Gideon: God’s Choice (Part 2 of 2)

In military battles strength is often found in numbers. So why did a commander named Gideon dismiss thousands of soldiers before he led a charge against the Midianites? Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg continues a message in Judges chapter 7 that teaches us about relying completely on the Lord.

Here's Alistair. And in verse 2 and following, here of chapter 7, God gives to him direction. We noted it yesterday, we return to it now. The Lord said to Gideon, you have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. And then he explains, in order that Israel may not boast against me, become self-reliant, boast that our own strength has saved her.

If the first stage of the reduction is related to the morale of the army, which it clearly appears to be, then what of the second stage of the reduction? What is this about? Now, you see, it's at this point that we get into difficulties. And it's at this point that we start to get, you know, clever with our conjecture, and we get into the lappers versus the kneelers.

And this is where we impress the people with all the thing about kneeling down and lapping, and the guy was looking while he was lapping or kneeling while he was not looking, and all this kind of stuff. And frankly, we don't have a clue what we're talking about. We haven't got the foggiest idea in the world what we're on about, because it doesn't say.

You see? And most of the sermons that you're preached on this have to do with somehow or another that this was a test looking for only the alert, and all the dreamy and the careless were to go. So we would just keep the alert ones. And the alert ones were not those who were kneeling down, we tell the people, because if you were kneeling down, you couldn't be looking. How we know that is because there's a number of ways you can kneel down, but usually that's it. But if you were lapping like this, then you could be looking, and so that's it.

Oh, come on. One of the ways—have you ever thought about the fact that they might have been lapping? They might have been lying completely horizontal, right? But the way we preach the passage, we can't have that, because these have got to be the ones who are looking, because God wouldn't want ones that aren't looking, would he?

Yes, he might. Because if he wanted to make it absolutely clear that the reason for the victory was because of him, then the most unlikely 300 would join with the most unlikely individual in order that God may be glorified, in order that the people around might say, how in the world could this ever take place? It's God! Now, I just want to say this to you in passing, and when we find ourselves asking why lapping was the sign of a better soldier, we're on the wrong track. I think we're missing the whole point. And since, you know, Grandfather George, he always told us about the lappers, see what I mean? We're not agnostic enough in coming to the passage. We just assume that, so we preach it. Now, you're a sensible man, you have every right to disagree with me.

But think this out. Surely the object was to reduce Gideon's army to a force not of a particular kind, but a force of a particular number. The issue was not the kind of people that were left, the issue was the number of people that were left. It wasn't that Gideon was trying to put together a small commando unit, 300 of the best and the brightest. God is not in need of 300 crack troops.

You see, he's not in need of the special and the strong and the lappers rather than the kneelers and the alert rather than the unalert. Goodness gracious, just look at your congregation. Look at your choir. If you ever doubt that God is a sense of humor, just look at the choir.

Look at these people. Now, people that are in the choir, they always send me letters. All I'm saying is the average choir is a sort of microcosm of the congregation. You look at those people, you've got a sort of small cross-section of the bigger group and you say, Are we really going to turn the world upside down with this?

And the answer is it's highly unlikely. And God says, I like it when it's that way. See, the problem that many of us are facing in our churches is, we're trying to get it in the position where it's highly likely. And we're reading all this stuff that tells us how to do it and what you put here and how you get three of those there and five and take away the number you first thought of and multiply it by six, and before you know it, the three hundred that are left are meant to be not an elite, but a group so inadequate that when the battle is won, no one—Gideon, the three hundred, the gang that left, or the surrounding people—will be in any doubt, God did this. And that's what, incidentally, worship is supposed to be about.

And now that I mention the choir, I'll just have a little detour for a moment. What does it say in 1 Corinthians 12 or 14, whatever it is? The issue is—well, hey, I know it's in 12 or 14, that's a start.

Well, you guys are tough. You know, it says, the real issue is that men, in coming into the encounter with the people of God, will be caused to fall down on their faces and say, surely God is in this place. That that would be the only explanation for what's going on.

Not the slickness of the methodology, not our ability to offer it to them at the lowest common denominator, not our ability to make it acceptable and amenable to them, but the fact that here are a group of people, they're a funny-looking group of people, they're an ordinary group of people, they're apparently not particularly influential, but there is something going on there, and it is, God is in this place. And that, you see, what the issue is here in Judges 7. Now, how good of God, having given this instruction to him, to follow it up with a dream that he can hear? There's a direction that he gives, and then there's a dream that Gideon hears.

Gideon has done what he's been told. He takes the men down to the water and so on. He sends the rest of the Israelites to their tents, he keeps the 300, and they've got to gather up all the provisions and the trumpets and everything else.

