In the sixth chapter, the Lord was preparing the deliverer; in the seventh chapter, the Lord prepares his army. Chapter 7 outlines what should characterize the Lord’s servants in a day when there is much weakness and failure among God’s people. There are some valuable lessons here for us. The Lord passed the recruits for Gideon’s army through certain tests before they were ready to be used. These tests manifested what kind of men they were. There are five things in particular in this 7th chapter that I want to point out.
1) Courage and Conviction
The first thing we see the Lord looking for in Gideon’s men is courage and conviction (Judges 7:1-3). To find such among those who volunteered for Gideon’s army, the Lord gave them a simple test. He told Gideon to tell the people, “Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead.” If they didn’t have the faith and conviction for this work of fighting the enemy, they were given the opportunity to return. This immediately distinguished those who truly had the courage and conviction for the job.
In service, it’s important that we don’t push people beyond what they have faith for. Courage to exercise our gift takes faith, and a person should exercise his gift according to the measure of his faith. The Word of God says, “According as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith ... . Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith” (Rom. 12:3, 6).
Timothy was naturally timid, and the Apostle Paul sought to encourage him to use his gift, saying, “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:6-7). If, however, a person does not have the faith for some work that we think they should do, we must not push them into that which they will later have difficulty carrying out. This was the mistake of Barnabas and Paul (Acts 13:1-5). In their first missionary journey they took with them a young man named John Mark, who was not ready for the work. God had said, by the Spirit, “Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” He didn’t say anything about bringing Mark along. We know what happened; Mark turned back from the work, and it spoiled his testimony (Acts 13:13; 15:38).
2) Unwavering Devotion to the Master’s Service
The servant of the Lord must be willing and courageous, but he must also be devoted to his Master’s will. He must undertake his service for the Lord with such tenacity and conviction that he allows nothing to come between it and the Lord. Since every servant will profess his devotion to his Master, each must be tested as to the reality of it (Judges 7:4-8).
To identify those in Gideon’s army who truly were “meet for the Master’s use” (2 Tim. 2:21), Gideon was told to bring the men “down unto the water.” The Lord would put them through the “water test.” He said, “Bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there.” Those who took the water up to their mouths in their hands were the ones the Lord wanted to use in His service. The others who got down and “lapped” it like “a dog” were not going to be used. Sure enough, some of the men took the water up to their mouths, and others got down and lapped the water.
The water would sustain the servant in the battle and ensuing pursuit of the enemy. It was a needed and welcomed mercy of the Lord. In this passage, it speaks of creature mercies in temporal things, which the Lord provides for His people in the way. Those who got down and drank the water had momentarily taken their eyes off the task at hand. It speaks of those who indulge in natural mercies and make such their object. Such can not be used in the Lord’s service in any significant way. On the other hand, those who took the water to their mouths were able to stay vigilant as to the service at hand. These were taken and used by the Lord in the battle.
The great question for us is, “How do we handle these temporal mercies?” The Lord would have us to partake of them to refresh and sustain us in the way, but do we indulge in such to the point where we get our eyes off the work at hand? These things can be a distraction. We cannot expect to be used of the Lord when we are engrossed in natural things? Uriah the Hittite is a striking example of the devotion we need to have. He wouldn’t put natural things before the work of the Lord—even to go home to his wife—until the battle against the Ammonites was won (2 Sam. 11:6-13).
Furthermore, those who took water in their hands to drink must necessarily have had clean hands! This speaks of practical holiness in our personal lives. As servants of the Lord, we must be careful to handle His things with clean hands. “Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD” (Isa. 52:11). Clean hands are needed in:
Private life (Job 17:9).
Worship (Psa. 24:3-4; Psa. 26:6).
Service (Isa. 52:11).
3) Felt Weakness
Gideon felt his weakness and needed another confirmation. The Lord knew it and told him to go down to the camp of the Midianites at night and to listen to what they were saying about him (Judges 7:9-14). This would be an encouragement and a confirmation that the Lord was with him, as He promised.
He went down to the camp of the enemy and heard a man tell a dream to his friend. The man spoke of “a cake of barley” tumbling along in the wind and bumping into one of their tents, knocking it over. The other man interpreted it that “the sword of Gideon” was going to smite them! A barley cake is a little thing. Being moved along so easily by the wind, speaks of weakness, yet it accomplished a great thing. Gideon learned from the mouth of his enemies that God uses weak little things to accomplish His ends in service! The Bible says, “God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1 Cor. 1:27).
