Gideon's Army

God’s Word must always be the source of our strategy, and our inspiration  comes from the book of Judges, chapters 6 and 7.  This is the historical account of how the people of God were delivered from the hand of the Midianites.  The man God chose to lead His people at that time was Gideon, a Judge.  The parallels between God’s people then and God’s people now are many.  God’s people had turned away from the Lord and the Lord had given them over to the hand of Midian for seven years.  The people of God were living in fear, and hiding in caves.  The Midianites terrorized the people by destroying their crops each time that the people of God had sown their seeds.

The same is true of the people of God today.  We the people of God, have done evil in the sight of the Lord, as we have allowed generations of our children to turn from knowing and worshiping the true God, to accepting the new religion of the day, Secular Humanism.  Today’s Secular Humanists, like the Midianites, appear to have the upper hand in our culture.  When we sow the seeds of faith from God’s Word into our children, the Secular Humanists come against us and destroy the crops by teaching against the things of God in our schools.  The people of God are being told to retreat into the caves and dens of our church buildings and homes.  The primary weapons used by the Secular Humanists have been our schools and our courts, which have indoctrinated the people into a belief in a false wall of separation between church and state.

But the people of God cried out to the Lord, and He gave them a plan to overcome the Midianites.  God called Gideon and told him that he would deliver the people as they followed the His instructions. Gideon, whom at first glance does not appear to be the “mighty man of fearless courage” that God sees him to be, nevertheless hears and obeys God’s commands.  God first tells Gideon to do something in his own strength.  God tells him to pull down the altar of Baal and to cut down the symbol of the goddess Asherah, and to replace them with an altar to the Lord.  Gideon was fearful of the people’s response, but he obeyed.  As expected, the people became very angry with him, and wanted to kill him.  But Gideon’s father quiets the angry people with a question, “If Baal is a god, let him contend for himself because one has pulled down his alter.” 

God’s people today have also been crying out to the Lord to deliver us from the Secular Humanists that we have allowed to take over our culture.  God’s character does not change, and He will give us a plan for deliverance.  The high places of false worship today are not the altar of Baal or the symbol of Asherah, but we also have high places that must be changed from altars of false worship to places where God’s sovereignty is acknowledged.  Two of those high places in our society are our public schools and our courts of law.  Until God’s Word is brought back to these two high places, the people of God will continue in bondage to the Secular Humanists.

After Gideon had obeyed the Lord’s command, the Spirit of the Lord took possession of him, and he blew his trumpet as a call to the people to gather together for battle.  The message was spread throughout the region and the people from many cities gathered together to receive instructions.  Gideon again wanted to make sure he was hearing from God, and God confirmed his call to Gideon through Gideon’s fleece.  Approximately 32,000 men gathered together, but God said that was too many, because the victory was the Lord’s, not the people’s. God told Gideon to send those who were fearful and trembling back to their homes, and 22,000 of the men left.  That left 10,000 men, but again God said that was too many.  God then narrowed the number further, and eventually Gideon’s army was reduced to 300 men.

The Midianite army was over 130,000 strong, and Gideon continued to have fear, so the Lord told him to go with his servant into the enemy camp so that Gideon could hear what they were saying.  God knew that this would strengthen Gideon’s faith.  When Gideon overheard the Midianites talk about a dream that one of them had, he learned that the Midianites were more afraid of him than he was of them.  With this increased faith, Gideon armed his army of 300 with trumpets and empty pitchers with torches inside.  Following God’s orders, and without lifting a sword, the army blew the trumpets and cried, “The sword for the Lord and Gideon!”  God confused the Midianites and in their confusion they destroyed each other.   God had again delivered His people.

As we face what appears to be an overwhelming battle against an increasingly strong Secular Humanist oppression in our land, that has the people of God living in fear and spiritual poverty, we must also turn to our Soveriegn God.  Our role in this battle, like Gideon’s, is to simply hear God’s Word and in faith to obey.  God will deliver His people.