Flexibility - A Crazy Idea

The fourth step in flexibility is to:

Surrender how you do things

God’s crazy plan for victory with only 300 men didn’t end with limiting their numbers. He would also limit their weapons and even approach of attack. Gideon continued to be flexible and changed his plan to follow God’s. Instead of clashing swords there would be smashing pots, trumpets, torches, and grown warriors running away like little babies.

Judges 7:16-21 (NIV)

16 Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.

17 “Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. 18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”

19 Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. 20 The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.

Now, I’m no military man, but even I know that when you head into battle, you don’t want your hands tied up with trumpets, pots, and torches. Your hands need to be free to use weapons for offense and defense. I can only imagine that this is the plan that Gideon and his men would have used as well, but that plan had to be surrendered as well. God would give them complete victory in such a way that only He could get credit.

This is always that hardest part of fulfilling God’s plan. Most of the time we are okay with being who God calls us to be, we are okay with getting rid of the old outdated hindrances of life, and we are even okay with changing our to-do list. But, when God tells us to do something in a way that we are uncomfortable with, we put our foot down with lightening speed. We make excuses why we can’t do it a particular way or we look for reasons that another way would work better. This mindset and reaction has to be surrendered as well.

Are you flexible enough for God to use you in His Kingdom? You will have to surrender how you do things. The old idiom, “There is more than one way to skin a cat,” does not work in the kingdom of God. You either do it God’s way or you do it the wrong way. And just in case you are wondering how to know if it’s God’s way or not, here is a simple test. Does your plan require God’s action for success? If it doesn’t, it’s most likely not God’s plan. Surrender even how you do things.

In the end, God used Gideon to bring about an incredible victory for Israel and the Kingdom of God. Everyone thanked God for bringing peace. They realized it was Him and not just their noise which had secured the victory. If you looking for the blockbuster ending, just keep reading in chapter 7. Gideon’s men continue to chase after the Midianites and slaughter several of them in the process. But really those are just extraneous details.