Judges 7-8 – God Has Positioned You to Succeed

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

Judges 7-8 highlights that regardless of the position we find ourselves in, God sets us up to succeed and have victory.

Introduction

God will put you into a position to succeed.  Now, the question you must answer is whether or not you will trust the position God puts you in.  Something that many of us believers struggle with constantly is struggling to trust the position God puts us in.  In this week’s study of Judges 7, Gideon struggled to understand the position God put him in, and it caused him to be reluctant.  Let’s take a look at what God does about our reluctance to win.

Judges 7:1-2 – For the Glory of God

Judges 7 opens with Gideon and his men encamped by the well of Harod, near the Midianites who were on the north side of the hill of Moreh (Judg. 7:1).  The Midianites, if you have forgotten, were the oppressors of Israel during the time of Judges 6-8.  Let’s also be mindful that Midian was allied with the Amalekites, and both were old adversaries of Israel (Judg. 6:3, ref. Ex. 17:8-13; Num. 25,31 ). 

Now I want to highlight Judges 7:2, God saying to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.”

So, before we dive into why God said this, something we ought to understand is that the works we do should glorify God.  As Paul wrote to the Colossians, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him (Col. 3:17).”

As Jesus taught the apostles, His disciples are to be lights in the world (Matt. 5:14).  Jesus taught, saying, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matt. 5:16).”

The works you do aren’t for your own glory; they aren’t for enlarging your name and your fame.  Keep in mind my study of Matthew 23, where we saw Jesus warn His followers not to do as the scribes and Pharisees.  Rather than opening the doors to the kingdom, the scribes and Pharisees shut the gates as they only sought to glorify themselves rather than God (Matt. 23:3-6,13).

The gifts God blesses us with are for glorifying Him and Him alone.  In John 15:7-8, Christ made it clear that we are blessed with gifts to bear much fruit so that the Father is glorified, not we ourselves.  We must always keep in mind that we are a testimony of God both in our bodies and in the works we do.

We must keep in mind that the will of God is for all who receive Christ to be raised with Him at the last day (John 6:38-40).  We glorify God in our deeds so that someone, somewhere, will recognize the goodness of God and seek Him.  With that in mind, we ought to do our best to follow God’s instructions so that we may glorify Him as He desires.  

Judges 7:3-8 – God’s Strange Instructions

From Judges 7:3-8, you will see that God instructed Gideon to cut his numbers from 32,000 men to just 300 men!  Now, how do you suppose this made Gideon feel about battling Midian and the Amalekites with only 300 men?  Do you think he was filled with the confidence that they could win?  

Gideon should have felt confident because God had already promised and assured him of victory (Judg. 6:14-16, 36-40).  Now, we’ll see whether Gideon was confident or not in a moment, but for now, let’s bring attention back to how we respond when it seems God is putting us in a position we can’t understand.

There are times when we’ll cry out for the Lord to bless us, and in the back of our heads, there is a way that we want God to bless us.  I often use the “baked cake” example to explain what I mean by this.  So, for example, we’ll pray for the Lord to give us a cake, and instead of the baked cake, God will give us the ingredients to bake the cake ourselves.  Many of us will get upset that God didn’t give us what we asked for because it didn’t come as we wanted.

We like to be in control of what we do with our lives, don’t we?  Being in control fills us with confidence.  However, we must remember that we called on God for help!  Faith, we should understand, calls on us to let go of the reins and put all our trust in the Lord.

So, if you’re going to walk with the Lord and call on Him for help, you must be ready to submit your will for His will!  One of the greatest struggles of faith is complete trust in the Lord.  Faith requires one to be led, not for them to lead God.  Oftentimes, with the Lord, He’ll lead us into places where we know little to nothing about.  If we lack understanding or capability, shouldn’t we be dependent on the Lord?  

The question you have to answer is whether or not you will follow God in such a manner that you may be required to have blind trust.  Some of us would much rather give our input before we ever follow the Lord.  

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with asking God questions or seeking clarity from Him.  In fact, the Lord will always provide us with clarity!  God will never not answer your questions!  Yet, when the time comes to move in faith, whether it makes sense to you or not, you must move with complete trust in the Lord.

Let’s always keep in mind that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  Your faith ought to move in a manner where you remember all that God has already done for you.  Faith trusts that God is faithful to repeat His works.

Something you should always keep in mind is that God’s thoughts towards you are not evil–it is not to see you perish.  God’s thoughts towards you are of peace, a future, and a hope (Jer. 29:11).  God has already promised and assured us of our blessings and our eternal victory.  You see, your victories have been promised through Christ and have been sealed through the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

Judges 7:9-14 – Gideon’s Reluctance Returns

In Judges 7:9, we’ll see that God called for Gideon to arise and move with his 300 men against the camp of the Midianites.  However, in Judges 7:10-11, we’ll also see that God gave Gideon instructions to follow in the case that He was afraid to move.  Let’s focus on this passage of scripture a great deal for the key focus of this study.

In Judges 7:11-14, rather than moving against the Midianites and the Amalekites, Gideon chose to take the option for if he was afraid to go to battle.  So, to answer the question about whether Gideon would be confident with the position God put him in, he was afraid.  

Something to note about this is that Gideon was repeating the previous error he made in his first assignment.  What do I mean by this?

In Judges 6:25-27,  God instructed Gideon to tear down the Baal and Asherah of his father.  The scripture implies that Gideon was supposed to do that by himself, and immediately, but rather than following those instructions, Gideon did otherwise.  He gathered 10 servants and tore down the altars under the cover of night.  God rebuked Gideon, and he was still blamed by the people for tearing down the altars.  

