And
the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many
for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt
themselves against Me, saying, mine own hand hath saved me. Judges,
Chapter 7, verse 2.
This
is an interesting passage when you know why God said this. Gideon
was going to fight the Midianites for God. He called all his
soldiers (the Israelites) and a large army gathered. God said,
(paraphrased) “If I have the Israelites win the battle against the
Midianites while you have lots of soldiers, you won’t realize the
victory is because I had you overpower them. Instead, the Israelites
will think that they had won the battle because of their large army.
“I
want you to weed out the majority of your soldiers so that there is
only a small band of your soldiers left fighting against the
Midianites. Then they will know that only I, the One True God, was
in control of having your small band of men win the battle against
the huge army of Midianites.”
The
small band of Israelites did overpower the huge army of Midianites.
God staged all of this so that the Israelites would have conclusive
proof that He is the One True God. (Feel free to read Judges,
Chapters 7 and 8, to find out more about this.)
It
wasn’t the war part that impressed me so much. It was that God
went to such great lengths to show the Israelites that He was looking
after them. I think God does this in our everyday lives, as well. I
don’t think we always stop to realize that it’s God taking care
of us. I think we chalk it off to coincidence or have some other way
of rationalizing it. I think God wants us to open our eyes and see
how He works in our lives each and everyday. God isn’t just some
holy figure way off in heaven, but is intimately involved in every
aspect of our lives.
Because this is an example of how I’ve applied this Bible passage to my life, it doesn't necessarily reflect the whole meaning of the passage.
This is a connection I've made from this Bible passage. Please share your connections.
Please click on comments below to share your suggestions. Thanks! Debbie
