Last time, we saw that Gideon had decided to act against the
Midianite armies. He had been assured time and again by God that he really was
the one called to free Israel from their oppressors. I know that I often want
assurance that I’m doing what God wants me to do. Thomas Merton takes a
different approach in his well-known prayer:
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not
see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor
do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your
will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire
to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all
that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will
lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore
will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of
death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.”
And God does not leave us to face anything alone. God did
not leave Gideon alone either. However, God did trim Gideon’s army down to what
must have seemed a pitiful group. “Then
Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the troops that were with him rose early
and encamped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was north of
them, below the hill of Moreh, in the valley. The Lord said to Gideon, ‘The
troops with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand.
Israel would only take the credit away from me, saying, “My own hand has
delivered me.” Now therefore proclaim this in the hearing of the troops, “Whoever
is fearful and trembling, let him return home.” ’ Thus Gideon sifted them out;
twenty-two thousand returned, and ten thousand remained. Then the Lord said to
Gideon, ‘The troops are still too many; take them down to the water and I will
sift them out for you there. When I say, “This one shall go with you”, he shall
go with you; and when I say, “This one shall not go with you”, he shall not
go.’ So he brought the troops down to the water; and the Lord said to Gideon,
‘All those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, you shall put
to one side; all those who kneel down to drink, putting their hands to their
mouths, you shall put to the other side.’ The number of those that lapped was
three hundred; but all the rest of the troops knelt down to drink water. Then
the Lord said to Gideon, ‘With the three hundred that lapped I will deliver
you, and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others go to their
homes.’ So he took the jars of the troops from their hands, and their trumpets;
and he sent all the rest of Israel back
to their own tents, but retained the three hundred. The camp of Midian was
below him in the valley.”
So, Gideon is left with 300 men, out of the 30,000 original
volunteers. That’s a pretty drastic cut in forces. Have you ever been trying to do some ministry and it just seems like there are less and less people willing to help? Sometimes that means that the ministry has run its course, but sometimes it can be that God is working more powerfully through the few than would be possible through many more.
I think that we sometimes think we need lots of
resources-money, manpower, support, equipment, etc. to accomplish anything
grand. In truth, it is often the small
endeavors that end up making the most difference. Recently there was a
story on the news about an 8 year old girl who wanted to raise $8000 for her
birthday to give to a hospital. When word got out she raised thousands more,
including an anonymous gift of $50,000. She didn’t set out to do that, she just
wanted to say thanks to the hospital which saved her life. Consider the story
of Jesus feeding the 5000. It was a boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish who provided
that food. And Gideon, with his 300 men against the massed forces of Midian,
with the Amalekites and ‘the people of the East’.
None of these people doubted that what they had was enough,
because they were willing to trust God. With Merton they were willing to openly pray, "Therefore will I trust you always...you will never leave me."
What would happen if we had the faith of the boy with his
lunch or Gideon with his 300 and were willing to say ‘here I am use me’?
Could praying Merton’s prayer change the way we view our
life and ministry, as we know that “ I will not fear, for you are
ever with me”?
Next time we’ll conclude
our look at Gideon and see what happened when he acted on God’s promise.
