I’ve been thinking a lot about Gideon in the Bible lately. I first heard about Gideon when I was getting ready to go on a mission to Kenya last August, because it was one of the Bible stories we were preparing to talk about with the kids. I had never heard about Gideon before. I know, right? Who am I? Haha. But anyways, if you haven’t heard about Gideon, I’ll give you a brief (as brief as I can) summary of who Gideon was in the Bible and how he had a major influence on God’s people.
Some of you know that the Israelites are known for not obeying God very often. Well after the battle of Jericho (led by Joshua) happened, the Israelites once again forgot to submit to the Lord. Instead they feared the Midianites, descendants of Abraham who liked to trick the Israelites into worshipping false gods. Here’s where Gideon comes along. He heard the Lord say to Him one day, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” Gideon was not confident in this request. He said “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel?” But God had a way. God chose Gideon to lead his people. And when Gideon had thousands of men to come, God told Gideon to send those who were fearful back, leaving 10,000. Again, he showed Gideon who to send home, finally leaving Gideon with only 300 men. Pretty small army against the Midianites, I would say. And you want to know how they DEFEATED the Midianites? They surrounded the Midianite camp and when Gideon gave signal, they smashed their jars, yelled loudly, waved their torches, and blew their trumpets. They did this so surprisingly that the Midianites got extremely confused, started killing one another and eventually fled. See if God would have had Gideon use a multitude of men, then His glory wouldn’t have shown through the victory.
What have I learned from this incredible story of how God uses a small army to do big things? God is going to use my squad and I on the World Race in July to conquer big tasks for Him in these 11 countries! We may not be defeating Midianites, but we will be conquering for the Kingdom with the Lord’s help! From building relationships with children in Kenya to encouraging prostitutes out of their situations in Thailand and into a better lifestyle, the Lord has called us to do GREAT things. Way greater things than we would expect for ourselves.
God sees not what we see for ourselves, but what we are destined to do for the advancement of His kingdom, and He’s wanting to completely rock your worlds! He has called us to act out of our closed up boxes! So break out!
A more detailed story of Gideon can be found in Judges 6 and 7.
This text can also be found on my regular blog on www.globallygrounded.com