This time around, Gideon took 32,000 men to go to do battle.  Now, I’ve searched through Judges 6-8 to see where God instructed Gideon to do that, but I’ve never found it.  So, Gideon, once again, was taking matters into his own hands and doing what he believed was right. 

In Judges 6:33-35, after the armies of the Midianites and Amalekites had gathered together to move against Israel, Gideon moved immediately.  Gideon blew the trumpet of war, and the tribes of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali gathered to him.  Now that may not seem like a big deal to you, but I will repeat again, God had not instructed him to do that!  

Let’s keep in mind what God had promised Gideon.  God said to Gideon, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites (Judg. 6:14).”  The Lord also assured Gideon, saying, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man (Judg. 6:16).”  God did not name anyone else to move against the Midianites.

Now, am I suggesting that Gideon should have taken on two combined armies on his own? Certainly not.  My thought is that when those two armies had moved, before he sounded the trumpet to gather an army, Gideon should have waited for God’s next instructions! 

This is another lesson for us:  wait on the Lord!  In every circumstance, we should wait on the Lord.  The last thing we ought to do is get ahead of God.  Getting ahead of God is where trouble lies, whereas if you follow the Lord, that’s when the blessings will come.

Gideon may have thought that he was right to gather all of those men, as that would have been the logical thing to do.  However, our logic ought not override God’s wisdom and instructions.  When we think that way, that is when we go wrong. 

Gideon may have also moved from a place of fear, which some of us will say makes sense.  Gideon’s potential fear would have come from a place of not being in control, and also from a place of not understanding why God would cut his numbers.  Something we must understand is that we won’t always understand what God is doing, after all, His thoughts are higher than ours and His ways are too (Is. 55:6).

So, was it a bad thing for Gideon to take this route?  God had put two routes before Him, right?  God gave him the route to take, for if he was ready to move in faith, but He also gave him the route for if he was reluctant, worried, and fearful.  I think it is actually wonderful for us to consider that God gives us routes for if we’re ready to move or if we’re hesitant.  

While reluctance and hesitance can delay our blessing, if we still move by faith, taking whichever route the Lord presents to us, the blessing will still come.  Don’t be ashamed to move more slowly in faith than others; your blessing will still come!  God has all the patience in the world to wait for you to be ready.  

Yet, we must not let reluctance turn into doubt because doubt blocks blessings!  This, again, is the struggle of many believers – letting fear and reluctance turn into doubt.  When you don’t move by faith, the blessing will not suddenly appear before you.  Faith is living, breathing, moving and active. 

Judges 7:15-8:21 – The Courage of God 

Now, this passage of scripture covers Gideon leading Israel against the Midianites and the Amalekites.  I am not going to break down the tactics that Gideon employed to win the battle, though I do suggest reading over the scripture.  However, I want to point out how Gideon moved within this passage of scripture.

In Judges 7:15, after he returned to the camp of Israel, you’ll see that Gideon said to the camp, “Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.”  I want to point out that this call is nearly word-for-word what Deborah said to Barak prior to Barak leading Israel to victory over Jabin’s army (Judg. 4:14).  Joshua said something similar when he led the second generation aover Jericho (Josh. 4:16).

When those three called for their people to move, they did so full of courage.  The courage that they spoke from was not their own courage.  No, Gideon, and then Deborah and Joshua, whom I used as other examples of this, spoke and moved with the courage of God flowing through them.

The courage of God sits still for nobody.  The courage of God remains silent for nobody.  The courage of God moves in full confidence, which is the certainty of the Lord’s will being done.  

From Judges 8:4-9, when the Midianites fled to the other side of the Jordan, Gideon and his 300 gave pursuit.  When they reached the Jordan, Gideon asked the men of Succoth for food, but the leaders of Succoth refused to help for fear of the kings of Midian.   Then they went and asked the men of Penuel for the same thing, and they also refused.

Now, I want you to pay attention to how Gideon, a man who was so afraid to tear down the altars of his dad, spoke to these men.

To the leaders of Succoth, Gideon said, “When the Lord has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna [the kings of Midian], then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers (Judg. 8:7)!”  To those of Penuel, Gideon said, “When I come back in peace, I will tear down this tower (Judg. 8:9)!”

The words that Gideon spoke to those men don’t sound like the same man who hid in a winepress to thresh wheat, does it?  Gideon sounds a whole lot different, doesn’t he?  Gideon was making promises!  What has gotten into this man?

Do you think Gideon was playing around?  He and his army of 300 took care of business, getting the kings of Midian.  Then Gideon and his army circle back, and the promise was kept to the men of Succoth and Penuel (Judg. 8:13-17).

With the courage of God, the doors are completely open to you to be able to do anything and to overcome anything.   I want you to keep in mind these words from Christ, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27).”

The peace of Christ gives rest to a heart that is fearful and anxious.  The peace of God is what fills us with confidence in the midst of our trials and tribulations.  Will we be completely free of fear?  Truthfully, no.  Some anxiety will always be in your heart because we can find anything to worry about, but the peace of Christ overcomes that fear and fills us with the courage to move in faith.

Through this study of Gideon’s story, my hope is that you picked up on how God can build anyone up to move with such courage.  God never turned away from Gideon.  The Lord was patient with Him, giving him repeated moments to grow and grow, reassuring Him until Gideon reached peak confidence in faith.  As God did for him, He will do for you as well.