A BIG VICTORY BY A SMALL ARMY (part one)
Judges 6-7
Today I want to address the elephant in the room-the fact that some people have left the church in the past year. You might be discouraged as you look around and see the empty chairs. You might be wondering if we're doing something wrong. You may be wondering about the future of the church. Hopefully I can provide some encouragement today. Let's look at what God did with and through Gideon and the Israelite army.
1) Who, me?
In the first ten verses of chapt. 6, the Israelites were not doing a good job at following God. So, God gave them over to the Midianites for seven years. The Israelites cried out to the Lord and the Lord sent them a prophet who told them that they hadn't listened to God who told them to stop worshipping foreign Gods. This set the stage for the calling of Gideon.
Judges 6:11-16, "The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
“But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”
The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” “But Lord,’” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family. ” The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”
"Mighty warrior". I can see Gideon thinking, "what? Mighty warrior? You talking to me?" But we see God calling Gideon what he was to become, not what he was currently. God knows what we will become. Isn't that encouraging? As a Christian you are now a warrior. You might not think of yourself as such but that's what we are.
Paul often talked about the battle we're in and the things that wage war against our souls. He said we fight with spiritual weapons and we're taught to put on the armor of God. We have the ability through Jesus to be mighty warriors; brave, courageous and victorious in battle.
"If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?" Have you ever felt this way? 'If the Lord is with me then why has all this happened to me?' We could speak like that in regards to what has happened here at Cornerstone. 'God, if you are with us then why have we been going through all this?'
With the Israelites, their hardship was due to not listening to the Lord and worshiping other gods. I don't believe that's what's happening with us. But Gideon was going by his current circumstances. When our current circumstances appear to be bleak it's hard to believe that the Lord is with us or that anything could get better.
But God tells Gideon in vs. 14 to 'go in the strength you have'. What strength did he have? The Lord's. 'The Lord is with you, mighty warrior'. What strength do we have? The Lord's.
Isa. 12:2, "Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” When the Lord is your strength you don't have to be afraid; you don't have to worry.
"Am I not sending you". God will never ask us to do what he will not equip us to do. God will move us to do what seems impossible. That's on purpose. He wants us to trust in him and believe in his ability to equip us to do the impossible. But often times our reaction is like Gideon's.
"But Lord". Have you ever said this when God prompted you to do something? "But, Lord, how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest and I am the least." Gideon is basically saying that he would be the last person in all of Israel likely to be chosen. But isn't that what God does?
When Samuel was to find a replacement for king Saul God showed him David, the least likely of Jesse's sons to be chosen for the next king. And what did God turn the young shepherd boy into? A mighty warrior. David brought a stone to a sword fight and slew the giant. Maybe all you have in your arsenal is a few stones. Don't ever think you don't have enough to take on your giants.
"But Lord, I can't do this." Moses felt that way when God appeared to him to lead Israel out of Egypt. But God knew what Moses would become. God knew what Gideon would become. God knows what you will become.
I have felt this way at times; especially in the last few years since taking over. 'But Lord, I can't do this'. Satan tells me over and over that I can't do this. But what does God respond with? "Am I not sending you? I know what I'm doing." And God has also sent me a lot of encouragement from this church.
So when we respond with 'but God', God wants to remove that 'but' and then get us off our butts and get busy doing what he will equip us to do. He responded to Gideon's expression of confusion and lack of faith with, 'I will be with you'. That should be enough to convince us. So don't focus on how things appear; focus on God; trust in the One who is sending you.
2) Let's get this army down to size.
In the verses that follow, Gideon asks God to provide a sign that he will deliver Israel by him. God provided the signs of fire consuming an offering of meat and bread and then later with the wool fleece. Thankfully, God will give us signs to assure us too.
But in between the signs there was two displays of courage from Gideon. The first was when he tore down the altar to the false god Baal as well as the Asherah pole that was beside it. Then he built an altar to God and burned a sacrifice on it. This enraged a lot of people and when they found out that Gideon had done it they wanted to kill him but Gideon's father Joash prevented it by saying that Baal was capable of handling this if he so chose.
We see that God was already working Gideon into becoming a brave warrior. When God wants to do something great through us there will be accomplishments along the way that prepare us to do the big thing he's calling us to do.
Then, in vs. 33-35, the Midianites, Amalekites and some others joined forces and were coming to fight. Vs. 34 says the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and he blew his trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. Then he sent messengers throughout the region of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali to come and meet up with them. This sets the stage for what happens next.
