WEAK ENOUGH TO BE A GIDEON? -- Devotional for April 23, from "Good Seeds"

And the Lord said to Gideon, “The men who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, lest Israel become boastful saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’”…Then the Lord said, “I will deliver you with 300 men. Let all the others go.” When the men blew their ram’s horns and broke their pitchers with torches inside, and cried out, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon,” the whole Midianite army fled in fear. (Judges 7)

“The Gideons” is a fellowship of dedicated laymen whose sole purpose is to print and distribute Bibles among key people groups throughout the United States and the world. They make no apology for requesting monies to finance this huge endeavor, but most of the funds, and all of the work, proceed forth from these men and women themselves. As I listen to the testimonials of people coming to faith in Christ after reading a Gideon Bible found in a motel dresser drawer, or from talking to a Gideon member’s wife as she shared a white testament – along with her own testimony – with a medical worker, it makes me think of their namesake, Gideon of old, and the strategy God laid out before him for conquering his foe. The Midianites were poised to swarm down upon Israel. They were an army of swordsmen too many to count (“as numerous as locust, and as the sands of the seashore, and camels without number” verse 12). Gideon, a poor farmer, had been called of God to assemble an army to drive out this enemy. Though he gathered a respectable 32,000, “what were these among so many”? (John 6:9). “A paltry few,” we would say. “Still too many!” said the Lord, and for a very good reason (see verse 2). The first strategy was to hone the volunteers down in numbers, while building them up in consecration. 32,000 may have made a dent in the might of Midian, but 300? What could they do? Not a thing, apart from the hand of the Lord resting upon them! The second strategy was a clever bit of trickery which, combined with the fear already in the Midianites’ hearts due to a dream one of them had had(see 13-15), was used of God to totally rout the entire enemy force. Think: Every time a modern day Gideon shares God’s Word with someone, that is the breaking of a pitcher to release the light of truth, and the sounding of a trumpet and the shout of a man to alert lost souls that God is on the march. There is probably no more unlikely story in the whole Bible (unless it is little David facing the giant Goliath) illustrating just how much God delights in using the tiny faith and resources of the few for the conquering – and the salvation – of the many. How weak are you? Weak enough to be a Gideon?

NOTE TO MY READERS -- I was "inspired" to write this one from attending the Gideons' Pastors Appreciation Banquet here in Sonora this evening.