Gideon and the 300


Judges 6 and 7 tells the story of Gideon.  

In it, Israel is being oppressed by the Midianites who take everything the people of Israel plant and leave nothing for them to eat.  The Israelites cry out to God to rescue them, and when we meet Gideon he is threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.

An angel appears and says to Gideon, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior."  To which Gideon replies, "Pardon me, my lord, but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?  Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?'  But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian."

The angel encourages Gideon saying, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand."

But Gideon is skeptical, and says, "Pardon me, my lord - but how can I save Israel?  My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least of my family."

You see Gideon looked in the mirror and saw only what was reflected in the world...a man who was the 'least in his family' and from the 'weakest clan in Manasseh'.

But God saw something different.  God saw the person he MADE Gideon to be.  The one who would deliver His people, Israel, from the hand of the Midianites.

I often hear that God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called...and I think that is definitely the case.  

In the end - Gideon showed up with 32,000 men to fight the Midianites.  But God said, "there are too many men." 

So Gideon allowed anyone who was afraid to leave - and 22,000 went home.  Then God looked at the 10,000 and said, "there are STILL too many men," and He employs a test that narrows it down to just 300 men.

Can you imagine?  It was 300 against 132,000…and they won!  And that’s what’s possible when God is involved - incredible, unimaginable victories, feats that seem impossible - POSSIBLE!

The lesson is this - when you hear God's call - say YES...even when you feel "less than" or "not enough."  Then KNOW that God will provide all that its needed to meet the challenge and win.



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