obeyed God, but he was so afraid of the people’s reactions that he destroyed the altars at nighttime.

DECODING THE MESSAGE

Following God is not always easy. Sometimes it requires us to make hard decisions. And not everyone will like us for it. In fact, the Bible warns us that the world will not be friendly toward Christians (see John 15:18-25). Gideon’s fellow townspeople wanted to kill him for destroying their idols, but God saved him.

God calls us to follow him, regardless of how others treat us. We are to fear God, not people.

Today’s verse asks a rhetorical question. That’s a question where the reader should already know the answer. The verse says, “What can mere mortals do to me?” In other words, when it comes to obeying God, why should we fear other people? The implied answer is, “We shouldn’t.”

Sure, people can tease us or ignore us for following God. In some parts of the world, Christians are even threatened, thrown into jail, or killed.

But ultimately, we will answer to God, not man. People can only hurt us physically or emotionally. But God has power over our souls (see Matthew 10:28). We should live to please him, rather than worrying about what others think of us. After all, he’s a loving God who takes care of his children!

BATTLE PLAN

Talk to your parents about how to respond if someone makes fun of you for following God. Develop a plan of what to say and do.