The Angel of the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt, through the wilderness, across the Jordan and into the land he conquered with Israel. Ultimately, Israel had disobeyed and the Canaanites and foreign people had overrun Israel even though Israel had a covenant with the Lord.
In Judges 6 Gideon is introduced threshing wheat in a wine press in order to hide from the invading Midianites. It is a comical scene considering wheat is threshed in a high open space for the wind to separate the hull from the grain and wine presses are located near the vineyards which are often in valleys. The Angel of the Lord calls Gideon “Mighty Warrior” (gibbor hehayil) when he finds Gideon hiding in a wine press trying to thresh enough grain to make a meal.
The Lord appears in a seated, non-threatening, and relaxed position because he has fulfilled his end of the covenant with Israel and his work is finished. The oppressed situation Gideon and Israel find themselves in is completely their fault and their responsibility. The fact that a mighty warrior like Gideon is hiding in fear threshing grain in a wine press is not the Lord’s design, but caused and accepted by the people of God.
Gideon is a mighty warrior and the Lord is with him and with Israel, but nothing is going to change until Gideon and Israel begin to think and behave differently. So, the Angel of the Lord comes and sits down by Israel’s mighty warrior to watch him fearfully thresh grain in a concealed winepress as he attempts to prevent foreigners from stealing the little that is left in the Promised Land.
"It is not in our choice to spread the gospel or not. It is our death if we do not."
Am I waiting for God to move, when it is possible that God is waiting for me to do something?
I will act on what the Lord has already given me to do. I will obey what the Lord has already commanded and go where he has already commissioned me to go.
Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished."
(click on image for larger size) Four manifestations of God's Grace that need to be developed in a believer's life from Ephesians 4:2.