Amazing Guy

Jeremy is here. Ten pounds lighter, but in good health. We are so thankful for God's protection and faithfulness through all the challenges of these six months. His family is coming tomorrow, and they'll all return to Michigan after church on Sunday. Thanks for all your prayers for him. (Photos and details at jeremyinafrica.blogspot.com.)

Reading Judges 7, I was impressed by Gideon's reckless obedience to God. God had appeared to him and called him to drive out the enemy Midianites, whose cruel exploitation had driven the Israelites to hide in mountain caves. So Gideon summoned 32,000 warriors, and they followed him to a point where they could see, in the valley below, an army "like a swarm of bees," with camels "like grains of sand on the seashore--too many to count." God told Gideon his outnumbered army was still too large, and he should dismiss everyone who was timid or afraid--and 22,000 went home. But the remaining 10,000 were still too many for God's taste, and He told Gideon to further reduce his army to only 300. Otherwise, He said, "the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength" (verse 2). The most amazing human action in this entire drama appears in verse 8: "So Gideon collected the provisions...of the other warriors and sent them home." Simple, bold, astounding, trusting obedience.

I suppose everyone who ever went to Sunday school knows about the victory God gave to Gideon's army. And a lot of people make silly applications of the fleece challenges Gideon had put to God at the end of chapter 6. Gideon wasn't "putting out a fleece" to determine God's will; he already knew that. He was firming up his faith. Once he was sure of God's power and His trustworthiness, obedience was logical--even if it seemed humanly outlandish. None of us will be called to lead an army. But there's so much injustice and lostness around us that God wants to remedy through us. The best preparation we can make is to know Him well enough to trust Him, as Gideon did. In other words, Fully Rely On God.

Carol