Monday, February 01, 2016

For a couple of weeks now we have been studying the life of Gideon as found in Judges 6-8. Now it’s time to review some lessons learned from his experience. When God first confronted Gideon he was threshing wheat in a winepress. This was not the easiest way to provide food for himself and his family, but he did what he needed to do under very trying circumstances. The lesson to be learned is that God often looks for individuals who are creative and industrious to enlist and/or appoint them for important assignments. When you read about Gideon’s response to God’s appointment, he for sure didn’t think he was qualified. God however is not looking for ability or inability, but availability. Once we make ourselves available we can be sure God doesn’t call us to do something without equipping us and promising He will be present to enable us in carrying it out: remember, God plus one is a victorious majority! God often guides us to enlist others to help in our mission. But, so that we don’t trust in ourselves or our associates, He often downsizes below what we think is necessary. The army Gideon amassed was small in contrast to the enemy forces, but God cut the ranks twice to bring them down to one percent of the original number. It was an ill equipped, totally outnumbered force, plus God, who initiated the attack that led to the rout of the enemy. In fact, it was God who fought the battle, and helped the others do the mop-up operation. Without question, God got the glory for the victory.