Gideon – Part 2
The battle between the Israelites and the Midianites in Judges chapter seven is a hilarious account. Let me explain to you, in my words, the way in which God showed this to me . . . Picture this:
Gideon is a man who is chosen by God to free the Israelites from the strong and oppressive nation of Midian. Gideon chooses to follow God’s orders despite his feelings of weakness and inability. He steps up, collects all the resources he can and creates a mighty army of thirty two thousand men and brings them before the Lord, ready to carry out the seemingly impossible task the Lord has put before him. God says to Gideon: “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful saying, ‘My own power has delivered me . . .’” (Judges 7:2). Therefore, God tells Gideon to cut the men from the army that are trembling with fear. Gideon obeys . . . and only ten thousand men remain. Gideon presents this new army before the Lord and yet God still disapproves: “The people are still too many” (Judges 7:4). So Gideon cuts the army again and this time, through God’s guidance in choosing, there are only three hundred people left. These three hundred men stare at Gideon and then look at each other, probably ready to face death as clearly Gideon was making some very poor military decisions. Not only did they have no one to fight the mighty Midian army (which was beyond count (Judges 7:12)), but God told the Israelites to take a trumpet and a torch to battle. . . that’s it. Gideon’s army stood with basically nothing, facing their enemies who were equipped with weapons and supplies beyond imagination. It must have looked completely ridiculous to the Midianites and I am certain they probably laughed at the Israelites as they began to play their trumpets and run towards them. I mean, what were they trying to do, deafen them? Although it looked from the worldly perspective that the Israelites were foolish and ran into battle with nothing, they were more equipped than any army that ever existed. They had the God of the universe on their side and He was fighting before they even got there. At the sound of the trumpets the Midian army began to fall into confusion and fight each other. The power of God overwhelmed the evil Midianites and they died. Israel arose victorious.
Gideon looked past the situation before him even though it seemed so impossible. Instead, he focused on God. His eyes were fixed on his relationship with God, and God’s mighty power and promises. Because of this He had no doubts in what the Lord had in store for him – no matter how impossible it seemed. Philippians 4:19 says “And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Gideon believed in God’s provision. My prayer is that we would walk forth in our lives with the same confidence and faith to follow God throughout all things. I pray that in all things we would know that our God is the God who can win mighty battles using only three hundred men, torches and some trumpets. If He can do this in a large battle, imagine the work He can do through the small battles in our lives! Glory be to God!
Written by: Justine Boles
Refined Joy 