THE STORY OF GIDEON
This morning Jane and I were talking about what each of us does to
make the world we live in a better place. Jane puts out her intel report daily
to interested people who want to know what’s going on in politics, vaccines,
human trafficking, financial situations, etc., worldwide. What I do is put out weekly
preach letters, and I pray a particular prayer every day to rid the world of
the spiritual “rulers of the darkness of this world” (Eph.6:12). Being a 60s
child, I sometimes get tempted to think maybe what I’m doing now is too small. Should
I be out there protesting and going to rallies like I did in the 60s and 70s? But
the Lord’s answer is always the same: “No, you are doing exactly what I want
you to do, and you are changing the world from right where you are.” And I’m
perfectly satisfied with His answer, even though I can’t tell you how often I have
to ask to hear Him repeat it! I’m sure some of you are asking the same
questions: Am I doing enough? What else can I do? Lord, what is it You want me
to do?
There are just some things we’ll not be able
to get fully answered until we go through them. We’ve heard the phrase: “There’s
a reason for everything.” But the second half of that should be: “But we don’t
get to know all the reasons ahead of time.” That’s where trust and pure
obedience come in. The story of Gideon and his small band of Bible heroes
teaches us about trusting God, doing what He says, and seeing the great results
we never knew would be our destiny.
The story of the life of Gideon begins with
God allowing the Israelites to be dominated, for seven years, by the Midianites.
Why? Because “the children of Israel
did evil in the sight of the Lord” (Judg. 6:1). The Midianites were a
wandering band of nomads who, with help from the Amalekites and others, would
make regular attacks on the Israelites.
“They
encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come
unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. For
they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers
for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number:
and they entered into the land to destroy it” (Judg. 6:4-5).
The Israelites were hiding in caves, and they were in poverty. So God
sent an angel to a young man named Gideon, who was threshing wheat near a
winepress to avoid detection at the time of the angel’s visit. The angel came to
him and said: “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour”
(Judg. 6:12). Gideon was only a young man, definitely not a man of valour.
But God saw him differently from how he saw himself. And that’s an excellent
lesson for us. We must see ourselves through the eyes of the Lord only.
Then Gideon questioned: “Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why
then is all this befallen us? And where be all his miracles which our fathers
told us of, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ but now the Lord
hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites” (v.13).
But the angel didn’t bother to explain why it was happening. He
just told Gideon what to do next and said: “Go in this thy might, and thou
shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?”
(v.14)
“And he [Gideon] said unto him, ‘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.’ And the Lord said unto him, ‘Surely I will be with thee, and
thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man’” (vv.15-16).
Judges 8:10 tells us that the enemy had 135,000 fighting men!
(Judg. 8:10). Gideon only had 32,000.
“The Lord said unto Gideon, ‘The people that are with
thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands,
lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, ‘Mine own hand hath saved me.’
“Now, therefore, go to, proclaim in the ears of the people,
saying, ‘Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart
early from mount Gilead’. And there returned of the people twenty and two
thousand; and there remained ten thousand” (Judg. 7:2-3).
So, out of 32,000 men, 22,000 turned back! Now Gideon only had 10,000
to fight the 135,000 enemy soldiers. But God knew something more about those
men who remained. Though they may have thought they were ready to fight, God
knew better. So the Lord instructed Gideon to give the 10,000 men a simple
test.
“And the Lord said unto Gideon, ‘The
people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water,
and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I
say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of
whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not
go.’
“So he brought down the people unto the water: and the
Lord said unto Gideon, ‘Every one that lappeth of the water with his
tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one
that boweth down upon his knees to drink.”
“And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand
to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed
down upon their knees to drink water.”
“And the Lord said unto Gideon, ‘By the three hundred men
that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and
let all the other people go every man unto his place” (vv.4-7).
I never understood the big deal about two different ways of
drinking water. But Chris, one of my work friends, explained it to me. If a
person goes down to drink water and brings it up to his mouth, he can still be
on guard with his eyes looking out for the enemy. But if a person gets down on
his knees and slurps the water, his eyes would not look out but down! So out of
the 10,000 men, only 300 were truly battle-ready!
Gideon may have been apprehensive, to say the least, about going
against a multitude of blood-thirsty enemies with such a small number of men,
but God knew what He was doing. So Gideon trusted and obeyed, and he saved the
whole nation of Israel.
“Thus was Midian subdued before the
children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country
was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon” (Judg. 8:28).
With God, it’s never about the numbers; it’s about a person’s
heart. So we have to get used to doing spiritual things without always having
to know why. And if we sometimes feel we are less than able, remember this
story of Gideon. It’s not about the big numbers; it’s about each of us doing
our small part to stay alert, trust, and obey. That’s how the world becomes a
better place. Because of that young man’s heart and willingness to trust and
obey, the whole nation of Israel had true peace in the land for 40 years.
We’re looking forward to at least that many and more.
Love, Carolyn
If you have mature children, family members, or friends who would
like to get my Preach Letters, let me know. 😊
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