Unlikely Stability
When the Japanese motoring press reviewed a Honda S2000 prototype for the first time, they thoroughly wrung it out on the Nurburgring Nordschleife and concluded that it was as stable there as the Honda NSX.
To call this counterintuitive would be a gross understatement. The S2000’s front-engine, rear-drive layout lacks the natural balance offered by the NSX’s mid-ship engine location. Its shorter wheelbase (94.5” vs. the NSX’s 99.6”) and narrower track width should also make it more skittish, especially on the high-speed sweepers of the Nordschleife. Yet automotive engineering genius Shigera Uehara’s hand of blessing was on both models, giving them both an incredible performance envelope and enough stability and predictability to utilize it safely.
In the book of Judges, the account of Gideon is one of unlikely stability. While he was threshing wheat within the confines of a winepress – as opposed to outside, where this would normally happen – out of fear of Midianite oppression, the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” (Judges 6:12) Mighty? It gets more counterintuitive from there. God commanded him to save Israel from their oppressors, at which Gideon questions Him twice and then asks for a sign just to make sure he’s actually talking to God. Then God makes this guy “judge,” or leader, over His people.
At this point, Gideon is tasked with his first and most important charge as judge: tear down the altar to the false god Baal. This will be important later.
Throughout Gideon’s leadership, he and God assume an unconventional relationship. God commands Gideon to act on behalf of Israel, and Gideon asks for a sign. God delivers Israel through Gideon in an unconventional way (remember the torches and clay pots story, from Sunday School? It’s right here, in Judges 7) and Gideon usually finds a way to personally gain from God’s victory.
Then, right there at the end of his leadership, is this verse: “Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon’s lifetime, the land enjoyed peace forty years.”
Nothing in Gideon’s makeup sounds like it would translate into peaceful rule over a nation of people for four decades. Nothing, that is, except for God. It is God who provided “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7), woven throughout Gideon’s imperfect governance, and which is still with God’s people today. Even when circumstances take peace away, God provides it in abundance, even and especially in circumstances that aren’t peaceful at all. It’s there in the “We’re taking things one day at a time” moments, the “I’m trying to let go and let God” moments, and the “Thanks for coming to this last-minute prayer circle meeting” moments. It’s not stoicism, nor is it chaos ignorance. It’s faith.
During those times, we can follow the example of Gideon’s very first act of leadership: destroying the altar to the false god Baal, and the ceremonial pole to the goddess Asherah. As long as people like Gideon – and us – relied on anything other than God, they wouldn’t have that peace that passes understanding.
Video of the S2000 prototype at the hands of the Japanese automotive press shows the car eager to slide its tail a little. Even this can mean stability – and peace – if you’ve trusted the master engineer Uehara before and are willing to trust him again.