Quite a carry-on. And now, the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. That's the same thing that is said in verse 1, the camp of Midian was in the valley.

And it's just a little reminder, you know, the writer says, now, let's not forget about the camp below in the valley. And during the night, the Lord said to Gideon, get up and go down against the camp, because I'm going to give it into your hands. And then listen to this, if you're afraid to attack—oh, how gracious of God!

What a wonderful shepherd, and father, and counselor, and guide! You know, if it had been you and me, we would have said, if? If you are afraid to attack? I'm scared spitless to attack God. You see, bravery's not the absence of fear, is it? If you ask a rock climber how he is so brave to go up there without those safety things, he'll say, I'm not brave, it scares me to death.

I simply conquer the feelings. So bravery is the harnessing of fear, the overcoming of fear. So it is not that we are strong and useful when we can say, oh, I'm not afraid, I'll go and do that. I think the position is, yeah, I am afraid, but… And the Lord comes to him, and he says, I want you to go down, and I want to acknowledge that if you're afraid, you may need a little more encouragement. I have provided you with recruits for your faith, but I'm not providing you with recruits for your forces. What a lovely teacher he is.

Kind, if you're afraid, strict, go down. A word of promise, a word of direction. And you can take your servant Purah and listen to what they're saying. And afterwards you'll be encouraged to attack the camp. So he and Purah, his servant, went down to the outposts of the camp. Can you imagine what that journey was like?

I don't want to delay on it. But he and his buddy, they go down, and it has been described for us that these folks are everywhere. It's all campfires and tents and camels, making noises and making other things that camels do. And it's just a huge panoply of daunting dimensions. And they must have gone on that journey, and as they crept into the camp, and as they observed it all, and as they found themselves on the outposts, they must have been saying, goodness gracious, what are we going to possibly do here? The odds are overwhelmingly against us.

Everything is stacked against us. Goodness, when we asked the people if any were fearful, we had the whole twenty-two thousand of them leave. The Lord has taken us down to three hundred. It's you and me, Purah, and we're down here. And Purah says, Gideon, shh, shh, listen, listen. And they hear talking in the tent, and they draw a wee bit closer to the tent. And they hear a guy talking to his friend. And his sister's friend, I had a dream. And a round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp.

It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed. You can imagine them just moving along. This is interesting. And then comes the interpretation. His friend responded, This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon, son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands. You think God is in charge? Yeah, he's in charge. He's not just in charge in the camp of the Israelites.

He's in charge of the camp of the Midianites. God is in control. God is still on the throne, as the old song says, and he will remember his own. Though trials may press us and burdens distress us, he never will leave us alone. The Lord God omnipotent reigns.

It doesn't always seem so, but it is so. That's why the hymn writer says, Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take. The skies, ye so much dread, are big with blessing and will break with mercy on your head. Now, it's going to take faith to believe that, but that is exactly what it takes.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God, for anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And Gideon has heard the word of direction. He has responded in obedience. He has now heard the word and the dream. And interestingly enough, the response is, when Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped God.

What a wealth is contained in that which we will allow silence to pass over! He worshiped God. What did he do? Did he lie face down on the ground? Did he stand with his eyes towards heaven? Did he lift his hands in the air? Did he sing a little chorus that he'd sung?

What did he do? We don't know. But we do know this. Then in that moment, if never before, he had an almost overwhelming sense of the fact that as his servant, as God's servant, he was to God, as the prophet Zechariah says, as the very apple of God's eye. That God's concern for him, God's interest in him, God's vision for him, his purpose for him, meant everything. Guys, pastoral ministry is not easy. You can move from place to place, but people reincarnate themselves.

And it's never the nice ones. And there's no ideal place to serve God except the place he sets us down. And it is a precious and a wonderful time when God, as it were, picks us up in the warmth of his embrace, and he holds us close to his heart. And as, in the words of Isaiah the prophet, he gently leads those who are young. And there is something of that in this secret moment there. As Gideon does the only thing that it is right to do, to worship God, long before the words of the shorter Scottish Catechism, he understands it, that the chief end of Gideon is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. So whether he has a big group or a wee group, whether his church is apparently influential with these vast numbers or whether it is apparently insignificant with small numbers, he understands that one plus God is a majority. And so it is that he returns to the camp, and he says to them, get up. It's directive. Leadership must be directive. He doesn't go back to the camp and say, okay, guys, anybody got any bright ideas?

