Hands. You have two hands. A right hand and a left hand, two hands. They are the most versatile parts of the human body, the places where our creativity is expressed, the instruments through which we register emotions, the tools we use to earn our daily bread. Hands. What a wonderful gift are our hands.
Hands, you could argue, are the most important of what the soap people call our 2000 body parts. They are in some ways more expressive than our tongues, stronger than our legs, more able to see than our eyes. Our hands are one of the principal things which God has given to make us different from the rest of creation.
Some anthropologists say that the physical difference between humankind and the apes is the opposable thumb. The opposable thumb means that we, unlike other creatures, can touch our thumbs to any other finger and can grasp things. We can handle and maneuver tools with more precision and more skill than any animal, just because of the opposable thumb. God has chosen the human hand as the instrument through which His creativity will be expressed. I am going to argue today that it is also through the human hands that God chooses to express victory, His victory.
Now I’d like your help this morning. I’d like you give me a hand. I want us to get in touch with our hands. So the first thing I’d like you to do is to brainstorm with me about what hands can do. Just call out, won’t you, some of the actions that hands can perform. What do hands do?
Hold Grasp Point Wave Push Pull Caress Hit Play music …
Now let’s go a little beyond this list of actions. What emotions can hands express? How do we use our hands to convey feelings? Tell me and show me. Demonstrate.
Anger -- everybody -- Love Contentment Yearning Frustration Anxiety Resistance Need Sufficiency Boredom Appreciation Prayer Praise
The power of our hands! Our hands express so much of who we really are! I would go so far as to argue that what we do with our hands tells the true story about us. What we do with our hands describes what we really are.
But remember my basic premise: that God will gain a victory for Himself, using our hands.
Now that you are good and aware of your hands, I’m going to read our Scripture text, and I’m going to ask you to use your hands while we do so. Will you turn to the Book of Judges, Chapter 7? This is the story of Gideon and his defeat of the Midianite army.
As I read this story and you follow along, whenever you come to the word hand or hands, just wave one of yours, all right? This will keep you in touch with your hands and their importance; it will also help you see how hands are so prominent in God’s victory. Remember what I said a moment ago: that God is going to use human hands to get His victory.
Judges 7:1-12, 16-22
There was bad news and there was good news. The bad news was that the struggle of the people of Israel to occupy the land of Canaan had come to a critical moment. The Midianites were a fierce tribe who stood in the way. Although there had been many victories since Joshua had first led them into the land of promise, there were yet many miles to travel and many towns to conquer. Midian stood in the way.
That was the bad news. But the good news was that there were plenty of fighters to share the battle. Gideon had earned a reputation as a great warrior, and so, as people will do, wanting to be on the winning side, they poured out of the hills and valleys by the hundreds, enlisting in Israel’s army. Regiments from Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, Naphtali, all trying to get Gideon’s attention.
32,000 of them came out to fight the battle. A vast throng of men and boys, together with their women, their children, their animals, their tents. And when that fine spring morning dawned near the waters of Harod, they were a huge, noisy, smelly, unruly crowd. 32,000 souls who would likely fall all over each other if they were to engage in battle the disciplined armies of Midian, camped five miles away in the valley of Moreh.
What was Gideon to do? Too many people attempting to do too many things. What was Gideon to do? The answer is an astounding one. It doesn’t make sense. And yet it does.
I
The word of the Lord came to Gideon, telling him to send home those who were fearful and trembling. “The troops with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand. Israel would only take the credit away from me, saying, ‘My own hand has delivered me.’ Now therefore proclaim this in the hearing of the troops, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home.’ Thus Gideon sifted them out; 22,000 returned, and 10,000 remained.”
Too many troops. Are you and I ever troubled at the idea that we have too many resources? I don’t really think so. If we were about to lead a battle, most of us would consider ourselves fortunate to have 32,000 troops; we would not have thought, as Gideon thought, that we had too many. The thought of having too much does not enter our minds. Is there anyone here who seriously believes he has too much money in his bank account? Not on your life. How about too much food on the table? As you can see, that never happens at our house; the too much goes right here and does not stay on the table. Too much is not in my vocabulary.
