There’s something sad about someone who starts well and finishes not so well. They get out of the starting blocks quickly . . . they’re running a strong race — if not leading the pack, they are certainly at the front. But then, they get distracted . . . they lose interest in the finish line . . . they lose sight of the prize . . . their focus shifts somewhere else — perhaps to watching themselves on the jumbotron . . . and eventually they trip up . . . crash and burn. Good start . . . not so good finish . . . kind of sad . . and, kind of a warning.

Gideon was such a man. Best remembered for going into battle against the Midianites with just 300 men (Judges 7), Gideon was a man who had encountered the LORD . . . a man who stood for the LORD . . . a man who was used mightily of the LORD . . . and yet a man who, it would seem, lost sight of the LORD.

His race starts with an unmistakable calling (Judges 6). Visited by the angel of the LORD, he encounters God “face to face” . . . and, as would seem appropriate, builds an altar and worships the God. He is instructed by the LORD to tear down an altar build to Baal by his father and replace it with an altar to the LORD. And Gideon obeys . . . not a popular move . . . not without risk . . . but one which establishes Gideon clearly on the LORD’s side.

And God’s man, of God’s calling, is told that he will deliver God’s people. Clothed with the Spirit of the LORD, Gideon starts to rally the troops (6:33-35). But it’s a big job . . . and Gideon knows he’s not that big of man (6:15) . . . and so he seeks confirmation from the LORD with his fleece tests (6:36-40). And there’s a certain humility as he engages the LORD . . . not wrestling with God as did Jacob . . . but honestly bring his fears before the LORD, that the LORD might encourage and strengthen him with evidence of His presence.

Race is going well . . . Gideon doesn’t waver as God whittles down His initial army of 32,000 men to just 300. The battle is fought . . . the victory is won. Gideon defeats the Midianites . . . God get’s the glory. Well, most of it . . . and this is where mighty Gideon starts to fade in the backstretch.

As I read Judges 8 this morning, Gideon, the humble servant of God, is shown as Gideon, the somewhat arrogant commander of the army, who extracts personal vengeance on those who would not cooperate with his clean up efforts (8:1-21). And then I encounter Gideon, once the idol destroyer, now as the counterfeit creator.

And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.
(Judges 8:27 ESV)

He who had been invited into the presence and counsels of God, now presumed upon it as he built himself his own priestly garment. He who had been favored . . . and had known God’s faithfulness . . . now faltered. Though he left behind a legacy of of deliverance and rest for land of 40 years, he also left behind an idol that would become a snare and a trap that would be used to foster another kind of bondage . . .

Gideon . . . an inspiration . . . a warning.

O’ to run well . . . and to finish well . . . by God’s grace . . . for God’s glory.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us . . .     (Hebrews 12:1 ESV)