“The LORD is with you, you mighty warrior.”
Thus begins the epic of Gideon, the unsuspecting figure who God uses to liberate His people from their enemies. As the tale in the Old Testament book of Judges recounts, God has big plans for Gideon. And for Israel.
Gideon will be the one who rallies his countrymen to defend their families, their crops, and their property from their enemies’ annual raids. Gideon is the one God taps to lead troops into battle and to actualize God’s plan. God chooses Gideon to prove that God, not Israel, is the true victor.
The first step in Gideon’s maturation in becoming God’s instrument of power is a curious one. Step one is not assembling an army, or sharpening his sword, or plotting military engagements. No, the first thing that God directs Gideon to do centers on Israel’s relationship with Him:
“Take your father’s bull, the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the sacred pole that is beside it; 26 and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of the stronghold here, in proper order; then take the second bull, and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the sacred pole that you shall cut down.”
The first thing that God asks Gideon to do is tear down the idol they were worshiping instead of Him. Apparently, to be in a right relationship with God—to walk humbly with God—means removing God’s rivals from our lives. God demands absolute loyalty from His people and will not accommodate our divided attention. As summed up in the Hebrew Scriptures, God wants His people’s hearts, minds, and souls. However, these same scriptures report that God’s people routinely choose to welcome other gods into their lives. As God reveals time and time again, this is not acceptable.
So, God directs Gideon to tear down the idol that is in his backyard.
We have become so accustomed to living with idols and false gods that we may bristle at the suggestion that we’re not putting God first in our lives. We fool ourselves into thinking that it’s okay for us to shower other authorities with offerings of time, energy, and money. Our culture teaches us that our faith and obedience to God is extracurricular, thus allowing for any number of other loyalties and allegiances to coexist.
In light of God’s directive for Gideon to tear down the altar to a rival god, here’s a test for us to identify the idols in our backyards:
When you find yourself confronted with a choice between practicing your faith and doing something else, what wins? Which cause do you choose? What comes first?
Walking humbly with God means putting our allegiance to Christ Jesus first, which naturally means that other things must come second. This may prove to be an unsettling journey of discovery as the idols of career ambition, leisure comforts, and the extracurricular prowess of our children, as well as our civic and political loyalties, will not go down without a fight. Keep in mind that the altar to Baal that Gideon tore down was on his father’s land and that its removal resulted in cries for Gideon’s death. As it turns out, our God is not the only one jealous (Exodus 20:5).
It’s tempting to focus our attention on other people’s idols. Perhaps it’s because their idols are easier to see than our own, or maybe we just enjoy the rush of feeling self-righteous when we do. However, let’s remember Gideon’s story when we are teased with the desire to pull down other people’s altars.
God’s directive is first to tear down the altars in our backyard and replace it with an altar and a sacrifice to the One True God.