Do What!?!
By Scott Harrup | April 22, 2009
I was thinking about Gideon today. I’m not talking about the civic-minded guy who leaves a Bible in your hotel room, but the Old Testament weekend warrior in the Book of Judges who famously defeated hordes of Midianites “like swarms of locusts” (Judges 6:5, NIV) with a band of just 300 soldiers.
It’s an amazing story and, like many other examples in the Bible, it’s tempting to look at the resulting victory without considering what was required to get there. Particularly, in regard to that final count of 300 men.
When you read Judges 6-8, you discover that 32,000 Israelites responded to Gideon’s call to arms. Gideon issued that muster because God expressly told him to do so. But then God gave Gideon a divine directive that appears to be completely at odds with Gideon’s original mission.
“You’ve got too many men,” God told Gideon. “If you win the battle, you’ll think your victory is due to your own strength.”
So God commanded Gideon to issue an open invitation to his men — anyone frightened about the upcoming battle with 135,000 Midianites could just go home, no questions asked.
Some 22,000 of Gideon’s soldiers accepted the invitation.
If the remaining 10,000 soldiers were irritated about the desertions, they probably took heart in the fact that frightened troops are more of a liability than an asset. Yet, God next told Gideon there would be a final selection process that God himself would oversee. And when it was done, God told Gideon to send 9,700 soldiers home.
That’s the point of the story that floors me. I try to put myself in Gideon’s position. How did it feel to stand in front of those men and tell them they were no longer needed? However far they had journeyed, regardless of the sacrifices they had made and the risks they were willing to take, they could please pack up and head home, thank you very much.
Perhaps an unspoken miracle of this story is that Gideon survived the raging protests and threats the departing throng must have shouted. Then again, they probably decided it would be more satisfying to let the Midianites do to Gideon what they almost certainly felt like doing to him themselves.
You can fast forward to the end of the story and learn how God empowered Gideon’s men to wreak havoc in the Midianite camp. In short order, 120,000 of the enemy were dead and the remaining 15,000 only escaped momentarily. Gideon’s tiny band tracked them down and finished them.
But I’m still thinking of that moment when Gideon was forced to act counterintuitively. The scriptural record is clear — Gideon was obeying God the entire time. As hard as it is to understand, I’m convinced God made those demands of Gideon for his own good and the welfare of Gideon’s men.
Why? Because the dangers of human pride and its resulting false confidence always outweigh any potential embarrassment and ridicule for obeying God. God wants you and me today to trust Him personally and directly. A derivative trust in the resources He gives us is not enough. Focused faith is our only option. Anything else is fraught with terrible risk—even when success seems within reach.
If God is asking you to do more with less today, take heart. When Gideon swallowed his pride and clung to his faith, odds of 450 to 1 didn’t matter.
Topics: Bible |
