Judges 7

The Lord of Glory would have no problem in instantly removing an oppressive nation from harming His people Israel. But He chooses to use men like Gideon in the process of deliverance. It's not that He needs our wisdom or our strength to accomplish His plans. He has purposes for us and for the world that He has determined to bring about through our involvement in His good work.

God was taking a fearful man and making Him into a mighty man of valor. The danger that He was determined to avoid was not defeat by the Midianites. He wanted to protect Gideon and the Israelites from the temptation of believing that victory would come through their own strength. God saves us. We do not conquer sin and death in our own power. Jesus did that by Himself. But now the Lord calls us into His service and expresses the glory of His love and justice through us.

In our own meager strength, today might feel like a day for more fear and confusion. The Lord has something else in mind. We are called to lift holy hands to Him without anger or quarreling, without fear or doubt, and to pray. Why do we pray? Because we have come to believe that the Lord is the One who is at work within us both to will and to do according to His good pleasure.

Whatever we do today, even something that may seem as insignificant as eating and drinking, needs to be done for the glory of God. We need to live in faith and not in fear. In the days of Gideon, the faithless were removed from the army of Israel based on the way they drank water. Were they drinking the Lord's good provision with the trust that their Master would protect them and lead them in battle? Those were the ones for this divinely appointed day.

Yet the 300 that God chose had a lingering fear problem. God knows our weakness. He uses every means to give us courage and faith in Him. Even from the mouth of an enemy comes the necessary Word that convinces Gideon that the Lord is with Him. Fearful saints, take fresh courage today. The Lord is with you. Would the God who died for you on the cross abandon you now?

God can defeat any enemy today, and He can use you to shine the flame of divine victory and to sound the trumpet of gospel joy. One day the trumpet of the Lord will be heard throughout the earth and the final Day of glory will come with the return of Jesus. Even then, look who is with Him; men and angels who are counted as His army of heavenly conquest. He will invite us to take part in the glory of victory that has come to us from His own wisdom, righteousness, and power.

“For the Lord God, and for His Only-Begotten Son, Jesus!” That can be our shout even in today's battle. Despite the magnitude of the troubles that you observe with your eyes today, remember this: Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world.