Judges 7:1-8, "Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands.
In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.
But the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink.”
Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place.” So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others. Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley."
We see that God's motive in whittling down Gideon's army was so they didn't boast of their own strength. God wanted their confidence to be in him; not their numbers. He didn't want them to rely on their own abilities but on his. We need to keep that in mind too.
We can become focused on numbers and conclude that the size of our army determines the value or effectiveness of it. We can think the more money we have or the more programs we have the more successful we'll be. We can think the better our building looks or the better our technology is the better off we are. None of these external factors are indicators of a strong, vibrant, effective church.
God purposely put Israel in a situation that would cause them to doubt being victorious unless the Lord was behind it. Have you ever been in a situation where you knew that if the Lord didn't intervene there was no possible way it could work out? That's on purpose. God wants us to rely on him, not ourselves.
But that doesn't mean we just sit back and let him do everything. Gideon's army would still need to prepare for battle. So although it's God's power that brings forth the victory, we need to be active participants.
Sometimes we are in positions where we have done everything and all we can do is wait. Sometimes we need to just get out of the way and let the Lord do his thing. But often times God wants us to do something; but he wants us to know that what we accomplish is impossible without him.
But it's interesting how God whittled down the size of Gideon's army. First, he gives the ok for anyone who is afraid to go home. And more than two-thirds of them left! They went from 32,000 to 10,000 in short order. Imagine what those 10,000 were thinking. "Uh, this can't be good."
But it was good. Because imagine what effect the ones who were fearful would've had going into battle. Perhaps they could've caused many of the remaining 10,000 to lose hope. When Moses sent the 12 spies to explore the land of Canaan, 10 came back afraid. Only Joshua and Caleb trusted in God. And what happened? Those ten spies were able to affect most of Israel to where they were all too afraid to go to battle.
When you have the majority of your army gripped with fear that can easily affect the rest. God will remove those who negatively affect others. In 1st Cor. 5 Paul told them that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough so get rid of it. In this case it was because there was sin in the church that wasn't being addressed. When I'm living in sin I can affect others to where they feel that sin is no big deal. God will remove people like this.
In some cases, it's because there is false teaching going on. In Galatians 5, some were trying to teach that circumcision was still necessary. I dealt with this a couple of weeks ago when I talked about the law. But listen to what Paul said.
Gal. 5:7-10, "You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be."
Things were going well for the Galatians until someone tripped them up. When false doctrine comes into a church it can throw people into confusion. God will deal with that. He will remove those who are unrepentant or divisive. And that's a good thing. It doesn't appear to be good when you see people leaving the church but when it's because they are promoting false teachings or doctrine then their departure is a blessing, not a curse.
Next we see that God wasn't done whittling down Gideon's army. He tells Gideon that those who squat down and pull their hands up to their mouths when they drink are to be kept and those who get down on their knees and bring their face down to the water to drink are to be sent home. This sounds like a strange way to weed them out. Why would God do it this way?
Those who squatted down were able to still be ready for battle if surprised by the enemy, while those who got down on their knees or bellies to stick their face in the water to drink would easily be caught by surprise. Therefore, one group had a mindset to always be prepared while the other compromised and let their guard down.
God wants people who are serious. God wants people who have a fighting spirit. In churches there can be those who are serious and those who are not; those who are getting involved and those who are perfectly fine just showing up. Those who are moving toward the center and those who like to stay on the outer edges.
God may move those people out too. Because their example can affect others too. If I only show up to church once in a while then other people might start doing that. If I don't stay for Sunday school it can make it easier for others to follow suit. If I don't attend a weekday bible study then it will make it easier for others to stay home too.
If I'm seeing people who are halfhearted in their commitment then I can be tempted to become that way myself. Some people are focused on the things of Christ and some easily allow other things to get in the way. God knows whether or not such people are going to stay apathetic or half-hearted. So, if they end up leaving it's not a bad thing for the church.
This is the pruning process; which is necessary for restoration and growth. If what you're left with is a stronger core group of serious Christians then you are much better off. This is what happened with Gideon. This army started with 32, 000 soldiers and now were down to just 300!
300 is great if you're bowling but not if you're facing a huge army! Can you imagine the concern of the soldiers? "Is this it? Are you kidding me? What are we going to do with just 300 men?" They were about to find out what 300 men could do when God was with them. And next week, we'll find out too.
