Strength in Less Numbers (Judges 7:1-22)                                                                                      2009.02.08    Pastor Richard Yu

The saying, “There is strength in numbers,” is a common knowledge and could be seen in our common experiences as well as in other living creatures. But for God, as it is shown in the next part of Gideon’s story, strength is not necessarily in numbers, but in less numbers. Gideon is able to assemble an army of 32,000 men strong, ready to do battle with the Midianites and the Amalekites. But compares to the numbers of the enemy, 32,000 is really nothing because the number of their enemy is like “locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance” (v. 12, ESV). God, instead of give him more men, more armors in order to over their enemy He asks Gideon to send away most of the men until only 300 men left.

There are many discussions on what kind of men are fit for battle; endless speculations on why only those who lap the water were qualified to fight with Gideon. But again, I say that the real point of this story, or any other stories like this one, is what God is doing to teach and to mold His people. And from the lesson of how God molds Israel we learn a few things about how God molds us and the church today.

In this account we see God interacts with Gideon in two ways: One is that He tells Gideon to reduce his force; and two, He tells Gideon to go down into the enemy’s camp and listen to what they are saying.

I. By asking Gideon to reduce the number of the fighting men God wants to show His people the basic principle of salvation. God makes it clear in verse 2, He does not need that many men so the Israel will not think “her own strength has saved her.” This is the greatest spiritual danger there is – that we should believe that we can or have “saved ourselves.” The lesson we always need to learn is that salvation is by grace and God’s action, not by earning it with our actions.

Another way to understand this principle is in 2 Cor. 12:7-9, where the Apostle Paul says that the Lord’s power works best in our weakness. This principle tells us that God does not simply work in spite of our weakness, but because of it. Paul says that God’s saving power does not work when we are strong or think we are strong. Jesus didn’t summon the heavenly army to rescue Him from the cross; He overcame death through the weakness, failure, and shame of the death on the cross.

How does this work out practically? First, this principle is the basis for salvation itself. We cannot be saved if we think we are good or able. God’s saving power only works on us when we admit that we have no worthiness or goodness in ourselves that deserves salvation. Second, this principle explains how we almost always grow spiritually. Quite often it is a loss or experience of weakness that leads to spiritual growth.

II. By sending Gideon into the camp to hear what the enemy is saying God wants to show them that in the face of distress or great difficulty they should worship Him. It is pretty obvious that the result of Gideon’s visit to the Midian camp was God’s purpose in sending him. We read the result of Gideon hearing the man’s dream and its interpretation was that he worshiped God (v. 15); and he gained confidence, courage and strength from it.

To worship is to ascribe worth to God; it is to lift up the glory of God; to express the goodness and greatness of God; and thus to be reminded again and again who and what God is that we might maintain the right perspective on God and our relation to Him. If we experience emotional outbreak or psychological release during the time of worship, it is incidental, it’s the by-product. Aim for exalting personal emotional expression and that’s what you’ll get. We can be moved to tears with the right kind of melodies and lyrics; but then again, we can be emotional moved and stirred by many other things. Aim at exalting God, knowing God, declaring God, magnifying God, then our genuine emotion cannot be contained.

What might be some of our own battles today? What might be some of the battles the church needs to face? How do we plan on meeting the challenges? Do you feel overwhelmed by the challenge or obstacle? Gideon’s experience tells us that we should worship!! Go to God with eyes lifted up to Him, with prayer and praise, and God will show us the way and His presence will be evident and empowering!