Author: admin

Our natural tendency is to increase our numbers and to build our resources. The more we have, the greater our certainty of victory. That is why so many details of Gideon’s story can disturb us. He began with 32,000 soldiers, only a third as many as his fierce enemies. But then God allowed 22,000 of those soldiers to return home. As if that was not enough, God then reduced the force from 10,000 to 300. Truly a ludicrous number with which to launch a campaign against anyone! But then Gideon further divided his paltry contingent into three groups. Now, with only 100 men at his back, Gideon faced over 100,000. While military strategists would have gasped at such odds, God was finally satisfied that He had the odds He was looking for!

God’s ways are not our ways. We assume we cannot move forward until we have greater resources. God may declare that we cannot advance until we reduce what we have. As long as we have God, any other resource at our disposal is simply excess baggage!

What is preventing you from advancing with God? Have you been waiting until you have additional resources? Perhaps God is waiting until you have less. The fewer supplies you have at your disposal, the more likely it is you will rely upon Him.

After all that God had done to prepare his servant, Gideon still struggled with fear. Perhaps this is understandable since he had been asked to lead 300 men against an army of over 100,000. At times the greater the assignment, the greater our need to be assured that God goes with us.

We can be harsh on the timid Gideon for constantly needing God’s assurances. Yet we must also realize that his assignment was unprecedented. No one in Scripture had been asked to take on so many with so few. It might have seemed that God was throwing away their lives in a futile act of desperation. Against such odds, this handful of warriors had to know that God went with them.

Most of us cannot fathom what it would be like to be given such an assignment. When was the last time your divine task appeared to set you up for certain failure? When was the last time you required an enormous miracle to rescue you from certain, cataclysmic disaster?

While we naturally shy away from such moments, they can be exhilarating all the same. Looking back on your life, it will be those moments when God worked powerfully in your life that you will treasure above all others.

Once God has you prepared, it generally doesn’t take long for Him to have you mobilized.

God first had to get Gideon and his army into a position of complete trust and dependence upon Him. But once that was accomplished, God sent the orders to advance. Gideon had barely dispatched the bulk of his army when God told him to advance on the enemy.

Perhaps God did not want to take any further time, now that His servants were ready. Or perhaps God did not want his tiny army to have too much time to ponder the precariousness of their situation. Sometimes it is good to count the cost. At others, it is preferable to advance immediately without further analysis. God understood that, with his timid commander, the time to advance was now.

It generally takes much longer to prepare God’s servants than it does to use them. You will know when you are ready for your divine assignment. It will be when God tells you to advance. If you are not yet advancing; you are not yet ready.

God will choose His own means to deliver you. One thing you can be certain of: God won’t save you in the manner you probably expected Him to.

Too often we expect God to work in the same way we would if we were in His place. In fact, we can become frustrated when God does not work the way we thought He should.

If you had asked 100 military experts of that day, not one would have suggested that you send away almost your entire force. In fact, if anyone but God had suggested it, they would have been ridiculed as a fool. But that is just like God. His ways truly are not our ways! In fact, if you sense God telling you to proceed in the exact manner you intended to, you might want to make sure you are hearing Him correctly!

God continually goes against all accepted wisdom and practice. He does so, not to be contentious or to belittle common practice, but so it is apparent that it is He that performed the miracle, and not the self-professed experts of the day.

Are you currently sensing God asking you to do something that seems to contradict commonly accepted practices?

Getting a drink if water would appear to be an extremely ordinary procedure. Surely God doesn’t care how you drink water does He? The same has often been said about whether God cares what type of toothpaste we purchase. Clearly He does not concern Himself with the mundane issues of our life, does He?

In this case He did! In fact, God watched how each man drank his water and tested them in the process. Those who drank one way were chosen to participate in the most glorious miracle of their age, while those who drank a different way were sent home.

Some have guessed that God kept those warriors who lapped the water from their hand while remaining alert to any danger that might be lurking. Those who blithely buried their faces in the water were considered too careless to conduct the unique, and dangerous, mission. This may well be so. Or, it might have simply been God’s means of eliminating 9,700 volunteers! Regardless, when God was done, He had whittled Gideon’s force down to a handful. And that is when the ensuing miracle took on epic proportions.

