Battle of Faith

Have you ever gone to start a project believing you had everything

needed only to discover you didn’t? For some reason in the beginning

you thought you had all the supplies and then realized you had less than

what was needed. Often, we will try to get by hoping that somehow, we

can make it work with what we have, and if we do it’s amazing to us,

isn’t it?

There is a man in the Bible whose name means “Mighty Warrior”

and he truly is that in the faith department with God. Gideon’s story is

only 3 chapters long, yet so inspirational. There are many lessons to

learn from his story, and one is about faith.

To break it down simply, Gideon was called by God to deliver

Israel from the hand of about 100,000 Midianites. Upon hearing this he

needed confirmation that he truly was hearing the lord correctly, and he

got it- several times, and said "Yes" to the call. He figured he would

take 32,000 of his men to fight the battle, which even that would have

required faith. The playing field so to speak was not even close to being

equal, but Gideon had faith in his God, and believed he would win

because God said he would.

God though throws Gideon a curveball, by telling him he has too

many men. Said those people would take the glory for themselves and

not God for winning the battle. For that reason, God told Gideon to

remove 22,00 men from the army which left 10,000 remaining, and

Gideon did as instructed. God once more tells Gideon that he still has

too many men, and more were to be removed. The last cut was 9,700

men, which left only 300 to fight this huge battle he was facing.

The Bible doesn't say what Gideon was thinking about his army

dwindling to nothing, but I'm sure he was frazzled. He most likely was

thinking "This is crazy how can we win with only 300 men?" At some

point, though he had to have looked back remembering God assuring

him he would be victorious in the battle, but with a shrinking army, he

had to have been at least a little bit concerned.

The Bible then goes on to say Gideon divided his army into 3

companies of 100 men each. They had their trumpets, torches, and

pitchers and went into battle. When they got to the enemy's camp they

blew their trumpets, broke their pitchers, and held their torches in the

left hands while yelling "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon" which

caused the enemies to start crying and running away. Can you picture

seeing a bunch of warriors running away crying? In the end, God was

correct and Gideon won the battle that day.

What God did was deplete Gideon's resources so in the natural it

seemed impossible and upon winning everyone would know the hand

of the Lord accomplished it. God knew the people's hearts, and to get

all the glory due to him, He had to deplete most of Gideon's resources.

Going into battle with 300 men seems crazy and foolish, yet Gideon

trusted God, having faith in what He told him. God never told Gideon,

in the beginning, he would win with only 30 men- he just said, "You

will win." I imagine Gideon's faith took on an even deeper level after all

this happening.

God has called each of us for something and will tell us what it is.

He may though only reveal "The purpose" and not the provision of

that purpose. Perhaps He just wants to know that we will say "Yes"

first. To be able to have faith trusting in Him knowing He will handle it

all. After that initial step, He will in His timing show us how it will be,

and most likely it won’t be as we thought. Perhaps He has already told

you what He wants from you and you have said “Yes” and yet it seems

like your resources are depleted. Know that the battle is God’s and has

already been won by him. Have faith in your God that what He has

told you will be and give Him all the glory for when it all comes to pass!

Keep the faith like Gideon did and continually move forward in your

faith!

From Gardens of Splendor by Gina Burns