Blessings in the Leftovers – Part II
Wednesday, June 8
Blessings in the Leftovers – Part II
Then the Lord Then the Lord said to Gideon, “By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place. Judges 7:7
The central message of the Bible is Jesus Christ. Jesus rich in mercy and forgiveness is found in every single book. Repeatedly the Israelites disobeyed, forgot about God, and committed horrible sins; but whenever His wayward people cried out to him, God sent a judge. But do not think of these people as you will a typical Judge. This judge came to deliver. Through Gideon God used just 300 men, the leftovers to defeat the Midianites.
Gideon, despite his poor self-esteem, was God’s chosen servant for this task. God gives Gideon specific instructions to get his army together. The Midianites had 135,000 men and Gideon has 32,000 men in his army. Gideon is ready and knows he can get the victory. But God’s plan is different. He instructs Gideon to cut his army down to only 300 men (0.93% of its initial size). Why? Because He wanted to receive all the glory for this victory. Cutting down the army to 300 men to defeat an army of 135,000? Unheard of! That could only be considered a miracle, the intervention of God.
When God tells you to move you move. When He instructs you to trim, you trim. Because we know that little is much when God is in it. Once you start to obey God sets you up in His power to succeed. At the Lord’s command, Gideon used just 300 men to defeat the great Midian army.