[1] Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the troops that were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was north of them, below the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

[2] The Lord said to Gideon, "The troops with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand. Israel would only take the credit away from me, saying, 'My own hand has delivered me.'

[3] Now therefore proclaim this in the hearing of the troops, 'Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home.' " Thus Gideon sifted them out; twenty-two thousand returned, and ten thousand remained.

[4] Then the Lord said to Gideon, "The troops are still too many; take them down to the water and I will sift them out for you there. When I say, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go with you; and when I say, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go."

[5] So he brought the troops down to the water; and the Lord said to Gideon, "All those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, you shall put to one side; all those who kneel down to drink, putting their hands to their mouths, you shall put to the other side."

[6] The number of those that lapped was three hundred; but all the rest of the troops knelt down to drink water.

[7] Then the Lord said to Gideon, "With the three hundred that lapped I will deliver you, and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others go to their homes."

[8] So he took the jars of the troops from their hands, and their trumpets; and he sent all the rest of Israel back to their own tents, but retained the three hundred. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

[9] That same night the Lord said to him, "Get up, attack the camp; for I have given it into your hand. [NRSV]

INTRODUCTION:

Back in the days when fathers-to-be didn't go into the delivery room, a pastor went to visit one of fathers whose wife was in labor. As he sat with his member, he saw another man across the room who looked familiar. He couldn't place the man's name, though. A few minutes later a nurse came out and went to the man across the room and said, "Congratulations, sir. Your wife just had twins!"

The man was a bit surprised, but joyous nonetheless. He thought for a moment and said to the nurse, "Isn't that ironic. My wife just had twins, and I pitch for the Minnesota Twins." Immediately the pastor recognized him as a ballplayer.

A few minutes later a nurse came out to another man in the waiting room. "Congratulations, sir. Your wife just had triplets!"

To say the least, this guy was totally shocked. After he gathered his composure he said, "Can you imagine; my wife just had triplets and I work for 3-M Corporation."

About that time another man in the waiting room jumped out of his seat and ran for the exit. The pastor could tell something was wrong and so he grabbed him by the arm and said, "Son, what's the matter?"

The man replied, "I work for 7-11 and I'm getting out of here!" (1)

As we read the story of Gideon in this week's passage from Judges, it almost seems like God was telling this story backwards doesn't it? But it is a a great story about God's Strength, God's Wisdom and God's Victory.

I. GIDEON'S WEAKNESS, GOD'S STRENGTH:

A. Let's look at GIDEON'S WEAKNESS AND GOD'S STRENGTH.

The story opens with the Midianites pretty much terrorizing the Israelites. The Midianites were as thick as locusts. And remember, the Israelites knew from first hand experience in Egypt just how thick those locusts could get. The Midianites not only terrorized them but they would swoop down form their encampments and destroy the crops in the field. What they didn't destroy they either ate, fed it to their livestock or trampled underfoot. The terrorism was so bad that the Israelites were forced to hide in the mountains and caves.

And just like all of us, they could only stand so much. And when they couldn't stand it any longer, they called upon God. That was one of their first mistakes. Not calling upon God. That was the right thing to do. But you see, they waited to call on God. They didn't call upon God first, they until it was almost too late. It was the last thing they did, not the first.

We do that too don't we? And most of the time, we just get deeper and deeper in trouble.

B. Now that wasn't Gideon's weakness. Gideon's weakness was Gideon's weakness. He wasn't the robust leader type. He wasn't the Arnold Schwartzenegger or Sylvester Stallone of his time. He was more like Ziggy in the Comics than any of the heroes of the Bible. We meet him hiding in a wine press, thrashing grain so the Midianites won't steal it. And yet it was his very weakness that God used.

An elderly woman and her little grandson, whose face was sprinkled with bright freckles, spent the day at the zoo. Lots of children were waiting in line to get their cheeks painted by a local artist who was decorating them with tiger paws.

"You've got so many freckles, there's no place to paint!" a girl in the line said to the little boy.

Embarrassed, the little boy dropped his head.

His grandmother knelt down next to him. "I love your freckles. When I was a little girl I always wanted freckles," she said, while tracing her finger across the child's cheek. "Freckles are beautiful."

The boy looked up, "Really?"

Grandma smiled real big and said, "Of course! Why, just name me one thing that's prettier than freckles."

The little boy thought for a moment, peered intensely into his grandma's face, and softly whispered . . . "Wrinkles."

Like that little boy and his freckles, we look at Gideon and all we see is someone hiding, someone small, someone reluctant. But like that grandmother, God saw more. God took Gideon's Weakness and transformed it into a moment of God's Strength.

II. GIDEON'S CONFUSION, GOD'S WISDOM:

A. Of course Gideon really didn't see how God was going to transform his Weakness into God's Strength. So God took GIDEON'S CONFUSION and transformed it into GOD'S WISDOM.

We know that one of the first things Gideon did while he was confused was to put God to the test. Are you sure, Lord? If you're sure then give me a sign. Gideon kind of reminds me of an old, old joke.

It seems there was a major flood and one old gentleman of deep faith found his house nearly underwater. As the waters rose around him, he prayed, "Lord, please deliver me."

Well about five minutes later a small aluminum boat came along and offered him a ride to dry ground. But the older gentleman said, "Nope, I prayed to God. And God will deliver me." So the small boat left.

A few minutes later, the water was even deeper but lo and behold, here come another boat. This one is about three times the size of the other one. The driver asked if he could deliver the older gentleman to dry land and his response was, "Nope, I prayed to God. And God will deliver me."

