GIDEON – EXPERIENCING FAITH (Judg 7:1-14)

When faith is weak and frail, the LORD will intervene. Gideon and his fighting men were called by the LORD to deliver Israel from the seven-long-year oppression of the Midianites. The LORD intervened almost immediately after the children of Israel cried to Him (cf. Judg 6:1-6). The intervention of the Lord meant that Israel would be delivered from the oppression of the Midianites. At the same time, the Lord also knew that Israel was in sin. That was the reason the Midianites were sent by the Lord to chastise His people Israel. Israel needed to keep on trusting the Lord even AFTER the Midianites were removed from their lives. Israel must not go back to their old sinful ways. The problem with Israel and the world is a failure to see the hand of God in the pain and in the gain. Like the world, Israel wanted to experience the gain but not the pain. When pain comes, man will murmur and complain and brush it off simply as “that is how things are for everyone.” The hand of God is missed. Israel at that point in her existence was at such a low ebb that her faith in the Lord was nearly non-existent.

Man today is worse. He tends to explain things away as either fate, or good/bad luck, or a matter of scientific conundrum that can be changed if sinful man was to change his way of life as if he has the power to change the world’s climate and the nation’s well-being! This is the foolishness and arrogance of sinful man being played out over and over again. But there is no generation more foolish and arrogant than the generation that lives in the 21^st century! Man thinks that when he entered the atomic age he wields power that no generation has ever wielded before. With more scientific inventions and medical advancements, he lives longer and better. God is dead or has been explained away as non-existent. Sinful man in his blindness has impacted the church and reduced her into an image of the god of this world, namely the devil. Churches are carnal. Faith is dead. Carnality dominates as the lust of the flesh and the pride of life rule in the hearts of many who call themselves Christians.

True believers found in churches today need to experience faith again. That was what the Lord tried to accomplish in the lives of the people of Israel when He called Gideon to deliver Israel out of the oppression of the Midianites.

I. Know Condition of Faith (Judg 7:1-3) – The LORD knew the condition of Israel’s faith better than Israel. When He delivered Israel from the Midianites (it was not a matter of “if” but “when”), Israel had to know without a doubt that it was the Lord who delivered her. It was not fate. It was not a matter of good or bad luck. It was not because the Midianites were weaker and Israel was stronger. It was the LORD! In order to accomplish this, the Lord needed to reduce the size of Gideon’s army. If the size of Israel’s army led by Gideon against the size of the Midianites’ army were equal or the ratio was not vast, then Israel would probably end up taking the credit and not see the hand of God in her deliverance. The result would be a disaster. Israel would go back to her sinful ways after the Midianites had been defeated because she would think that she defeated them by her own strength! Pride would set in and Israel would be in a worse state of sin than before.

The people came to assist Gideon in the battle. The Lord said to Gideon that the number was too large. The Lord reduced the number from 32,000 to 10,000. Judges 7:2-3:

The size of the Midianite army was 135,000 men (cf. Judg 8:10). Was the ratio of 13.5 Midianites to 1 Israelite (135,000 to 10,000) a large enough margin for Israel to see the hand of God in her victory so that they would confidently say that they had trusted in the Lord who gave them the victory? Would they say that they had experienced genuine faith in this victory? The Lord knows best! It was not enough.

I. Guaranteeing Growth in Faith (Judg 7:4-8) – The Lord knew Israel’s faith better than Israel did. The Lord said that the size of Gideon’s army of 10,000 men was still too large. Israel would not be able to see the hand of God in the victory and experience true faith! The Lord told Gideon to reduce the number further. The 10,000-strong Israelite army was slashed drastically to a mere 300 men. This means that the ratio was now 450 Midianite soldiers to one Israelite (135,000 to 300)! This does not make any sense as far as military strategy is concerned. Every general would ask for more men. They would definitely want as large an army as possible to increase the chances of victory. This is common sense. But when it comes to faith, it is not a matter of common sense. It is spiritual sense. God wanted to guarantee growth in Israel’s faith. He wanted Israel to experience real faith. Israel had to know without a shadow of doubt that victory over the Midianites was the Lord’s doing and nothing else, and the ratio had to be ridiculously impossible for Israel to win. How could one Israelite farmer defeat 450 Midianite soldiers? Yet Israel would win. It was the Lord’s doing!

When Gideon asked for bread to sustain his men, the princes of Succoth refused to supply. They probably took a look at the 300 men and did not think they had the slightest chance of victory. Gideon had a better chance of putting out the fire of hell with a snow ball in his hand than to fight against the 135,000 strong Midianites with a mere 300 men! But the odds were just right for the Lord to spark the faith in Israel’s heart so that after the victory Israel would turn to the Lord and not to idols! This was exactly what the battle was meant to accomplish! Church-going sinners today need to experience the same if they want their faith to live and grow. Trials in life will have to be so impossible that only the Lord can deliver them!

II. Overcoming Doubt in Faith (Judg 7:9-14) – It must have been extremely difficult for Gideon who was very young in his own faith in Christ. He was not leading 300 men to a church camp or to a missions field where returning home safely was a likely conclusion. He was leading only 300 men against an army that looked like a colony of army ants. The Midianites had made camp so near to where Gideon had made his camp and it was hidden by a mountain. To assure Gideon, the Lord helped him to overcome his doubt! He told Gideon to go down to the enemies’ camp with his servant and the enemies themselves would give him the assurance of victory!

Judges 7:9-14: “ And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand. 10 But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: 11 And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host. 12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude. 13 And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. 14 And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.”

This was exactly what Gideon needed to have his faith strengthened to help him lead God's miniature army against an overwhelming foe.

– Without faith it is impossible to please God in everything that we do. Experiencing faith in our daily lives is crucial. When faith is absent, it needs to be experienced more than ever before. This was what the Lord did for Gideon and Israel so that they would return to the Lord and walk by faith again. Israel needed to trust the Lord and obey His Word even after the Midianites were defeated. To do that Israel needed to see the Lord’s hand in her deliverance. Thank God they did. The Lord made sure of that through Israel’s experience of a great oppression. We need to experience the same in our daily lives. We cannot afford to be spiritually blind by explaining away the trials in our life. Stop seeing accidents and begin to see God's loving hand. Stop believing in good or bad luck and keep believing and trusting in the sovereign hand of the Most High! Experiencing faith is the only way to please God always. Amen.