My wife says I have too many books in my library; well, now, it’s only about 2800, and the room isn’t full yet, and I can always build more shelves. Besides, I’ll bet she wants that space to expand her collection. She has 1300; and that’s too many!
We don’t understand "too much" or "too many". Not in America. And so, like the man in the parable that Jesus told, who had so much stuff he didn’t know what to do with it all, and so decided to pull down his barns and build bigger barns, still not knowing what to do with his stuff: just like that some of us just keep on accumulating, piling things up.
What’s wrong with that? What’s the problem with accumulating resources? Only one thing, but it is an important thing: the more we accumulate, the more we think we did it all. The more we think it was our hands that created the wealth, and the more we forget that it was God whose hands shaped us, God whose hands guided us. The more we have, the more we grasp tightly, forgetting that every victory, every success we have ever had comes from our Lord.
So God says to Gideon, send some of them away. You don’t need all this. "Israel would only take the credit away from me, saying, ’My own hand has delivered me.’ Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home."
Now and then God acts to empty our hands. God sometimes takes from our grasping hands the things we hold so dear, simply because we have not acknowledge Him and because with things we don’t think we need any faith.
Eight years ago, when we began our journey together as pastor and people, the brightest spot in our life as a church seemed to be our financial strength. At that time we had a two million dollar church property, five houses worth a total of maybe seven or eight hundred thousand dollars, no indebtedness at all, and more than a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars in the bank. In fact, the record shows that we were stockpiling money every year, spending very little on new ventures and new ministries.
Since that time we have started a variety of new ministries, we have purchased some equipment, we have made strides toward paying our staff as they deserve to be paid, and we have undertaken a massive renovation of this building. In the course of doing all of that we have entered into debt and have spent down many of our reserves. Does that frighten you?
I don’t know whether some of you are among the fearful and trembling. I do not defend every decision that has been made along the way. But maybe there is an explanation too.
Can it be that to Takoma Park church, as to Gideon, God has said, you have too much? Get rid of some of it. Sift it out. Use it or lose it. You have too much, and you have forgotten where it came from and whose hands created it. Remember, God wants us to have victory; He wants to put victory in to the hands of His people, but He will do it in such a way that we will not indulge in the illusion that our grasping hands won the victory. The victory will be on its way when we can let go of the fear and the trembling and can live in faith.
II
All right, now. The army of the Lord is whittled down from 32000 to 10000. The fat has been trimmed out of the bureaucracy. Are we ready to fight now? Is this the army which will bring victory to the people of God? 10000 sturdy soldiers; still enough to shed the blood of Midian and slay the enemy.
But a nagging question remains. Do I want to win the battle in a way that destroys me as well as the enemy, or do I want the enemy to defeat himself?
Do I want to win victory at all costs, including my own destruction, or do I want to win the victory and preserve my own ability to live in the future?
I think in the workplace they call that the choice between working harder or working smarter. If you have a big job to do, you can either work yourself into the proverbial tizzy, or you can find a more effective and efficient way of getting it done.
So now hear what God asks Gideon to do. Remember, the army has already been cut back from 32000 to 10000. Now what?
I need to admit up front that this is a difficult and obscure text. Different translations put the phrases in different places. Just who used his hands and how is not agreed on from text to text. But let me go with the one which is in our pew Bibles. There are other ways to read this text, but let’s use this one.
"Then the Lord said to Gideon, ’The troops are still too many; take them down to the water and I will sift them out for you there.’ The story continues with a test. All the troops were to be told to get water for themselves. Most of them knelt down, made cups out of their two hands, and brought up the water. But a few, only about 300, lapped the water with their tongues, like dogs do, and kept their hands free.
And what does the Lord tell Gideon? He says, "Use the 300, and send everybody else packing." Wow! An army of only 300 people? That’s crazy, isn’t it?
I tell you what; let’s get in touch with how radical a thing this is. If today is an average Sunday, now that the children have already left the room, there should be at least 160 of us here. That means we brought 320 hands, right? All right, let’s see 320 hands. Hey, a good army, right?!
But now God says I don’t want 320 hands at this moment; I want only 100 hands. All right, hands down on this side. Hands down in the balcony. Hands down in the choir. Hands down on the back four rows of this side. There, that should be about 100 hands. Can we do it? Can we be a victorious army? Should be able to. A respectable number of workers.