Well by now the water was nearly up to the peak of the roof. It was all this guy could do to stay above the water. This time a helicopter flew to his rescue and again he shooed it away with the same phrase. Unfortunately he drowned.

When he stood before the Throne of Grace, he looked at God and said, "I thought You said You would deliver me?"

To which God replied, "I sent you two boats and a helicopter. What more did you want?"

Obviously Gideon needed more than his encounter with the Angel of the Lord. Because he threw out his fleece, twice.

B. But that wasn't the only spot where Gideon was confused. Gideon answered God's call and rounded up 32,000 Israeli troops. That was a pretty good sized army for such short notice. Unfortunately, the Midianites had 135,000 troops, over four times as many soldiers. No wonder some of the troops were trembling in there boots.

And this is where it really got confusing because God told Gideon that he had to many soldiers. Too Many? They're outnumbered four to one and God says they have too many. How can this be God's Wisdom? But it is.

So, Gideon is left with 10,000 soldiers and God says, "Well, Gideon, that's still too many."

You know what Gideon's response had to have been. "What do You mean, still too many? What are you trying to do to us?"

Gideon takes them to the water where God whittles the number down by another 9,700. That leaves Gideon with 300 soldiers. Three hundred soldiers to take on 135,000 well trained, Midianite warriors. There was no way they could defeat the Midianites. There was no way on earth that they could defeat them or hope to run them out of their land.

But then, they didn't have to. God did all the work. God allowed and empowered their efforts to be successful. And that is God's Wisdom.

You see the crux of this passage and this story isn't about Gideon. It's about God. And what God can do. Not what Gideon could do. The key to understanding all of this is verse 2, "The Lord said to Gideon, "The troops with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand. Israel would only take the credit away from me, saying, 'My own hand has delivered me.'"

God kept whittling down the numbers so God would get the glory. For there was no way 300 men could overpower and rout the Midianite troops by themselves. But with God's help, nothing is impossible.

In the midst of our own confusion, like Gideon, we need to rely on God's Wisdom.

III. GIDEON'S OBEDIENCE, GOD'S VICTORY:

A. And the way we show that reliance is through obedience. Gideon's Obedience led directly to God's Victory.

God can always take what we do in the spirit of Joyful Obedience and turn it into God's Victory. Gideon had no idea HOW God was going to defeat the Midianites with only 300 men. But because Gideon had faith in God and trusted God explicitly, God was able to use that obedience to defeat the Midianites completely.

Sometimes for us, all it takes is simple obedience to God's call. It might seem like something trivial but if it is the work of God, it can be transformed into a powerful tool for God's Kingdom.

Let me tell you a story that illustrates what I'm talking about. I don't remember where I first heard it, but I've heard it in several variations. This is the one I remember.

Years ago a missionary and his helpers were traveling from one spot to another and because of the weather and delays were forced to camp on the top of a hill. They were carrying money for the medical work, food and supplies for their entire team. As a consequence the were afraid of an attack by any of a number of wandering rogue groups. They gathered for prayer and asked God to send angels to protect them, Then they went to sleep.

A couple of months later, one of these brigand chiefs was brought to the mission hospital. He asked the missionaries where all the soldiers were. Well of course the missionary said they didn't have any soldiers. But the chief insisted that the missionary had huge soldiers who guarded him.

So the missionary pressed the chief for details. And the chief told of that night when he and his men had seen the missionary and his helpers purchasing supplies. He knew they had more money and so he and his men followed them. "We intended to rob you" he said, "but we were afraid of the 27 soldiers who surrounded that hill. They were twice as big as the biggest warrior we had ever seen."

The missionary pondered that event off and on for a long time.

About a year later when he was on leave back in the states, he visited with one of his sponsoring congregations. And during his message, referred to how good God is and how God had protected them that night.

One of the men in the congregation stood up, interrupted the message and said. "I'm sorry to interrupt but when was that. What day?"

The missionary thought for a minute and recalled the date. The man standing almost turned white. And then said, "I was here for choir practice that night. We had just finished and I was heading out the door when I got this sudden urge to pray for you. And not just pray for you but to gather a group of the men to pray for you. I started to ignore it but it wouldn't let me. So I picked up the phone and started calling the men of the Church. I felt like a fool but I told them they had to come here, to the church, so we could pray for you and your mission. And they came. We had a prayer meeting that night." He then turned and asked the men who participated to stand. One by one they stood up, and when they were counted, there were 27 men standing. Twenty-seven men who had been obedient to God.

B. And that's the point. Gideon and the 300 men were the least likely of heroes but they were obedient. And there's is not telling what God can do with us when we are obedient.

It doesn't make any difference what talents you have. Or what talents you don't think you have. God can use what you have, no matter what. All God asks is that we put what gifts we do have into God's hands and simply obey.

CONCLUSION:

That's what won the day for Gideon and the Israelites. They obeyed. God took Gideon's Weakness and made it God's Strength. God took Gideon's Confusion and made it God's Wisdom. God took Gideon's Obedience and made it God's Victory.

Jesus did the same thing with the 12 disciples. He took the least likely prospects and put the mission of the church into their hands. He took tax collectors, political zealots, and fishermen and gave them the Good News to share with an entire world.

What is God calling you to do? As you come to the Lord's Table to receive the Sacrament, think about what God is calling you to do. Think about the gifts you have that can be put to use for God's Kingdom.

1. Autoillustrator, The Pastor's Story File (Platteville, Colorado: Saratoga Press), May, 1991

2.

3.

4.

WordSearch Bible Study Program

The Interpreter's Bible, Volume II, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1953)

The New Interpreter's Bible, Volume II, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1995)