Episode #222 Part 1: Our God of Stories, Peace, and Ultimate Provision – Names of God

Hey friends, it's Jen, and welcome to this episode of Good God Talks. We're taking a look at the names of God and when we see that name first introduced in scripture. Part of the reason that we're doing this is that our God is a God of stories.

He could have given himself to us through only the commandments, through only directions and statements about who he is. And the Bible is full of statements. It's full of truth and laws and commands to guide us in our daily lives. But also, the Bible is full of stories.

The whole of the Bible is God's big story of who he is and of his loving redemption for the world. And that includes the laws that he gives and the commands and the reasons behind them and the way his character is portraying them.
And God's big story most definitely includes the smaller stories where he gives us glimpses into the real life encounters that living people had with our living God. By sharing these stories with us, God makes himself known through demonstrating his role and how relational he is. And by sharing with us his reputation, which is on display in scripture and also is on display in our daily lives.

And so I'm taking this approach in this series. Because sometimes we miss the beauty of these stories by overlooking the real living historical people who got to interact with God.

So today we're in the story of Gideon in Judges chapter six. And this is when Gideon builds an altar and names it Jehovah Shalom. The Lord is peace.

But we're talking about a little bit more serious circumstances in the life of Gideon today.

As I read, here is the question I encourage you to reflect on and to ask God, as we go through this passage of scripture:

God, what do you want me to notice about why Gideon needed peace and how you offered it to him?

So I'll pick it up for us at the beginning of Judges chapter six. And this is giving us context into the story, and it says,

“The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. So the Lord handed them over to the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites were so cruel that the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.” (Judges 6:1-2 NLT)

And it goes on to talk about whenever the Israelites would plant crops, marauders from various people would come and attack them. These enemy hordes were “as thick as locusts,” and they would stay until the land was stripped bare. So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. And then picking it up in verse 11,

“—Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!’” (Judges 6:11b-12)

Now remember, we're asking God to show us why Gideon needed peace and how God offered it to him.

Gideon replies, and he says,

“’Sir, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.” (Judges 6:13 NLT)

Then the Lord turned to him and says, “‘Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!’ ‘But Lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!’ The Lord said to him, ‘I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.’” (Judges 6:14-16 NLT)

Gideon replies and he says, Hey, if you're truly going to help me, give me a sign to prove this is really the Lord speaking to me. And the Lord agrees. And he goes and makes him food, which it says the angel of the Lord consumed with fire by a touch of his staff and then he disappeared.

And it says,

“When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he cried out, ‘Oh, Sovereign Lord, I’m doomed! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!’ (Judges 6:22 NLT)
—which if you're familiar with the story of Moses, God tells Moses that he's going to hide Moses in the cleft of the rock because he can't be seen face to face, and so Gideon is right to be nervous about this. He's right to be concerned.

But listen to what the Lord says to him.

’It is all right,’ the Lord replied. ‘Do not be afraid. You will not die.’ And Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and named it Yahweh-Shalom (which means “the Lord is peace”).” (Judges 6:23-24 NLT)

Even with all of these reasons not to have peace, God offered him peace by himself, and Gideon commemorated this act by God, by building an altar to the Lord and naming it after him, the Lord is peace.

In our next episode, we'll talk more about what that means for each one of us personally. But today we want to keep our focus on Gideon on how God met this individual personally to show himself, to share his reputation and his role relationally with him.

And so we're going to ask God to show us more about how he showed up for Gideon in this way. And here's that question one more time:

God, what do you want me to notice about why Gideon needed peace, and how you offered it to him?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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