GIDEON AND HIS SMALL BAND OF BIBLE HEROES

GIDEON AND HIS SMALL BAND OF BIBLE HEROES

There are just some things we’re not going to be able to figure out or understand 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 comes 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 were going to be our destiny.

 

The Midianites were destroying the land. The Israelites were hiding in caves, and they were in poverty. Gideon was threshing some wheat to conceal it from the Midianites, when an angel came to him and said: “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour” (Judges 6:12). At the time, Gideon was only a young man, definitely not a man of valour. But God saw him differently from how he saw himself.

 

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).

 

Thirty-two thousand men gathered to fight the Midianites, but God is not impressed by big numbers.

 

“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 multitude of Midianite warriors. But God knew something more about those men who remained. Though they may have thought they were ready to fight, God knew better. 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 today. 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 be looking out, but down! 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. 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).

 

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, welcome to the band of Bible heroes. It’s not about the big numbers; it’s about each one of us doing our small part to stay alert, to trust, and to obey.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

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