Judges 9:2 …Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you
We all have complexes, or at least we have all experienced them at some time or another. A complex is “some exaggerated action to or preoccupation with a subject or situation.” Oftentimes it is coupled with the word inferiority, as in an inferiority complex. For instance, I am short. I wouldn’t be if it was 1850 or if I was in some countries of the world, but I am not then or there, so I am short. I was talking to a rather tall friend yesterday from my front porch. I was on the top step, and he was one step down. I joked, “I like this situation because I can talk to you eye to eye.” I was one step up, so I had a greater stature. That is important because I have this complex that I am short, therefore I am inferior.
What are you going to do with your complexes, your inferiorities? You have one of two choices. You can respond by service or you can respond with an obsession with status. Both are graphically illustrated by the lives of two men, Gideon and one of his sons, Abimelech.
Gideon was driven by service. Abimelech was drive by status. The name Abimelech means “my father is king.” Gideon was not a king, yet Abimelech was a very ambitious man indeed. Like his father, he had an inferiority complex.
When God came to Gideon and told him to take action, Gideon replied, “Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” God responded by saying, “Surely I will be with thee.” He was just to obey and serve God and things would go well. God would do something with his weakness.
When Gideon died, his son Abimelech, the offspring of a concubine, basically went to his tribe, those in Shechem, and said, “Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal [Gideon], which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.” He was pandering to their self-interest in order to gain what he wanted, which was power.
Both these men had a complex. Gideon said he was from an insignificant family, yet when God gave him a job to do, he responded in obedience. Abimelech on the other hand, was kind of an outcast son, the son of a secondary wife. Gideon had a lot of wives and this created problems. Abimelech had a complex as the son of a concubine and essentially said, “I am going to kill all of my brothers, pander to the people in my own tribe, and I am going to do something.”
You have a choice. You can either be driven by service or driven by status. The contrast is graphic. Think about Gideon. Gideon said in Judges 8:23, “I will not rule over you.” For the first time in Israel’s history, they voiced the desire to have a king, and Gideon said neither he nor his son would rule over them. He said that God should rule over them. On the other hand, Abimelech said, “I am going to rule over you.” That was his desire.
Gideon fought Midian, the enemies of Israel. Abimelech fought his brothers, his own people. Gideon was a man who was usefulness turned outward. When we find Gideon, he is in the press doing work. On the other hand, Abimelech had obsession turned inward. Any time your obsession is turned inward, you will not be happy. It is impossible. A happy person is not someone who is obsessively focused inward. I can’t always be prominent or admired, but I can always serve. If my sense of self-worth is based on what people say, I am in trouble.
If my sense of purpose is serving God and serving others, I will always have something to do. Gideon died in “good old age.” Abimelech died because “a woman slew him.” For this proud ambitious, insecure man, it was a dishonor to be killed by a woman. Judges 9:56 says, “Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech.” The word render means “to turn back or reverse.” In other words, he got what he gave. You will too.
Today, are you fighting your own brothers, wanting to be in charge, obsessed and turned inward, easily offended? Or are you someone who is self-aware enough to know that you are no one but that God will use people like Gideon who are submitted? Will you fight the enemies of God or will you fight your brothers? Will you be usefulness turned outward or will you be self-obsessed. In short, will you end well or will you live wrong? You may have an inferiority complex, but you will be driven by either service or status. When you focus of service, you will always feel useful.