God Did It For Gideon
2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. 3 Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain[a] and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight.
4 But the Lord told Gideon, “There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will test them to determine who will go with you and who will not.” 5 When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the Lord told him, “Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.” 6 Only 300 of the men drank from their hands. All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in the stream.
7 The Lord told Gideon, “With these 300 men I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites. Send all the others home.” 8 So Gideon collected the provisions and rams’ horns of the other warriors and sent them home. But he kept the 300 men with him.
The Midianite camp was in the valley just below Gideon.
Judges 7:22
22 When the 300 Israelites blew their rams’ horns, the Lord caused the warriors in the camp to fight against each other with their swords. Those who were not killed fled to places as far away as Beth-shittah near Zererah and to the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.
Have you ever noticed that whenever you are trying to accomplish something great or go to the next level in your life, the enemy does his best to distract or discourage you. He has many tactics that he can pull out of his toolbox, but these are two of his most common ones and they are accomplished by the convincing lies that he whispers.
Earlier this week I almost fell prey to Satan’s tactics. You see he went into his little toolbox and pulled out doubt. I was starting to doubt that I could accomplish a goal that I had set. Achieving this goal would take me to the next level in my career and it would be a great blessing for my family.
I took my eyes off of the mighty God that I serve and and I started to question my ability to get this done, forgetting that it could only be done with God’s help. Fear and doubt started to set in the more I thought about it.
Lately, I was standing in my kitchen making breakfast and thinking about what I have heard over the years that it would require statistically to meet this qualification. Most people that have accomplished this goal have at least seventy-five team members, and I currently have sixty-six.
As I was standing there deep in thought God whispered, “I did it for Gideon”. When I tell you that God always has ways of encouraging me just when I need it, please believe me. Those five words, I did it for Gideon, was all I needed to get me up and running again. I am so thankful that I serve a God who knows just what I need at all times. He is truly Amazing!
God didn’t want me to throw in the towel and to give up. He wanted me to trust in Him and to believe that He could and would work mightily on my behalf.
When everything that I was focused on said that it couldn’t be done, He would receive the glory for doing the impossible in spite of all the odds that I faced.
So, here’s what learned from this experience:
- God goes ahead of us. He does not give us a dream or desire that He has not already provided, a way for it to be fully achieved through His power.
- Gideon’s initial army was twenty-two thousand strong and God had him whittle it down to a mere three hundred men. God can take a little and do a lot.
Another example is the Fishes and the Loaves.
- What He calls us to He will bring us through. Our job is to move and work in faith. He takes care of the How!
- God is always watching. He knows our every need. He is a loving caring Father, and because He is we will always have exactly what we need when we need it.
- God is just waiting to show up mighty in our lives. He wants to do the impossible for us, but we have to activate this divine blessing by first believing that He is able to do it, and that He will do it. When we have faith, we are giving Him a reason to bless us. Don’t Miss Your Blessing!!!
