Courage – Part 2

Gideon was to deliver Israel from her enemies. Her enemies forced the issue. They crossed over the Jordan and encamped in the valley of Jezreel which was near Gideon’s city.

Two years ago, Vladimir Putin gathered a vast number of troops near the Eukrane border. The handwriting was on the wall. It looked as though Putin was preparing for war, which he was.

Now the Midianites and the Amalekites gathered in the valley of Jezreel, preparing for war. Gideon put out his own call. He blew the trumpet to summon the people to fight. Word spread even to the areas of Zebulon and Naphtali, peoples that Gideon did not know or had not met. In a short time, 32,000 people had gathered to go to war under Gideon’s leadership.

Gideon was a cautious and a calculating man.

He was not impulsive.

Though God had promised to be with him and give him success agains Israel’s enemies, still he wanted confirmation. “Are you sure, Lord? Did I hear right? Have you promised to give me victory?”

After seeing God face to face, it is difficult to understand why Gideon wanted further confirmation that God was with him. It appears that he perhaps didn’t have a high opinion of himself, or of his capabilities. It appears, he didn’t have an abundance of self-confidence.

Was he scared? Was he stalling?

Gideon asked God for confirmation that He would give Him victory. He laid down a fleece on the floor of the winepress and asked God to let the dew fall only on the fleece and not on the ground around it. This is where we as modern day Christians get the expression “putting out a fleece.”

Does God answer when we put out fleeces today? I once heard the testimony of a preacher who put out a fleece. He was a farmer, but he felt the call of God on his life. He felt God was calling him into full time ministry. So, he put out a fleece. He said, “God, if you are calling me to full time ministry, take my best cow, as a sign.”

Under his breath, he then said that that was probably a dumb thing to ask of God. The next morning when he went out to the barn yard, his best cow was lying on its back with its feet up in the air, dead as a door nail. He didn’t ask for another sign. He went into the ministry.

Gideon asked for a second sign. He put out the fleece again and this time asked God to let the dew fall on the ground around the fleece, but to let the fleece be dry. God answered. The fleece was dry but the ground around it was soaked with dew.

Okay! Gideon had unmistakable evidence that God wanted him to go to war against Israel’s enemies.

Then came further testing. God said, “These men that you have, they are too many. When you route the enemy, they will say that they did it. I want you to decrease your numbers so that when you have victory, you will know that I gave it to you.”

God then told Gideon to separate those who were afraid and send them home. Well, that was an easy out. Anyone who was afraid could just to home. How convenient! Twenty-two thousand soldiers went home because they were afraid. That left 10,000 soldiers.

But God said that was still too many . . . and he made a further test to bring the number of the army down. They were to go down the the river and drink. Those who scooped up the water in their hands and drank, Gideon was to keep in his army. Those who bent down and lapped water like a dog were sent home. This reduced Gideon’s army to 300 men.

Then the Lord said to Gideon, “Go against the Midianites and defeat them, but if you are afraid, then take your servant Purah and go down to the camp.”

Gideon was afraid. He did not attack the Midianites straightforth, which showed that he was still afraid. Again, a principal of courage is demonstrated. If you are afraid of the assignment God has given you, it doesn’t mean you are not courageous. The opposite is true. If you are afraid, but you do what God has told you in your fear, then you truly have courage.

Gideon went down to the camp with Purah. He witnessed a Midianite telling his dream to a comrade. The dream was that a loaf of bread had tumbled into the camp, struck a tent, and the tent fell down. The man who heard the dream from his comrade said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midain and the whole camp.”

The name of Gideon was known to the Midianites and they saw him as a mighty man, one who would defeat them in battle.

Gideon had a reputation as a might man, yet about his own capabilities he, himself had doubts. But he was one who trusted in God and God alone, and not his own abilities. Because he trusted in God alone, he had great success.

Can you imagine now, what situation Gideon was in? The army of the Midianites and the Amalekites were as numerous as locusts, and the sand by the seashore. God was now telling Gideon to go against them with an army of 300. Three hundred against thousands of thousands.

What would you have done? God, are you kidding me. You want me to lead 300 men against thousands. How absurd! Do you think I am crazy. We will get massacred!

Ah, that would be the thinking of a practical man, a man of common sense, a man who knows he cannot defeat thousands with an army of 300. But that was not Gideon. Gideon knew his God and he knew if he obeyed His God, he would have victory.

In case you haven’t noticed, the things God asks us to do, do not follow the common sense of man’s thinking. I once heard a national television evangelist refer to “the impossible things God asks us to do.” They are impossible to meer men, but not to the one who goes forth, knowing HIs God will give him victory, no matter what.

God wants the credit. He doesn’t not want us saying, “I did that.” No, he wants us knowing and recognizing that we achieve victory by the mighty strength or God’s hand. God wants the glory. God wants the credit. God wants us to know how He will deliver us in all circumstances. He will give us victory in the face of enormous odds. That is our God!

At God’s instruction, Gideon divided his men into groups of 100 and surrounded the Midianites on three sides. They carried trumpets and pitchers with lit candles inside. At Gideons signal, they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, revealing the lights inside. The enemy army panicked, thinking they were surrounded by thousands of troops. In confusion, they began fighting one another. Then they fled.

Apparently, none of Gideon’s army had to lift a sword in battle.

. . . the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.

1 Samuel 17:47

These are the words of David to the Philistines before he killed the giant, Goliath.

What is the substance of courage? Is it not believing in the mighty hand of God to deliver, then going forth in that confidence?

From the great hymn “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus,” we read, “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus, Stand in his strength alone; The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own.”

Meet us here next tuesday for “Courage – Part 3.”

Photograph designed and taken by Lorraine