DEAL WITH SIN OR GOD WILL DEAL WITH
YOU
Have Confidence in the Word of God
Judges 7
Jerry
A Collins
SCC
v
Why does God
want us to have to trust Him?
v
What does God
expect us to do when we are outnumbered?
v
Does courage
make a difference in my faith?
It
seems there are two choices we have when dealing with circumstances in our
lives; 1. We can be confident in our ability to manage them. We can grab a hold
of whatever influence we can have or connection we may have or opportunity we
may have—we can become proud. Pride is the foundation of all evil. It says the
source of power or virtue or blessing is somewhere other than Gods. 2. Or we
can have confidence in the Word of God as the basis of our management of the
circumstances of our lives. We can have faith in that Word and act upon it with
confidence. These two choices are ever before us daily. It is clear in
scripture that God has a problem with our pride. Pride gets God’s attention
very quickly. In His dealings with Israel God most often confronted their
prideful spirit that was determined to live life independently of God. Even
with Gideon, pride was a threat. So God works to counter pride so
GOD ELIMINATES POSSIBILITIES TO
COUNTER PRIDE AND INCREASE FAITH
Sometimes
we express the essence of this idea when we say there is nothing else I can do; I have come to the end of myself; I
have nowhere else to go. That means we have exhausted all possibilities. We
have tried everything we know and there we stand. I want to suggest that God is
often at work bringing us to the end of ourselves. That He is deliberately
altering circumstances so that we have no options left. So
that we cannot take any credit when events may turn. God deliberately does
this to Gideon vs 1-8.
First,
Gideon has confirmation that he is to go to war against the Midianites
and musters an army vs 1.
With the Midianites encamped by Moreh
in the valley, the produce of these regions which formed the agricultural and
economic base of the northern tribes was threatened. This was the most fertile
region of the north. So the circumstances are acute and even life-threatening.
Second, the Lord eliminates the most obvious advantage that Gideon had—a large
army. God says there are too many Israelites and has Gideon downsize
his army. (1) 22,000 fearful recruits were dismissed and allowed to return to
their homes (in harmony with Dt
20:8) vs 3. (2) 9700 apparently less watchful who
failed a simple test vs 4-6 were also discharged. This
test either identified those who were watchful and thus fit for this battle or
it was strictly an arbitrary test to reduce the number.
Third,
with possibilities eliminated God now says Gideon and his 300 men are enough to
fight this battle. And we have the ominous reminder that the camp of Midian was still below him spread throughout the valley. In
other words nothing has changed—the circumstances are still ass threatening as
they were before this downsizing. The formula for ministry seems to be; God uses us to do His work. God says ‘I will
do it with you.’ Christ said ‘I will build my church’ with or without you, but
if you are willing, with you.
Fourth,
all of this to counter pride and increase faith vs 2 lest
GOD GIVES
God is aware Now that we have
no advantage, fear and exposure can overwhelm us. God instructs Gideon on the
heels of downsizing to go down against the enemy v 9. God knows Gideon is
afraid so with his servant God sends him into the valley to the camp of the
enemy. So God expects Gideon to continue to deal with the enemy even though he
has lost his advantage. He does not expect
him to hide out until a better condition takes place. God did not wait for
Gideon to ask for any more signs. Instead, He gave him what he did not ask for.
He sneaks in to the camp v 11. Once again we are reminded of the ominous and
dangerous situation this still was v 12, numbers
like locusts. God does not remove the threatening circumstances.
God gives courage They
hear a Midianite telling a dream and another says it
means they will lose to Gideon v 13-14. 1. God gave him the dream and his
friend the interpretation of it. Barley is the bread of poor people speaking of
the ravages of the Israelites. 2. God told Gideon to go to the camp at exactly
the right moment. 3. God protected Gideon as he was sneaking into the camp. 4.
God lowered the morale of the soldiers. 5. As result God gave Gideon courage v
14.
Gideon worships After hearing this he bowed in worship v 15. 1. True worship came about from the Word
of God Gideon had received. Nothing had physically happened and the odds were
still 135,00 to 300. 2. But confidence in the Word
produced faith in the Word, which produced worship of God. We might conclude; don’t call people without confidence in the Word
of God to have faith in that Word and don’t call people without faith to
worship. 3. Worship which is based in faith, which is based in the truth of the
Word of God, motivates others to action for God. Gideon came back to the camp
and his confidence led the victory v 14, 18.
COURAGE FROM GOD & CONFIDENCE IN
GOD’S WORD GIVES US THE ADVANTAGE
Gideon gives instructions He
divides then in to three groups with torches, pitchers and trumpets. Notice v
20, the combination of the sovereignty of God and the free will of man—a
cleaver battle plan brought about the victory fore-ordained by the
predestination of God. With the breaking of the pots, the blowing of the
trumpets and the exposed torches, God sent mass confusion into the camp as the Midianites turned on themselves vs
22. Messengers were sent to the other northern tribes and the rest of the army
pursued the enemy.
1.
We need to be convinced that God’s Word must be obeyed. Once Gideon was
convinced of God’s Word he was willing to face the enemy with 300 men.
2.
If you need courage to obey God’s Word then God will strengthen you with the
courage you need to do that. Tracy Knight has courage to follow God into the
midst of his circumstances completely dependent upon God for the outcome.
3.
Quit wanting to be in charge of your life situation. God is working.