Exhortation Station

I recently read a passage in Judges that sparked a few thoughts.  The passage is about when Gideon was preparing to fight against Midian. 

Judges 7:1-7 — “Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him, rose early and camped beside ^]the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley. ² YHWH said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’” ³ Now therefore come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.’” So 22,000 people returned, but 10,000 remained. ⁴ Then YHWH said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. Therefore it shall be that he of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” ⁵ So he brought the people down to the water. And YHWH said to Gideon, “You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels to drink.” ⁶ Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men; but all the rest of the people kneeled to drink water. ⁷ YHWH said to Gideon, “I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands; so let all the other people go, each man to his home.”

Let’s think about this for a minute.  The passage tells us that “22,000 people returned, but 10,000 remained.”  That means Gideon’s army must have initially consisted of 32,000 people.  When all was said and done, his army was down to a mere 300 men — less than one percent of his initial army!  Why did Yahweh have Gideon do this?  Verse 2 gives the answer: “YHWH said to Gideon, ‘The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’‘”  We see that Yahweh allowed Gideon’s military might to be whittled down to one percent so that Israel would know that He, Yahweh, was the one who gave the victory.

I think there’s a lesson that Yahweh wants us to learn here.  Don’t we all have days that we feel we’re running on “one percent?”  I know I do.  Let’s take heart and remember that Gideon’s army was also running on literally one percent, and Yahweh gave an overwhelming victory.  Yahweh allows us to go through times when we feel “puny,” “small,” or “weak” not because He doesn’t love us, but because He wants to display a victory through us that is far more powerful than anything we could ever do. 

I’ll conclude with the following passages…

1 Samuel 14:6 — “Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, ‘Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps YHWH will work for us, for YHWH is not restrained to save by many or by few.‘”

2 Corinthians 4:7 — “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of Elohim and not from ourselves.”

Next time you feel you’re running on “one percent,” remember Gideon.  Maybe Yahweh wants to display an amazing victory through you.  Let’s allow Yahweh to show the world that the surpassing greatness of the power is of Him and not from ourselves.