Chaplain’s Corner: CLXXXVIII

“Gideon’s Army”

How would you fill in the blank? Realistically, before I step out to serve God, I would need more _______? More time? More money? More training or motivation? God fills in the blank in the Old Testament Book of Judges by saying that “All you need is more trust. If you trust that I am with you, you will do astonishing things for my glory.”

Judges is a Book that describes a soul-wearying cycle of three D’s. God’s people disobey commands. That plunges them into distress of one kind or another. When they cry out in pain, God sends homegrown delivers-scrappy warriors who are skilled in guerilla warfare and have traditionally been known as “judges.” The tragic aspect of this Book is that this cycle is repeated at least a dozen times. There is little evidence of learning or spiritual growth.

The good news is that whenever people cry out to God, in whatever century or circumstances, God initiates deliverance. What’s startling on the pages of the Bible is how often God chooses self-doubting individuals to deliver the deliverance. God chooses small people to do big jobs. God preferentially chooses fearful people to walk into situations that will require vast courage. Why does God keep doing this? More than anything, God longs for us to trust Him-to take our eyes off our own size and to bet the farm on God’s immensity.

When we arrive at Judges Chapter six, Israel is overrun by invaders known as the Midianites. Verse 11 introduces us to the nation’s next unlikely rescuer. “The Angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.” So when we first see Gideon he is in a pit- an area that has been excavated for grape stomping. There is no breeze down in this pit. Gideon is afraid to show his face for fear of losing his wheat to the marauding Midianites. So what does the angel say to him? “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” Gideon’s response doubts the angel. “But sir, Gideon replied, “If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?”

This is where Gideon would love for the conversation to end. He is certain he is no mighty warrior, regardless of what the angel might say. But God has a big job for Gideon. Gideon has to place a new Bible in every hotel room in the United States…Actually Gideon would have greatly preferred that assignment to the one he gets in verse 14: “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

Most of us modern day Gideons are fairly certain that somebody else ought to be doing the heavy lifting in the kingdom of God. But it’s not us. God’s call-you are not too old or a beginning Bible student. God is able to use you even when the task seems impossible-which proves to be Gideon’s primary challenge.

Some years ago USA TODAY asked a number of American CEO’s, “What accounts for your great wealth? 99% attributed their success to their own hard work; 97% said it was intelligence and good sense; 83% pointed out their higher-than-average I.Q. God’s power and influence did not make the survey. God’s strategy for Gideon is to remove any grounds for human boasting in the next edition of ISRAEL TODAY. How did things turn out for Gideon? In chapter seven Gideon and his little flock of 300 rout the Midiaanite without even raising their swords.

When God calls us, it doesn’t matter how big we are. God’s size is the issue. It doesn’t matter what the odds are whatever enemy we are facing: illness, surgery, loneliness, anxiety, fear of the future. God unfailingly takes care of those who entrust the present and future to Him. Your significance is not the point. Your insignificance is not the point. GOD’S SIGNIFICANCE IS THE REAL POINT. And that’s the one thing we need most to know today, tomorrow, and every day to follow.

Faithfully,
Ron Naylor, Chaplain