There will be times when what God asks us to just does not make sense. God wants us to take a leap of faith, obey Him and then trust He will work out the details.
This is what happens in Judges 7:1-8. It is the story of Gideon. He starts out with 32,000 men to fight the Midianites. God says that Israel may use that number of men to boast that THEY are better and they defeated the Midianites by their own power. Under God’s direction Gideon sends home those who feel they do not have the courage to stay. Gideon is left with 10,000 men. God says there are still too many. God wants Gideon to bring the men to a stream for water. Those that bent over to drink the water by lapping the water up can go home. They were not careful. But those that kneeled and scooped up the water to their mouths while staying aware and looking around, those are the ones God wants. Another 9,700 men left and went home. God says, “Okay, Gideon, I am sending you with these 300 men up against the Midianites.”
You know what? God was victorious. Did what God showed Gideon make sense? It may not make sense to you and me. It probably did not make sense to Gideon. It made sense to God. But Gideon followed God’s plan.
We have to understand who we are and what God has called us to do.
We are not labeled by our problem. We are who God says we are. In other words, God sees something in us that we do not see in ourselves.
The story of Gideon offers scriptural guidance for times when the odds are overwhelming and defeat seems imminent. No matter what the challenges are, God is able to demonstrate His awesome power and deliver us.
God uses difficulty to build faith. Gideon was willing to believe God and go up against an army four times larger than his own. Trusting God is a process which must be learned through experience. At times God takes the people He uses and places them in impossible situations. In that way, they discover that God is faithful just as He said He would be. We may prefer to acquire faith by reading a book, but God knows that the best classroom is a place of utter helplessness.
God may require us to do what seems unreasonable. The Israelites were already outnumbered, but God instructed Gideon to reduce the army to a mere 300 men. That made the odds 450 Midianites for each Israelite warrior! Although God's ways may seem illogical to us, His wisdom and power are far greater than ours, and His plan can be trusted.
God leads us to do that which brings Him glory. The army was now so small that its men could in no way take credit for the victory. God delights in demonstrating His awesome power and glory through our weakness and inadequacy.
One problem we create for God to show His glory is that we do not want to believe that God will use us to do something to glorify Him. We are who he says we are, we can do what he says we can do, we can go where he says we can go. Fear will paralyze us from doing the “impossible” things for God. The angel said to Mary when she learned God had favored her to be the mother of Jesus Christ, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:37 KJV)
Consider life's challenges as opportunities for God to build our faith and prepare us for ministry to glorify His Name. He uses those who are willing to obey Him even when the task seems illogical or impossible. And He takes pleasure in showing His faithfulness to those who trust in Him regardless of the situation.
Satan’s worst nightmare is that you and I will discover who we REALLY are in Christ Jesus.
Satan’s second worst nightmare is that you and me will wake up and not just realize, but on the authority of God’s Word that:
We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
Greater is he who is in us than those who are in the world.
No weapon formed against us shall prosper.
We are more than conquerors.
We are not bound, we are free.
Hello Again!!
7 years ago
