Judges 7:1-8 – God’s Way

(1) Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
(2) And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
(3) Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
(4) And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.
(5) So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.
(6) And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.
(7) And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.
(8) So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

Soon, Israel is going to be in a battle for its very existence, but God seems to be doing things a little strangely! The Midianites have a sizable army, but Israel had a decent army (still not as large as the Midianites), but then God starts to cut down Israel’s army! First, he cuts it down to 22,000, but God wanted more. He cut it down even more to 300!

This is totally backwards to our way of thinking. We would think that we need MORE people. The human thought is that the more soldiers against an army, the better chance of victory. However, God tends to do things a little bit differently than we would. First Corinthians 1:27 says that “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;“. God normally uses things (and people) that we, as humans, look at and thing “impossible!”

God has big things planned for you. It doesn’t matter what you can’t do, God just wants you to obey, like Gideon!

Life Step: Think about it…

Why would God choose to use “foolish things” to accomplish His will?

What kind of things do we struggle to obey God with?