By Jonathan M. Leath

As a kid, I was hit with the certainty of my grandfather’s death whenever we went down the road to visit him. There he would be, in the living room lying in his mechanical bed. As much as I prayed (we prayed) for his recovery, we knew that only a miracle from God would save him.

The night of the funeral was the scariest night of my life. I was 11 years old. You see, my 3 brothers and I shared bunk beds. My oldest brother and I slept on the top bunk and the two others had the bottom – I had the window side. In the middle of the night, I started hearing a tap on the window. I tried to ignore it but it just kept getting louder and louder. Soon the tapping turned into a scratching sound. This went on for what seemed to be hours.

As the sound progressed, I clinched the sheets tighter and tighter, slowly pulling them over my head. My first thought was that my grandfather had come back from the dead and was trying to get in to the house! My heart raced, I could hardly catch my breath and my feet got really cold. I was both scared and curious all at the same time. I finally mustered up enough courage to look out the window. With terror and fear, I flung back the curtain. To my surprise, I saw that the object of my fear was a tree limb hitting against my window.

If you take away anything from that story let it be this…you must face your fear! What you cannot confront you cannot conquer!

Gideon was a man who had to face his fear. Judges 6 gives the story of an encounter that would change his life forever. The story begins with an Angel of the Lord visiting Gideon while he is sifting wheat in a wine press. The reason he is in the wine press is because he is hiding from the Midianites (the people God used to punish the children of Israel for seven years because they “did evil in the sight of the Lord” by worshipping Baal, see Judges 6:1,25). The angel calls Gideon a “Mighty Man of Valor” (“noble”, “virtue”, “valor”, “brave”). The angel instructed Gideon to tear down the altar of Baal and build an altar to the LORD –(v.26).

After Gideon is convinced it was God calling, he follows through on God’s command and destroys the altar of Baal. When confronted by his countrymen, he tells them “the Lord commanded us to worship Him and Him alone”. The moment Gideon faced his fear was the moment that God began the process of delivering His people from bondage. As a matter of fact, Gideon was so convinced that God was with him that he built an altar to the Lord and called it – The-LORD-Is-Peace (v.24)

What we are not willing to confront we cannot and will not conquer! God wants us to learn to obey Him but leave the consequences of our act of obedience up to Him. Think of an area of your life that is unfruitful or unproductive. Chances are you know what needs to be done to make it fruitful and productive. Maybe it’s a strained marriage, maybe it’s out of control spending, or maybe it’s a hostile work environment. Listen, the longer you ignore your problem the worse it will get – it got so bad for Gideon he resorted to hiding in a well! Don’t be like me—avoiding the window—instead pull back the curtain, face your fears, and you will see that the only thing causing fear is a little wind and the last I heard a little wind never hurt anyone.

Jonathan M. Leath is Pastor of the Destiny Family Worship Center in Burlington Township, New Jersey. www.destinyworshipcenter.org