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Last week, in The Time Before the Kings, Part 10, we learned from the story of Jephthah and his daughter that you need to be careful what you vow to God! But more than this, fathers need to treat their children with love, and children (even the graying ones!) need to treat their parents with respect!
After jumping ahead in the stories recorded in the book of Judges in honor of Father's Day, we return today to the story of Gideon. We left off two weeks ago with Gideon tearing own the altar to Baal and erecting an altar to the Lord and then amassing an army (See Judges 6:34) before confirming things once again with God.
He should be good to go, right? He not only had an army of 30,000 men, but he also had two signs from God!
Unfortunately for Gideon, he was not good to go from God's perspective! When Gideon arrives at the battle front, God meets him with a strange message indeed: "The people who are with you are too many for Me to hand Midian over to them..." (Judges 7:2a NASB).
Can't you hear Gideon in your mind? "Wait... WHAT? Too many? Why would God say such a thing!?”
God gives His reasons in His next phrase: "...otherwise Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has saved me.’" (Judges 7:2b NASB)
Herein lies one of the most important lessons, in my humble opinion, that can be found in the entire book of Judges: God can't use us in our strength! He can only use us in our weakness! If we are powerful and strong, we will just assume we accomplished what we did through our own power! I mean, even in our weakness we tend to assume the exact same thing! This is why it is suggested that we boast about, not our strength, but about our weaknesses! "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9a NASB). In fact, when he wrote this, Paul was explaining why he had a problem! He had prayed three times to have it removed, but in the end, he realized even that: "Because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!" (1 Corinthians 12:7 NASB)!
It is often said that God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called, and the story of Gideon is a prime example of this. The weaker we are, the more helpless we feel, these things are just putting us in a place where God can actually use us!
What is it you feel God is calling to you do? What problems do you have that seem to be limiting you? Could it be that God wants to work through you ... in your weakness? So that He is the One who gets the glory and not us?
Gideon had to learn this lesson two times. First he told everyone who was worried or afraid that they could leave, and "twenty-two thousand from the people returned, but ten thousand remained." (Judges 7:3b NASB). But the Lord still wasn't satisfied with an army of just 10,000 men: "“The people are still too many..." (Judges 7:4b NASB), and in the end, Gideon's army of 32,000 soldiers was down to just ... 300! Yet the Lord said, "I will save you with the three hundred men who lapped, and will hand the Midianites over to you..." (Judges 7:7a NASB)!
What happens next in the story is such a beautiful example of how to harness and use the power of God within us...
The men were each given a pitcher and a torch and a trumpet. The torches were lit, but they were hidden inside the pitchers. Gideon divided the tiny group into three separate subgroups and strategically stationed them around the camp. Then at the time of the middle night watch, "When the three units blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and shouted, 'A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!'” (Judges 7:20 NASB).
As those pitchers broke, the light shone forth!
Jesus' light shines in each of the saved. Nonetheless, so often no one can see it. Jesus asks us to throw off the "pitchers" -- our fear, our pride, or whatever part of our human nature stands in the way of our witness -- so that His light can shine through us! And when His light is allowed to shine through, victory happens: "...and all the army ran, crying out as they fled. And when they blew the three hundred trumpets, the Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the entire army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath." (Judges 7:21-22 NASB).
Whatever troubles you are facing, don't get angry at God for not removing them! Remember that God's strength can only shine through our human weakness! Ask God to reveal to you just what might be blocking His light, the same light that will make the enemy flee; and when the Holy Spirit reveals this to you, break that "pitcher" so you can truly be what God has called you to be: "You are the light of the world..." (Matthew 5:14 NASB), so that "Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16 NASB)!
There are many other lessons to be learned from the story of Gideon, but we will focus only on one more. Please join us next week for, "The Consequences of Pride: The Time Before the Kings, Part 12"!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
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