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The Winepress of Desperation

The only thing that truly changes who we are is either desperation or inspiration.

Inspiration is the preferred path, but more often than not, God will allow us to sink into a place of desperation so He can give us the inspiration we need to defeat our enemies.

Gideon was in the winepress of desperation.
He had no design for hope. No expectation of deliverance. No vision of a way out. Things were beyond sustainable. There was no inspiration to enjoy life, only survival. 

Every step forward, every gain, was devoured by the enemy:  the Midianites and the Amorites.
Midian means strife—a place of judgment.
Amorites means “mountain dwellers” and “sayers”—those that place mountains before us through the speaking/saying of lies.

The greatest judgment Gideon suffered was self-judgment as well as believing the lie they were a nation forsaken.

 “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest… and I am the least…” (Judges 6:15)

This mindset led to continual defeat.  It drove him into survival mode—threshing wheat in a winepress. Labor in the winepress was meant to produce the new wine of joy, abundance, and overflow.

What are we doing outside of God’s divine order just to survive?
When the battle is long, we begin to default to indifference.  Fear keeps us imprisoned. We take the path of least resistance and normalize our stress and disappointments. It becomes familiar even comfortable.

Indifference becomes no difference.  And no difference means nothing changes.

But in His mercy, God allows desperation—not to destroy us, but to prepare us.

Why? Because desperation makes room for His Spirit. 

And this happens:

“But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon…” (Judges 6:34)

The literal Hebrew paints a powerful picture:
The Spirit of Yahweh clothed Gideon like a glove.

It was the glove of inspiration.

Suddenly, Gideon could see differently.
Feel differently.   Move differently.

He became who he truly was, a mighty warrior.

He stepped out of the winepress of “least” and “small”
and into the calling of God.

Desperation will conform us to lies.
But Holy Spirit inspiration will awaken a creative, powerful response.

It breaks us out of survival and leads us into victory. Not just for ourselves, but so we can lead others out of the winepress of desperation too.

I mean, really, using clay pots with candles is hardly something you and I would come up with on our own to defeat a powerful army.