I am so sorry it has taken me so long to finish this! I'll do better, give me another chance! ☺
Okay, we left off with Gideon and his fleece before God, in Judges 6:36-40.
By the way, I got so into this story of Gideon that I taught on it for the adult Sunday School a couple of Sundays ago. Somehow I managed to wrap it up in 45 minutes or less, lol, so I'm going to try to wrap this up today. Or tomorrow ☺ I'm having so much fun digging into Gideon, I don't want it to end!
I want to briefly mention something that happens in Gideon's story, though, before the fleece. Back up to verse 34 in chapter 6:
"But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him."
My Bible notes say that the Hebrew for this text is literally translated as: "The Spirit of the Lord clothed Himself with Gideon..." WOW. I don't fully comprehend all this entails, but I have a feeling that I'm making a mistake by asking God to fill me with His power...instead I should be asking Him to take over completely, just put me on as a cloak and do whatever needs to be done in my stead. I don't know. I don't fully understand this, but I'm telling you, that's crazy!!! God clothed Himself with Gideon. He didn't "fill" him up, He didn't "anoint" him to do the work, necessary...He went even further. And I hope one day He explains what that means. Or just does it to me!
Okay. I'm distracted already, lol.
Now, Gideon calls his clan to war (the Abiezerites) and they align themselves for battle (Chpt 7 now).
Here's the fun part. God takes a look at the enemy: 135,000 men ready to fight. They have camels (I think it's the first time camels are mentioned as being used in battle ) and remember, the Israelites do not use horses. God has forbidden them to rely on flesh, including horses and chariots, like their enemies. They walked every where. Remember the walls of Jericho and all that marching? Yep...by foot. No horses.
So, here's the Midianites and Amalekites (but referred to from hereon as just the Midianites) with 135,000 soldiers. Then God looks at Gideon's men, all 32,000 of them, and says, There's too many. They'll win against the enemy and brag that they saved themselves by their own hand. Time to whittle down the troops.
First of all, in what war does 32,000 seem like they have a chance again 135,000??? But God commands Gideon to make an announcement: Any man that is afraid can go home. Now, I'm just a girl, but I can just image the dead silence after that announcement, and the whispers when the first man raised his hand. NOT his proudest moment, no doubt.
All in all, 22,000 men left that day. 22,000 men said, Uh, yeah...I'm not feeling the victory in this one...I'm going home.
God takes a look and says, Nope...still too many. 10,000 against 135,000 is just too unfair of a fight when God is on your side! I'm jumping up and down on the inside right now!!!
So, Gideon takes them to the water and tells them to drink up. 21,700 men kneel down and bend their face to the water, not bothering to pay attention to their surroundings. 300 kneel down and scoop water up in their hands, drinking it like a dog with their tongues, all the while on the alert.
God says, by these 300 will I save you and deliver the Midianites into your hands. Send the rest home! Because, you know, 300 plus God against 135,000 without God is more than enough. Hmmm, reminds me of a song...☺
Now, here's what gets me. Those 22,000 men will sow their crops in excitement and reap in peace next year...all because of Gideon and his band of 300. And God, of course. 301 men will fight for the deliverance of 22,000 scared men and their families.
Why does this matter? Because I think we can do the same. I just received a call about a friend in trouble. The truth is, I get aggravated with this person because they like to call and tell you their problems, ask for advice, and then totally ignore it time and time again. Then, by the 50th time of giving the same advice for the same problem over the period of a couple of years, I get weary with them. I'm done praying, I want to wash my hands of the situation.
BUT GOD.
My faithful, ever loving, long suffering Heavenly Father...He never gives up! He's married to the backslider! He's the excited father to the prodigal so!. And He never grows weary of forgiving. In fact, if he commanded us mere humans to forgive the same person 490 times in one day, what's the standard He holds Himself to? How many times do you think He's willing to forgive you before casting you off?
I don't think you'd believe me if I told you!
So, yes, I'm going to pray and fight and pray and fight for my friend. Because I love her. And better yet, God loves her. I'll just start with a prayer that He give me the desire to pray first. Yep. He'll do that too!
Is someone you know struggling? Are you tired of dealing with their drama, their problems, their inability to help themselves? Ask God to give you a desire to fight for them and see what happens!
If God be for you, who can stand against you?!
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