Thursday December 07th, 2023
« For I (God) don’t see or do things as a human being does »
1 So Jerub-baal (that is, Gideon) and his army got up early and went as far as the spring of Harod. The armies of Midian were camped north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.
2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength.
3 Therefore, tell the people, ‘whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain and go home.’ So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight.
4 But the Lord told Gideon, “There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will test them to determine who will go with you and who will not.”
5 When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the Lord told him, “Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.”
6 Only 300 of the men drank from their hands. All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in the stream.
7 The Lord told Gideon, “With these 300 men I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites. Send all the others home.”
8 So Gideon collected the provisions and rams’ horns of the other warriors and sent them home. But he kept the 300 men with him. The Midianite camp was in the valley just below Gideon.
9 That night the Lord said, “Get up! Go down into the Midianite camp, for I have given you victory over them!
10 But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah.
11 Listen to what the Midianites are saying, and you will be greatly encouraged. Then you will be eager to attack.” So Gideon took Purah and went down to the edge of the enemy camp.
12 The armies of Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts. Their camels were like grains of sand on the seashore—too many to count!
13 Gideon crept up just as a man was telling his companion about a dream. The man said, “I had this dream, and in my dream a loaf of barley bread came tumbling down into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent, turned it over, and knocked it flat!”
14 His companion answered, “Your dream can mean only one thing—God has given Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite, victory over Midian and all its allies!”
15 When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship before the Lord. Then he returned to the Israelite camp and shouted, “Get up! For the Lord has given you victory over the Midianite hordes!”
God’s directions may not always make sense to us, because as humans, we are too short-sighted to see what He does and too dull to think as He (Isaiah 55:8-9).
Gideon experienced the seeming illogicality of God’s direction firsthand.
He thought he had been mistaken for someone else when the angel of God called him a man of valor.
Gideon was cowardly but God had decided to use him to lead His people to victory over their enemy.
Even when Gideon eventually accepted to lead the Israelites in battle, God still went ahead to prune his army of thirty-two thousand soldier down to just three hundred!
Three hundred men against an army!
Although it looked like an impossible mission, at the end of the day, Gideon was victorious.
No matter how unreasonable an instruction from God may be, as long as it is from Him, it will surely end in victory.
Isaiah 30:21 NIV says:
« Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it” »
We were preparing for a crusade in Benin many years ago. Everything had been set when I thought to talk to God about it. He told me we should go to Ede instead. We had just concluded a crusade in Ilesha (very close to Ede), and so I felt that anyone who wanted to come from Ede should have been at that crusade. However, since I have learnt never to disobey God, I told my people “God said we are going to Ede.” We went to Ede and when it was time for the monarch of the town to greet the people during the crusade, he said he did not have money, but offered us land in any quantity we desired. After the crusade, I called my people together and we decided to ask for fifty acres of land. That seemed like a lot, but when I went back to God, He said we should ask for five hundred hectares. This did not make any sense at all because the developed part of Ede was not that large, but I asked anyway. We got the land and today, the Mission School of RCCG as well as the Redeemer’s University are sited on that land.
Application – Even if His instruction does not make sense, just trust Him and obey.
Author – Bishop Enoch. A. Adeboye.
Edited by Naomie
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