Victory Through Surrender

“But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel?  

My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” 

(Judges 6:15)

Remember Gideon?  He’s the fellow who introduced us to “fleece prayers,” and routed a massive army with only 300 men armed with empty jars, torches, and trumpets. Through a series of tests, God reduced the army of 30,000 men which Gideon had raised, to only 300.  (Judges 6-8).  From his experiences, we learn that there is victory in surrender to God’s call.

We first find Gideon hiding out in a wine press threshing his wheat, for fear of the enemies of Israel.  He had good reason to be afraid.  For seven years the armies of the Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern countries had encamped on Israeli land, tramping their crops and slaughtering their livestock in an effort to annihilate them by destroying their food supply.  Things had become so desperate that Gideon’s fellow countrymen had fled to the mountains where they lived in clefts and caves.

God had allowed His chosen people to undergo such hardships because of their sin of worshipping idols instead of Him.  But the time had come when enough was enough; and God chose Gideon to lead the charge
 
The Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and addressed him as “mighty warrior” (6:12 HCSB). That must have sounded almost laughable to Gideon.  He was the youngest in his family and they belonged to the smallest of the twelve Israeli tribes.  All that was obvious to Gideon were the obstacles that would prevent him from carrying out the mission God had for him.

How many times are we members of God’s family guilty of the same thing?  We know that God is calling us to some service but we feel inadequate for the task. Like Gideon, we look within ourselves and see only the things we lack (i.e. education, experience, talent, finances, time, energy, etc.). 

We fail to take into consideration the fact that God never assigns a task for which He does not enable us.  He has all the resources needed to accomplish His purpose. All He needs from us is our willingness to be part of His plan.  It is not our ability He seeks; it is our availability.  He can and will do the things that we are incapable of doing on our own.  Jesus said it this way:

With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible 

(Matthew 19:26 HCSB).

Gideon found success in spite of his inadequacies because he trusted God and obeyed His directives.  We, too, will find God faithful to supply our every need once we surrender to His call on our lives.

 Lord, in my weakness, not in strength I come before You now,
and ask that You take charge of all the “when”, the “where”, the “how”
of the task that You’ve assigned which is far too big for me;
But with Your ways and means, success I’ll surely see.
Praise and honor go to You for a job well done,
for it’s only by Your grace and power the battle will be won.