In our final look at Gideon, we will gain some insight into how and why God works in certain ways. Remember, Israel had drifted into years of rebellion and idolatry. The oppression they experienced at the hands of Midian was a corrective measure sent by the Lord to call them back into relationship with him.
In Judges 7, we find that Gideon had mustered 32,000 men for the battle against Midian, who still greatly outnumbered them. God then began a sifting process to reduce Gideon’s ranks. He first had Gideon announce that anyone who was afraid should leave. Twenty-two thousand promptly left. God then had Gideon take his men to a spring to drink. Three hundred squatted down, filled their hands with water, and lifted the water to their mouths. The remainder simply got on their knees, put their faces to the water, and lapped it up like dogs. God had Gideon dismiss all those who had lapped up the water so that only the three hundred remained.
God clearly states why he reduced the numbers. “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” (Jud. 7:2). We leave God when we feel we have no need of him. Self-sufficiency is the seedbed of rebellion against God. It’s not that men don’t want to worship, because after leaving God Israel would always chase idols. It’s just that men want to worship a god that will feed their fleshly desires and not call them to holiness. They want a god that will give them wealth, power, fame, sex…you know, rock-star stuff. Or they want gods that they can control through witchcraft and sorcery. Again…they seek the things that will make them self-sufficient. Satan still whispers, “You will be like God.”
God’s strategy was to put Israel in a situation where victory and survival could only come through the Lord. When three hundred face tens of thousands, there is no room for self-sufficiency. He also wants to reveal those who have faith. The three hundred who remained with Gideon were brave, but not suicidal. To stay, they must have had faith in the God of Israel.
God works in our lives to remove our idols, erase our self-sufficiency, and reveal any faith that is left in us after we have drifted away. Our drift from God is not always so apparent. We may still be going through the motions of faith but our hearts may be feeling very self-sufficient and may be looking away from God to other things that we believe will give us what we need to be happy. We may not even be aware of our condition.
God directed the three hundred to carry trumpets and torches hidden under clay jars to the enemy camp around midnight. After surrounding the camp, they blew the trumpets, broke the jars, and revealed the torches while shouting, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” The Midianites panicked and in the confusion of darkness attacked and killed one another. The survivors fled into the night. No general on earth would have laid out that strategy as a battle plan, but God works in unusual ways in impossible situations so that he gets the glory.
God is not an egotistical tyrant who demands worship because it makes him feel powerful. God knows who he is. He seeks glory because it is in our best interest to see his glory. His glory draws us to him. Facing an impossible situation and then seeing his hand in the situation in unexpected ways diminishes our self-sufficient attitudes and rekindles our faith. God is love and, therefore, always acts in our best interest. God rarely puts us in bad places. We typically get there by our own choices or the choices of someone to whom we are attached. But God will use those bad places to call us back so that we might make life-giving course corrections for our lives.
We always want deliverance to come by the express lane. But Midian had been severely oppressing Israel for seven years. Sometimes we need to taste the fruit of our self-sufficiency long enough that it becomes so bitter that we won’t ever return to it. Sometimes, God is multi-tasking and working on others while he works on our hearts. It takes time to get all the pieces just where you want them on the chessboard. But the good news is that God is always calling us back, adjusting our focus, and redirecting our steps…even when we have not noticed how far our hearts have drifted from him.
When we find ourselves in impossible situations, we need to check the spiritual condition of our hearts first. Have we been turning our hearts away from God or has our faith been cooling? Sometimes, our spiritual condition is not in a bad place, but God is simply calling us to a higher place. In those moments, we must begin to look for the hand and purposes of God. He is very intentional. No experience is wasted if we cooperate. God is rarely angry but is simply disciplining us as a good Father or stretching us as a great coach. Either way, don’t resist but look for his glory and let his glory draw you to him.
