If I'm being honest, I actually called my bestie today to complain about a situation that was intimidating. Ha, and this after I prayed for an opportunity, God gave it to me, and because it wasn't easy, I whined about it!
The Old Testament is hard for me to read sometimes. I feel like I need a history lesson to understand what everything means. But, reading my Bible tonight, I stumbled upon a little treasure named Gideon. You see Gideon was pure weak sauce. His people (Israelites) were being dominated by the Midianites in a major way. When the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites came through and stole EVERY SINGLE PIECE. And they took all of the Israelites animals (their meat and transportation) and things with them. Gideon's people had NOTHING left.
What do you think they did then? What we all do. After worshiping idols and ignoring God, they finally cried out to Him for help.
Judges 6 says that the angel of the Lord came down to that place in the form of a man and appeared to Gideon. (Umm, WOW! How awesome/scary would that be?!) He told Gideon that he, Gideon, was going to lead his people in victory over the Midianites. And in verse 15, "But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." Told ya, Gid was weak sauce. Even in a poor country, he was a poor 'nobody.' But, God chose Gideon to lead his people to a victory.
So, after asking for several signs from God just to make sure God knew he had chosen the weakest man around for the job, Gideon gathered together an army. In Judges, the Midianites are described as a swarm of locusts in the land. It says their camels were numerous like the sands of the seas. So, basically, they were like China and Russia put together against the state of South Carolina or something. Now we see why lil ole G was so scared. But, God had spoken so Gideon knew he better act.
He gathered together as many men as he could and prepared for battle. But, on the way, God stopped him and said, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands." Ummm...what? God, maybe you didn't notice, but there's like a million of them and 30,000 of us! Around this time, Gideon is probably thinking, "Am I sure this God is real? Are these voices in my head? This is IMPOSSIBLE. This is INSANE." But, he told anyone who was scared they could turn back. So, 22,000 left and 10,000 remained. But, again, God said too many. He narrowed it down to 300 men!! Three hundred men were going with Gideon to fight hundreds of thousands of trained warriors! Ya'll, this is a true story, not a fairy tale. This happened.
Can you imagine the faith it must've taken for these men to go into battle?! AND, they didn't even carry weapons in their hands. As they crept in the middle of the night to where the Midianites were camping, these soldiers carried a trumpet in one hand and a glass jar in the other. (To the world they must've looked crazy. Sound familiar?) When they got to the edge of the camp, they all blew their trumpets and smashed their jars. The Midianites got scared and the Bible says they ran, CRYING, as far as they could!!!
Gideon didn't know what the outcome of his march would look like. After God spoke to him, he tried everything in his power to get his people ready to win. But, God didn't need Gideon's human strength. God made almost the entire Israelite army turn back, "In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her..." Judges 7:2. God doesn't need us. Sometimes when we are in the middle of that impossible situation it's so hard to imagine anything good coming from it, but from now on, I will try to remember to rejoice in my weaknesses because I know that God's strength is magnified in me and His strength is infinitely enough.
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