But God says "Cut it back to three hands.” Three hands. Well, all hands down except one of yours and one of yours and one of yours. Now, does that look like an army to you? Are we going to win any kind of battle with these resources?
Ah, but the issue is that God wants effective hands, available hands. Not just any hands, but hands that are ready to go to work. Not just any resources, but resources that are at His disposal. 9700 soldiers thought first about taking care of their own needs; 300 thought first about being available to respond if the enemy should attack. 9700 soldiers forget that they were soldiers in their hurry to get what they wanted; 300 did not forget that they were on the battlefield for the Lord, even while they were refreshing themselves.
What does our God want? What can our God use? Our God wants effectiveness. And the victory will go into the hands of those who keep those hands free and clear, unencumbered with all the things that distract us.
Men and women, when you read the proposed church budget for the coming year, you will discover that we may have to cut back on any number of things we have been doing in order to concentrate on just a few things. When you examine this proposal, no doubt some of you will find things there that shock and sadden you. There is less for education, less for missions, less for music, less, less, less.
In any number of ways what is being proposed grieves me too; but please do not be angry with anyone. It also grieves the members of the stewardship committee, who crafted the budget. But it reflects the fact that we as a church have in some years lived beyond our effectiveness; we have been distracted, we have spent funds for things we really did not have to have. And now the time has come to pay the price. The time has come to sacrifice.
So I look at this budget proposal and I hear the Lord of the church saying to us, "Takoma, I am going to set aside all your self-refreshment, I am going to set aside all your self-indulgences. I am going to bring you back to basics this year; I am going to ask you to work smarter rather than harder. I am going to ask you to lay aside everything that distracts you, and I am going to lead you to do more with less. I am going to call you to effectiveness."
This will be a tough and austere year. But remember: God wants to give the victory into our hands. It is through our hands that He gets His victory.
III
So out into the night went the three hundred. Into the valley of the shadow of death stole the three hundred. Each man carried in his right hand a trumpet, ready to sound the battle cry, ready to praise. Each in his right hand a trumpet.
And each man carried in his left hand a little clay jar, inside of which he concealed a burning torch. The smoke of the torches wafted up into the nostrils of three hundred slinking souls slipping through the shadows toward the sleeping soldiers of Midian. Each left hand a torch; light, but for the moment concealed.
At the outskirts of the camp Gideon and his silent sentinels watched and waited while the Midianite guards changed the watch. And when the new guards were in place, settled and complacent, the general gave the signal.
Three hundred left hands dashed the earthen jars. Three hundred blazing torches lit up the night sky with a terrible red glow.
Three hundred right hands lifted the trumpets to the lips and blew, a fearful cacophony of sound, waking every warrior, spooking every camel, vibrating and echoing along the hillsides. Three hundred trumpets, sounding as though the very host of heaven had been brought down to fight.
"And all the men in the camp ran; they cried out and fled. When they blew the three hundred trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow and against all the army. And the army fled …” The soldiers of Midian, so confused were they by the strategy of the Lord’s people, that they fought among themselves and turned tail and ran.
And all because a tiny band of men had in their right hands a trumpet and in their left hands a torch. In their right hands a witness and in their left hands the truth. In their right hands the praise of God and in their left hands the knowledge of God.
Not the 32000, most of whom were afraid. Not the 32000, who were too much; for God sometimes reduces us, so that we will know that victory is wrought not by our hands, but by His.
Nor the 10000, most of whom were easily distracted, taking care of themselves and forgetting to be available for God’s purposes. For God cannot use us if we are not sure who we are and what the first priority is for these hands.
No, not the 32000 nor the 10000, but the 300, in whose right hand was a witness and in whose left hand was truth. And God gave victory into their hands.
God wants always to gain the victory, using our hands, using what He has put into our hands. It will be a victory. I am not afraid for our church; our church is in the hollow of His hand. For, "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord ... I have seen Him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps. They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps. I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps. His day is marching on.”
300. Just a few. About the number of people active in our church. A few whose hearts and hands are without fear, are available, and will use what they have. In their right hand the trumpet of witness and praise, in their left hand the torch of truth and power. Victory. For, "He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never sound retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat; O be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on.”
