The biblical story of Gideon
found in Judges has always been on of my favorites. There is his unusual encounter with The Angel
of the Lord, "The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior." Gideon seems
far from valiant at this stage of his life- hiding from the Midianites as he
threshes out the wheat in the wine press.
He obeys the Angel and tears down his father's altar to Baal. He only
had the courage to do it at night, but still shows determination to follow the
Angel's leading. That's impressive.
Of course we also
have Gideon's fleece, possibly the most well-known aspect of the story. Gideon
seems willing to obey, but wants to make sure he is hearing from the Lord. We can all relate to that.
What leaped out at
me this last time I looked at Gideon was the great extent to which the Lord
took to diminish the size of his army.
Gideon as able to gather 32,000 men from the Abiezrites, Manasseh,
Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. That army
was first reduced to 10,000, then the final cut left only 300 fighting
men! All this was at the Lord's
direction.
We must ask,
"Why was the Lord so determined for Gideon to fight with such a small
army?" The answer is found in
Judges 7:2:
The LORD
said 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.’ (NASB, 95)
God has a
supernatural plan to defeat Midian. He
knew that if Gideon's army was too numerous they would be tempted to take
credit for the victory. That sounds
familiar. That sounds like something we
often do.
When in a tight spot
we cry out to the Lord for His help. We
are desperate. We are at the end of our
rope. We feel helpless and hopeless. He hears our cry and answers our prayer and
saves us from our catastrophe.
The righteous cry, and the LORD hears
And
delivers them out of all their troubles. (NASB95, Ps 34:17)
Unfortunately we
often forget the goodness of the Lord.
Once the trial is over it's easy to ignore the important part God played
in our deliverance. Sometimes we
actually are temped to take credit for our good fortune!
Moses warned Israel
of this very sin in Deuteronomy 8
11
“Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His
commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you
today;
12 otherwise, when you have eaten and are
satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them,
13 and when your herds and your flocks
multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies,
14 then your
heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God who
brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
15 “He led you through the great and
terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground
where there was no water; He brought water for you out of the rock of flint.
16 “In the wilderness He fed you manna which
your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you,
to do good for you in the end.
17
“Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My
power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’
18 “But you shall remember the LORD your
God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm
His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
New American
Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Dt
8:11–18.
God went out of His
way to ensure that Gideon and his men would know that it was the LORD that
brought the victory, not their strength and power. Likewise Moses warned the Children of Israel
to remember the LORD has brought them out of slavery and into the Promised
Land. The warning was to never
forget. Always remember the critical
part the LORD plays salvation. If we are contributing to our prosperity, even that ability
comes from the Lord. We should always remember
to give God the praise and thanksgiving He deserves.
Who get's the
credit? God does!
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