The other day I was reading a devotion and discussion from Proverbs 31 Ministries focused around Judges 7:2 “The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’”
For some reason this message hit me straight between the eyes. Their army was pretty big and ready to fight and God said “too big.” Wait, what? God, why wasn’t a big army better? They reduced the army down to 300 men from something like 30,000. Then God uses those 300 men to win the battle. There was no way anyone could say it was not God making victory possible. Now, I get why God would do that. But, I don’t reallly like it….not really. Not when I think about how this applies to my own life.
How often do we keep the glory for ourselves? How often do we want more and more resources, or time, or people, or…whatever, when all we need is God?
I was thinking through my own life and asking myself if there is an area of life God is shrinking so he can be made bigger, show up brighter, get the glory. Sometimes it is hard to see God working that way and it doesn’t feel fair. We would much rather rely on God with an army of 30,000 just in case, wouldn’t we? I know I would, and that tells me that maybe I need to work on my trust with God. Reading these stories written in scripture is a great starting point to reminding myself of his incredible provision and saving grace.
Hang on friends. God is at work. If you are in a shrinking phase, do not give up hope. God is about to do something amazing. Trust him.
Dear heavenly father, it is so easy for us to forget to trust you. It is so easy for us to want the big army to fight our battle when maybe all we need is you. Lord, we’re sorry. Forgive us. We lay our lives before you. Where do you want to lead us today? To you be the glory. Amen.
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