Could God be setting you up for a miracle?

Right when we feel as if our life is in a place to bring honor to God, He will take us still further! We like to glorify God, but safely! We are fully prepared to win easy battles for God from safe distances. We take small risks. We take furtive steps. But then God goes far beyond what we would have ever dreamed!

Gideon was taking a huge risk by taking on an army that had terrorized his nation for seven years. His initial army of 32,000 men, though not huge, was at least respectable. But God had removed 22,000 of them! Interestingly, we do not hear of Gideon complaining. Apparently having had God confirm His word through the fleece, we do not hear of Gideon questioning God again, even when he is told to make some highly unusual decisions.

But as if it was not enough to reduce his army from 32,000 to 10,000, God declared that Gideon still had too many soldiers! Facing odds of over 10-1 as it was, Gideon might have begged to differ! Gideon might have announced that, “enough was enough!” But he did not. When God further reduced Gideon’s resources, Gideon complied. By this time he must have realized that when you do things God’s way, you ultimately experience a miracle.

There are many noble qualities God looks for and develops in His servants, but one of the most important and prized is that of courage.

People who are satisfied with the status quo do not require courage. Those willing to change their world, need it by the bucketful. The first standard by which God selected his choice servants was to choose those with courage. Even if two thirds of the army was sent packing, it was far better to have a small courageous army than a large timid one.

Don’t assume that if you are experiencing fear or discomfort you must not be in God’s will. It is just like God to bring you to the edge of yourself! He will put your life in a situation where you must demonstrate faith, and have courage. In that moment, you will either gather your courage and advance with God, or you will gather your belongings and return home before the battle.

How is your life demonstrating courage today?

We tend to quickly take the credit for anything good in our life. We also have a bad habit of blaming God, or others, for anything negative. God knows this.

That’s why when God was preparing to miraculously deliver His people from their enemies He went to great lengths to ensure that they knew He was the author of their rescue.

Make no mistake. God can just as easily deliver you with an army of ten as an army of 100,000. It makes no difference to Him, except that, a smaller army brings God greater glory.

Our tendency is to strive to gather the largest army possible and then claim at least partial credit for its success. That is why God will inevitably bring us to a position where we cannot trust in ourselves or in our resources, but in Him. He will strip away everything in our life that clamors for our trust. God does not need our resources to do a great work. What He is looking for is our faith. When we have plentiful supplies, we tend to assume that faith is not absolutely necessary. When we have few resources, we have nothing else but our faith.

Could it be that in recent days God has been stripping away from your life the resources you have been trusting in that are weakening your faith in Him?

Throughout Scripture and history, some of the greatest of human accomplishments commenced at an early hour. With so much to accomplish in the day, men and women had to rise early in the morning. Often people who accomplish the most in the day are the ones who choose to have a longer day!

Some people cannot seem to navigate the early hours. They are not “morning people.” Other people enjoy the late hours of the previous day too much. Beginning a day sluggishly means you may not be fully prepared to deal with what is coming. When the opportunity arises, they are still attempting to gain their bearings.

When it comes to God’s activity, we cannot afford to be unprepared. When God has us ready, He can do more through us in an hour than we could accomplish on our own in a decade. But we must be prepared.

Something special can happen in the still, quiet hours of the early morning that does not occur in the midst of the din of afternoon rush hour! Take time soon to rise early and to prepare your heart and mind for what God is preparing to do. As you listen to what is on God’s heart, you might be overwhelmed by what you hear!

God, in His grace, gave His hesitant servant more than enough evidence to be assured he had heard his divine summons correctly. Yet Gideon still desired more. There are times when we need to make absolute sure we heard from God. However, once we have clearly heard, it is time to move forward.

At times God’s work is left wanting because we keep asking for further proof that He has spoken. Sometimes our request for assurance is merely delaying our obedience. We cannot keep asking for proof and move forward in obedience at the same time!

God will not always enter into a prolonged conversation with His hesitant servants. He did with Moses, but ultimately God became angry with him. God also graciously gave Gideon the further evidence he requested. God demonstrated grace and patience with Gideon not only because He loved him, but also because He loved His people. God often must demonstrate infinite patience with us in order to get us to the place where we are of service to Him. Could it be that it is time to talk less, and to act more?