The Bible does not gloss over truth. You may read Judges 8, turn up your nose and think, “This is it? That’s how the story of Gideon ends?” Ephraim had gotten their feelings hurt because Gideon had not called them first. So Gideon disciplined some local leaders with thorns and briars and then killed them. He also built an idolatrous idol out of the spoils of war, and to top it all off, we see that he had 70 children because he had “many wives” and at least one concubine (Judges 8:30).

What happened? How did the story fall apart? It was such a great story of transformation – of faith – of God’s power at work, and then, the next thing we know, we are reading of Gideon crashing and burning in a wreck that we cannot help but stare at with our mouths agape. It’s not the ending we would expect, or pen if we were writing the story. We’d rather have more of a fairy-tale story, where Gideon lived in obedient faith, as did the rest of Israel. 

But Gideon’s story, like all the stories in Scripture, is true. And true stories don’t always end the way Hollywood stories end. Sometimes a victorious triumph is followed by sin. Sometimes a faithful act does not lead to a faithful life.

What are some of the seasons of defeat in your life? How can you walk in freedom from the past?