| “And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many … Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return … and there returned of the people twenty and two thousand” (Judges 7:2-3). |
| “And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many … by the three hundred men that lapped will I save you” (Judges 7:4, 7). |
| I am sure most of you have heard the story of Gideon and his three hundred men, and how they defeated a huge army of the Midianites. Perhaps you have sung the song about him in Sunday school — “Brave Gideon had three hundred men, the Midianites had a host,” etc. But at first Gideon had many more than three hundred men — he had 32,000 men. The Lord said that this was too many, and so He told Gideon to tell anyone who was afraid to go home. As a result, 22,000 of his men went home — more than two-thirds of his army. |
| This is a good lesson for us too. We should be dependent on the Lord, but if we are afraid to face the world and stand up for the Lord, it is better for us not to attempt to serve Him until we have walked with the Lord a little longer, and have learned to go out in His strength. If one person is afraid, he will tend to make others afraid. The Lord had already given these instructions to Israel in the law, telling them that anyone who was afraid should not go out to battle. See if you can find this verse; it is in the book of Deuteronomy. |
| However, even though Gideon had only 10,000 men now, the Lord said that they were still too many. The Lord told Gideon to test them in an unusual way; you can read about it in Judges 7. He was to take the men to the water to drink. Most of the men got down on their knees to drink directly from the water, while a few scooped up water in their hands and lapped it, like a dog. Then the Lord said that those who scooped up water with their hands should be the ones to go to war — only three hundred men. Why was this? |
| There was really nothing wrong with getting on their knees to drink, but it is a picture of taking it easy in this world, and enjoying the good things down here. Also, while they were drinking, they could not be on guard. But the ones who scooped up water knew they had work to do, and a battle to fight. They drank quickly, and in a way that allowed them still to be on guard. |
| This is the way we should treat the good things God gives us in this world. We need things like food, water, clothes, a house to live in, etc., but we should not be thinking so much about those things. We are here to live for the Lord’s glory, and to fight the Lord’s battles as Christians. It is important to be like Gideon’s three hundred men, who took the water quickly, and who then were ready to go out to battle. |
