Gideon's own backyard contains a visible symbol of all that is wrong in the nation of Israel. God had made it very clear that there were to be no rival altars, idols, or other gods. But Gideon's father Joash has a pagan shrine on his property (Judges 6:25).

God's will is clear: until Gideon puts things right in his own backyard, God will not and cannot use him to deliver His people. He cannot fight for the Lord while retaining a shrine to Baal. The Lord's instructions are straightforward. Gideon is to tear down the altar, chop down the Asherah, and sacrifice a bull on a brand new altar for the Lord (vv. 25-26). The two altars cannot co-exist.

There are also some profound spiritual implications for Gideon's assignment:

First, Baal must go before Midian can go. Before Gideon can be the deliverer of Israel, he has to be the destroyer of the false god Baal. It is the same for us. Before we can have victory over our sins, problems, or habits, Jesus Christ must be the unquestioned Lord of our lives. There is no victory where there is idolatry or a divided heart. There can be no compromise if we desire to know the Lord at work in our lives. What might be the Baal or the Asherah in your life? Many things can be good and valuable in themselves, until they take the place that belongs only to the Lord. They must be chopped down before God will deal with the Midian in your life.

Second, God's altar cannot be built until Baal's altar is destroyed. The two cannot co-exist. The Lord will not allow any mixing or syncretism. There can be no worship acceptable to God until we remove the false altars from our hearts and lives. God alone must be Lord and King. In our pluralistic, inclusive age, syncretism is a constant temptation. Our postmodern society has a ″both-and″ mind-set that resents and even rejects ″either-or″ thinking. It loves to keep its options open. It embraces uncertainty and personal choice and hates the idea of absolute truths. It wants to try to hold together opposites and have it both ways. But the Lord will not tolerate such an arrangement, either in Gideon's day or in ours.

Third, the place we must start is in our own backyard. Before Gideon can lead his whole nation to faith in God, he has to deal with the Baal in his family. That is a principle that runs through all Scripture. If our commitment to the lordship of Jesus Christ does not first affect our home life, it will lack credibility. Begin at home first!