"Gideon got up early the next morning, all his troops right there with him. They set up camp at Harod’s Spring. The camp of Midian was in the plain, north of them near the Hill of Moreh. God said to Gideon, “You have too large an army with you. I can’t turn Midian over to them like this, they’ll take all the credit, saying, ‘I did it all myself,’ and forget about me. Make a public announcement: ‘Anyone afraid, anyone who has any qualms at all, may leave Mount Gilead now and go home.’” Twenty-two companies headed for home. Ten companies were left. God said to Gideon: “There are still too many. Take them down to the stream and I’ll make a final cut. When I say, ‘This one goes with you,’ he’ll go. When I say, ‘This one doesn’t go,’ he won’t go.” So Gideon took the troops down to the stream. God said to Gideon: “Everyone who laps with his tongue, the way a dog laps, set on one side. And everyone who kneels to drink, drinking with his face to the water, set to the other side.” Three hundred lapped with their tongues from their cupped hands. All the rest knelt to drink. God said to Gideon: “I’ll use the three hundred men who lapped at the stream to save you and give Midian into your hands. All the rest may go home.” After Gideon took all their provisions and trumpets, he sent all the Israelites home. He took up his position with the three hundred. The camp of Midian stretched out below him in the valley."
When we become self-sufficent, and believe that we can do things in our own strength, we discredit the work of the Lord. Gideon's army went from 32,000 to 300. Reducing the army to this small amount, there could be no way that victory could come other than through the Lord; therefore, the men could take no credit for it. We have to know the danger that comes from fighting in our own strength, versus allowing the Lord to fight for us and the freedom that brings.
I have learned through the last several years that it is much better to have a few of the right people, than a whole lot of the wrong people. When a tasks or project looks huge, and you have no idea how you are going to conquer it, the Lord always sends the right amount of people, with the right skills, to help do the work.
I have seen this happen through every step of working on my house. There have been many days when I have needed a lot of help, asked for it, and had an expectation that a lot of people would show up, only to be discouraged when just a few did. BUT, those few that did were always the right ones. The Lord knew exactly who was able, willing, and gifted to help on that day, with that project. How my faith has been strengthened and my trust in the Lord's timing has expanded through this. He always blows my expectations out of the water.
300 of them were ready to go into that battle. Only 300. What were the other 31,700 doing? But the Lord knew those 300 men, He knew who they were, how faithful they were, and how 300 of the right men was much better than 32,000 of the wrong men. The victory that was to come wasn't from the amount of men willing to fight, it was from the faith, confidence, and boldness they all had, going into the battle. I'm sure Gideon felt a little insecure about how it was going to end, but then the Lord said to him....."That night, God told Gideon: “Get up and go down to the camp. I’ve given it to you." v. 9
This is an excerpt from the book by Heidi and Rolland Baker with Iris Ministries, Always Enough. If you want to be challenged to trust the Lord in new ways, and learn from pioneers in the faith, I encourage you to read the whole book.
"Even the most desperate poverty, the most devastating illness, the most heart-wrenching grief is not beyond God's help. His love and power have no limits-and that's a message readers from all walks of life need to hear. The modern miracles that Rolland and Heidi Baker experience every day in their work with Mozambique's throwaway children, movingly chronicled in Always Enough, will inspire anyone looking for hope in the midst of suffering. The Bakers, formerly missionaries in Indonesia and Hong Kong, share how their work for the past eight years in Mozambique, one of the poorest nations on earth, has borne spiritual fruit beyond their wildest dreams. Every day presents multiple impossible needs. But in the face of everything Satan can do, as Rolland and Heidi lay down their lives and "minister to the one," there is always enough. Readers will discover that the simple practice of choosing to step out and trust God every day unleashes his provision for every need."
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