which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

I think as I retire this Bible I’m gonna scratch out Gideon and write in ol’ Gene.  And ol’ Gene said unto him, “Oh my Lord, if, why, where, forsaken.”  Does that sound like a man of valor?  The whole point of this message starts right here.  I listen to some people preach God’s Word and the way they lay it out, man, I might as well not have come to listen.  There ain’t no way I can get from where I am to where they’re talking about.  You know, I can flip a little gear in my head and fantasize “whoo whoo whoo!”—a spiritual reality’s a-floating 40 feet above trouble.  I can’t get there!

 I have preached here 7 years.  I’d preached a few years before I came here.  I am still not delivered.  As recent as this morning I said “Oh my Lord!”  You ought to ask my parents.  I said it to them on the phone: “Oh my Lord, if, why then, where be!”  Come on now, get with it with me this morning.  How many have ever talked like that about your circumstance?  We’re gonna need room next Sunday for you that haven’t—don’t come!  I mean you’re all ready for heaven so don’t even take up space here tomorrow, or next Sunday—just make room for somebody else.  This is my kind of people.  And you know what I like about it?  The Lord was there while he was like that.  The Lord saw him in the winepress.

I call this the ‘vocabulary of doubt’—“Oh my Lord, if, why, where be, forsaken.”  ‘And the Lord looked upon him, and said, You silly nut!  Do you know what some people would’ve done if I’d come to them?  Fall on your face and say ‘Hallelujah’ or ‘Whoopee’ but don’t give me this garbage.  I don’t associate with ‘if-ers’ and ‘oh mys’ and ‘why-ers’ and ‘where be-ers’ and ‘forsaken us-ers.’  I know

a channel somewhere else I can go where they whoop and holler and are happy!  Don’t give me this kind of stuff.  I’m here!  I’m the Lord!  Don’t you know who I am?  Nobody talks this way to me.’  Is that what He said? 

Fourteenth verse.  After Gideon’s speech “Oh my Lord,” the Lord did not do what I just characterized.  “The Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.”  One man!  When he finally confronts them there’ll be a quarter of a million of them on one hill.  That sounds like a bureaucratic agency—quarter of a million on one hill.  That’s what our economic recession’s about.  No wonder Israel was impoverished—one man!  “And the Lord looked upon him, saying,” ‘Oh my, if, why, where, forsaken,’ “Go in this thy might, thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.”  Which means this is the secret of his might that will let him save Israel—“Have not I sent thee?”

Now if there’s any one thing I know, I may be a complainer but I ain’t dumb.  These 7 years have taught me only God could keep me here.  I know He sent me and I think a lot of you, if there’s any one thing you know, God sent you to be a part of this work. 

“The Lord looked upon him, and says, Go”—move forward now—“in this thy might…have not I sent thee?”  You say, “I don’t know if God sent me.”  What are you a Christian for if you don’t believe the Bible?  The Bible says “The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord.”  The Bible says “If you acknowledge Him in all your ways, he will direct your paths.”

          A lot of people think holiness is ‘spit and polish’ change of appearance.  Holiness is a commitment.  I know and I’m sure you know—nobody else is the judge of that; only the Lord who knows the heart can judge it—you know whether or not you said ‘Yes’ to God.