When we last visited Gideon, he had laid out a fleece, asking God to prove Himself. God humored him twice on the "fleece thing" and Gideon raised an army of 30,000 men to fight the powerful Midianite army. Was God impressed with this massive army? No. God told Gideon that his army was too large. (At this point, Gideon probably said "What?") First, God asked Gideon to tell all of the men who were afraid that they could go home. 22,000 of the 30,000 took him up on his offer and went home. Alright, now Gideon has an army of 8,000 men. God wasn't finished yet. Gideon's army was still too large. God told Gideon to take his army to a stream of water and tell all of them to take a drink from the stream. All of those who stooped and lapped the water like dogs were culled, and all of those who stooped and lapped water from their hands stayed. Gideon now had an army of 300 men. This time Gideon did not fuss with the Lord. To make a long story short, through a clever maneuver, Gideon's army defeated the vast Midianite army. (Read about it in the seventh chapter of Judges.)
There are two morals to this story. One, Gideon learned not to question God. We need to learn this lesson as well and accept Him as the omniscient God that He is. Two, 300 men used of God are superior to a vast army of men warring in the flesh. Someone said that "God plus one is a majority." Wrong! God is a majority. As we serve Him in 2012, we need to remember this lesson.
2 Comments
1/3/2012 03:27:59 pm
Impressive blog. Thank you, Dr. Joe, for sharing from your centuries (just kidding) years of ministry. I miss our lunch counseling sessions. Happy to know you're feeling better. You're a blessing.
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Andy Hall
1/4/2012 12:15:08 am
Good stuff: My comments
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