Why does God do things the way he does? Scripture says his ways are not our ways … well, no doubt. We would always choose the easy way. We would always choose the fastest route. We would certainly choose the straightest path with clear sight of the destination. But God chooses the ghetto route. God chooses the round about, windy way that takes longer and seems a whole lot harder. Why is that?
Quite simply – he wants you to know it’s only him. Only he could work this out. Only he could make it happen. Only he could turn this around and use it for something good. You see, he wants you to know him and trust him. He’s showing you who he is.
If it were easy, you would think it was you. If it were fast, you would fail to see God. If it were certain there would be no need to trust.
So, what hardship, struggle, long wait and diminishing odds are you facing? God wants to show his power here and he doesn’t want you to miss it!
We have a lot of scripture to read together today, but you can’t afford to miss this.
Judges 7 is the story of Gideon defeating the Midianites. Remember yesterday’s devotional we read in chapter 6 about Gideon, the young Israelite who’s hiding in a winepress threshing wheat because he’s starving and fearful the Midianites would come and steal his harvest. And that’s where God comes to him and calls him a mighty warrior and tells him to go with the strength he has because he is being sent to destroy the enemy and rescue his people.
Now Gideon has gathered his troops. He has 32,000 warriors and he is facing an enemy that is over 4 times bigger than him. The odds are 4 to 1, and he’s the 1. Not good, but he’s trusting God. But watch what God does next. This will blow your mind!
Verse 2-7, ”
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 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.”
Now Gideon has a tiny army of warriors, only 300. When he started with 32,000, it was already too little, now this is only 1% of that. ONE PERCENT. God took 99% away from him. The odds are now 400 to 1, Gideon and his little army are still the 1.
Who marches into battle with those kind of odds stacked against them? Who is willing to still show up when 99% of the little you had is taken away from you? THE ONE WHO HAS FAITH IN GOD.
When God said, “With what you have left I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites”, Gideon had a choice to make. Either trust God, let go of what was being taken, and move forward in faith with what was left … or don’t. And by “don’t”, I mean don’t fight for the victory. Go back to that hardship and misery where you’ve been stuck for 7 years under the bondage of your enemy.
For many of us, that’s the choice we have to make today. Either trust God, let go of what has been taken and move forward in faith with what ...