The Hewers

Many of you have wondered like Gideon, “Oh, my lord, if the Lord is with us why then has all this happened to us?”

Hidden away in the winepress was one unseen by man but not unseen by God.

The Angel of the Lord comes and calls out to him with a language he could not yet believe.

Judges 6:12, “…The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.”

The time has come where the Lord is visiting the hidden ones. Those in the winepress where the wheat is separated from the chaff.

Where the valleys have brought a crushing but God has anointed with power those considered “the weakest of the clan.”

When you dig into the meaning of Gideon’s name you’ll find it means “hewer.” You’ll also see it points to the word, “warrior.”

What then is a “hewer?”

—-“one who is able to cut down, to asunder, to hew down, to chop down…

Tossed into the wind has been your season and what has felt like hellish maneuvers has actually been a holy separation and a mere working out of Heaven’s threshing floor.

Righteousness is ruling and judgement is being proclaimed in such a way that the verdict is declared, “You, dear one, are a mighty man, or woman, of valor.”

Gideon is still confused because he still views himself as the “weakest of the clan and the least in his father’s house.”

Yet the Angel of the Lord speaks clearly in verse 14, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.”

Gideon was called to hew down the enemy. His very name pointed to who he was designed to be. God makes no mistakes.

In the middle of what seemed less than a miraculous moment was a prophetic picture of Heaven’s divine action and in an instant the warrior hidden within Gideon was called for by the Lord.

He was being placed in position and didn’t even know it.

You might come out of that hidden place bruised and sore. Feeling you have no might left.

The threshing floor felt like a thief but you couldn’t see what Christ already knew. You were being separated unto Him.

You might be battle weary and worn. But as you were emptied, God filled you…and now the oil freely flows.

The winepress produced something “otherworldly.”

You now leak the essence of Christ that draws mankind to the One they long for.

You’ve been positioned as a vital puzzle piece and your faithfulness in the hidden place is what God took notice of where motives were moved out of the way and self was crucified again and again, the warrior was built.

Strong, yet humble.

Quiet, perhaps, but wise.

Settled and seasoned.

An unsuspected man, or woman, that Heaven knew as one who would destroy the works of darkness through Christ.

I believe God loves to speak “might” into an unknowing vessel of His. He is a God of the underdogs and favors humility.

I also believe Gideon’s posture was not all bad. Because as we move into the days ahead it is best to remember that in our weakness He is strong and that without Him we can do nothing.

Humility is a lovely place to stay. Let us make it our home.

Heaven’s front-line army is full of the “weakest of the clan” and those thought to be “the least in the Father’s house” are now being rallied for battle.

Go, in all your might, men and women of valor, and hew down the enemy’s plans.

This is your hour…