Strength In Surrender Series

INTRODUCTION

OPENING SLIDE

• Have you ever looked at a situation and thought, "I don’t have enough"?

• Not enough strength.

• Not enough help.

• Not enough control.

• And your instinct is simple: “I need more.”

• But what if God says, “No—you need less"?

• God calls Gideon to attack and defeat the Midianite army.

• Gideon puts out the call, and he has 32,000 men respond.

• This is looking good until God says, You have too many.

• Why does God say there are too many soldiers?

• Because if we think we did it, we’ll miss the God who actually did.

• God reduced Gideon’s army to prove the victory belonged to Him.

• And sometimes He does the same thing in our lives.

• So what if your weakness is exactly where God wants to show His strength?

• Let’s turn to Judges 7:1–8. (I DO HAVE SLIDES THIS WEEK 🤣)

Judges 7:1 NET 2nd ed.

1 Jerub Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod. The Midianites were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley.

SERMON

MAIN POINT 1 SLIDE

I. God Strengthens Us to Remove Our Pride

• God calls Gideon to deliver Israel.

• Between the text for today and the text from last week, Gideon questioned God again and asked God for two signs that God indeed wanted to use Gideon: the story of putting out the fleece. Judges 6:33-40.

• Gideon finally has an army; 32,000 men show up.

• Gideon must be feeling confident with his new army of 32,000 men.

• For the first time it looks possible, and then God says something that doesn’t make sense.

Judges 7:2 NET 2nd ed.

2 The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you. Israel might brag, ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’

• I wonder what Gideon is thinking; maybe I have a few hundred too many.

• Wrong!

Judges 7:3 NET 2nd ed.

3 Now, announce to the men, ‘Whoever is shaking with fear may turn around and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” 22,000 men went home; 10,000 remained.

• From 32,000 to 10,000—that's got to hurt the old confidence.

• Gideon must have thought, "Ok, I still have 10,000; the 22,000 who left would not fight well anyway."

Judges 7:4–8 NET 2nd ed.

4 The LORD spoke to Gideon again, “There are still too many men. Bring them down to the water, and I will thin the ranks some more. When I say, ‘This one should go with you,’ pick him to go; when I say, ‘This one should not go with you,’ do not take him.”

5 So he brought the men down to the water. Then the LORD said to Gideon, “Separate those who lap the water as a dog laps from those who kneel to drink.”

6 Only 300 men lapped with their hands to their mouths; the rest of the men kneeled to drink water.

7 The LORD said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will deliver the whole army and I will hand Midian over to you. The rest of the men should go home.”

8 The men who were chosen took supplies and their trumpets. Gideon sent all the men of Israel back to their homes; he kept only 300 men. Now the Midianites were camped down below in the valley.

• Why did God do this?

• God’s reason is crystal clear: “Israel would boast… ‘My own strength has saved me.’”

• This isn’t about military strategy; this is about spiritual pride.

• So God starts cutting the army down; 22,000 leave because they’re afraid, and 10,000 remain.

• Then God cuts it again until only 300 men are left

• From 32,000… to 300.

That’s not a reduction; that’s a removal of every human advantage.

God is not trying to make Gideon stronger; He’s making sure Gideon can’t take the credit, because God will not share His glory.

• When we steal God’s glory, we become prideful and arrogant.

• Here’s where this hits us today.

• We love to rely on our ability, experience, and resources.

• We say things like

• “I’ve got this.”

• “I can handle it."

• “I’ll figure it out."

• Notice the common denominator, "I."

• But sometimes God will step in and start removing the very things we depend on.

• The plan falls apart

• The support disappears

• The numbers don’t add up, and we think: “Something has gone wrong."

• But what if nothing has gone wrong?

• What if God is doing exactly what He did with Gideon?