Anybody got anything they would like to do? Not a good question to ask, because they might say, we'd like to do what the other 31,700 just did. So he says, okay, boys, let's go. Let's get up. Let me tell you how we're going to do this.

I'm going to divide you into three groups. And Samuel, will you distribute the trumpets, please? And Levi, can you gather up some of the stuff from over there in that pile that you made when the other chaps went home?

And can you make sure that everybody has got a jar? And will you, Benjamin, will you take care of the torches for us? Now here's what we're going to do. We're going to, incidentally, verse 17, he says, follow me, watch me, follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, I want you to do what I do. And then this is what he says. Now, I hope you can handle this, fellows.

The instructions are clear, but I want you to listen. This is what is necessary for this victory to take place. You've got to be able to blow the trumpet, break your jar, and shine your torch. Can you imagine if you'd been one of the 300? Gideon, we started off with 32,000 here a couple of days ago. You got us down to 300.

How in the world we're still here, we don't know. We just had our heads in the bucket, and you said you're in. Now, Gideon, we know that God has been speaking to you. We've been hoping that, because you're our leader, and apparently you had a peculiar session with him last night, and Purah tells us that you were really in touch. And as a result of that, we have been waiting here with bated breath when you came back and woke us up in the morning, and as we looked down at this vast company with all these fires and camels, humps, and people, we were anticipating, Gideon, that you would have a really good strategic plan for the future of our church.

We would have thought that it would have had all the acumen and wisdom that we have come to expect in the approach of contemporary evangelicalism. And you come up and wake us up and stand us up and tell us, here's what you've got to be able to do. You've got to be able to blow your trumpet, break your jar, and shine your torch.

Is that it? What military expertise is necessary for this victory? None.

None! The fighting would involve others brought back in later on, but in this initial encounter, the Midianites were going to do it to themselves. They didn't need crack troops to fight. He needed faithful guys who would stand up, blow the trumpet, smash the jar, and shine the torch. I don't want to violate my own principles now and spiritualize the thing away at the end, but the fact of the matter is, it really comes down to that kind of dependence in our day.

Jesus said, Let your light so shine before men. He said, You've got a treasure in an old clay jar. How about smashing the jar? You've got a fat head, Alistair Begg. We could smash that down a little.

That would be really important. Any of you prepared to shout? Remember the story of, was it Gypsy Smith? Gypsy Smith said, If they tell me that I can't shout, and I can't preach, and they enclose me in a barrel, then I will shout glory out of the bunghole. And so God looks on his servant, and he says, Hear what we're going to do. Now, you know that the end of the story is quite remarkable. Loved ones, I need to say to you that I think the greatest danger that we face is the danger of self-reliance. I think that we've imbibed so much of the spirit of our generation that we have forgotten that God's plan is very different from ours.

And with this I close. Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential.

Not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are, why, so that no one may boast before him. I think it is distinctly possible that God looks down, as it were, on the potential armies of evangelicalism, and he says, You are too many.

Because at the moment, you're tempted to rely on your own abilities and to take credit for your own successes, and I won't share my glory with another. May the Lord help us to think these things out. Father, I pray that you will save us as pastors from imagining a standard at which we do not ourselves live, and then calling our people to live at that standard, and by doing so, disheartening them and deceiving ourselves. We pray that in our day and in our generation, you will teach us again what it means when Jesus said, Apart from me you can do nothing, that our need of you is not partial but total. And then, Lord, take us, with our torches and our old clay pots, and with the trumpet, as it were, of your Word, and in all of our inadequacy and in all of our fear, use us to your great glory, we pray, for Jesus' sake. Amen. We have to learn how we can completely rely on the Lord.

That's an extreme challenge that goes against the grain of our self-sufficiency. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. As Alistair said earlier today, one plus God is a majority. That's an important truth for us to cling to, and it's important for us to teach our children that truth as well. That's why we're so excited about our current book offer. It's a book called The God Contest. This is a colorfully illustrated children's book that cleverly retells the story of Elijah and his challenge to the people in his day to believe in the one true God. But the book doesn't end with that story. The author fast forwards to Jesus' arrival on earth and shows us how Jesus' victory over death sets the stage for the ultimate God contest.

You'll love the conversations that this book sparks as it ends with a question about what it means to join team Jesus. Request your copy of The God Contest today when you donate to support the Bible teaching you here on Truth for Life. You can give through our mobile app or at truthforlife.org slash donate or call us at 888-588-7884. If you'd rather mail your donation along with your request for the book, write to Truth for Life at P.O.

Box 398000, Cleveland, Ohio 44139. I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for listening. Join us tomorrow as we learn about the only cure for a guilty conscience. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.