We are to learn from this that if we go forth in ministry in felt weakness and dependence, God will come in and use us for the blessing of His people. People want to feel strong, but what we should want to feel is our weakness, because then we’ll experience the Lord’s power to help us Paul knew about this secret of power in ministry. He said, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me ... . for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor. 12:9-10; Isa. 40:29). Have we learned this?
4) Willingness to Serve Unnoticed
When the time came for the rout of the Midianites, the victory was entirely the Lord’s. Gideon and his men were told to stand forth in the night with “a trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers” (Judges 7:15-22). At a signal from Gideon, they were to break the pitchers that concealed the light of the lamps and blow their trumpets. And the Lord would do the rest! In fact, what happened is that the Lord caused pandemonium to break out among the Midianites in the darkness, and they turned on one another with their swords and killed each other! This was an unusual method of beating the enemy, but it was God’s way of victory. The men of Gideon had a lamp in one hand and a trumpet in the other. It speaks of the dual testimony of the Christian. There is the testimony we live—as lamps shining “as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15); and there is the testimony we speak—as a trumpet, “holding forth the Word of life” (Phil. 2:16). Having one in each hand speaks of the need for proper balance between the two in our lives.
Notice too that in order for the light to shine out, they had to break the clay vessels that covered the lamps. The Apostle Paul picks up on this figure and uses it in application to the Christian minister. He said, “For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light [for the shining forth] of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassingness of the power may be of God, and not from us” (2 Cor. 4:6-7 – J. N. Darby Trans.). He tells us that we have a great light shining in us—“the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” He also alludes to the fact that our frail human frames are “earthen vessels” that can hinder the outflow of that glorious light. But God breaks down the vessel through the many afflictions and trials through which we pass, so that the light shines out unhindered. He said, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body” (2 Cor. 4:8-10). Such afflictions and trials have a way of bringing us to the point where we deny ourselves in self-judgment so that more of Christ would flow out of our human vessels.
There was an absence of display with these servants that is strikingly beautiful. They were standing in the dark night and could not be seen as they carried out their service for the Lord. It speaks of willingness to serve unnoticed by the public eye. This teaches us that God uses servants that are not occupied with putting themselves forward in His service. Paul mentioned this too; he said, “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor. 4:5). If there is any thought in our hearts of getting a name for ourselves in the Lord’s work, there is something seriously wrong. It is a worldly principle that must be judged, or it will spoil our ministry. We’ve seen young men putting themselves forward in larger meetings to get what looks like recognition or notoriety, and it’s unseemly. Unfortunately, that ungainly motive is hard to detect in our hearts. We should pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psa. 139:23-24). Our brethren often recognize it in us before we do, and if faithful, will point it out to us.
You know, we are more likely to get volunteers for the service of the Lord if the service is something that brings a person into the public eye. It’s just human nature. But Gideon’s men were willing to serve without being seen, and that’s commendable. Albert Hayhoe told the story of a time when he was young and went to a conference. By accident he had left his Bible on the chair after the gospel meeting. When he went back into the hall to get his Bible, he saw an old brother there alone picking up the gospel hymn books on the chairs. He said to Albert, “I always get plenty of help passing out the hymn books at the beginning of the meeting, but when it’s over I end up picking them up by myself.” Handing them out was a work that brought a person into the eye of all the people. We naturally like to do that kind of service because we get noticed. Albert said that that really spoke to him because he was one of the young men that had volunteered to hand them out at the beginning of the meeting!
5) Energy
In the latter part of the chapter we see the men from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh pursuing after the remaining Midianites. This brings before us another needed trait in the servants of the Lord—energy. We need energy in the service of the Lord. If we feel that the Lord has given us something to do for Him, let’s do it with zeal. Paul said, “It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing” (Gal. 4:18).
A little later, when Gideon’s men were pursuing after the fleeing Midianites, they got faint, but they continued to pursue anyway. They were “faint, yet pursuing” (Judges 8:4). This shows a real strength of character. They didn’t give up when the going got tough. Endurance is an important thing to have in the service of the Lord. Jeremiah said, “Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord negligently” (Jer. 48:10 – J. N. Darby Trans.).
It reminds me of the lesson that the old prophet Elisha gave to young king Joash (2 Kings 13:14-19). After showing the young king how to shoot the arrow of the Lord’s deliverance, he told him to take arrows in his hand and smite the ground. It would symbolically represent the smiting of the Syrians. Joash smote the ground with the arrows three times, and stopped. And the prophet was angry with him! He told him that he should have smitten the ground “five or six times;” then the enemy would have been consumed. The point here is that when the Lord gives us something to do, we are to carry it out tenaciously, and finish the job. That’s what we see in Gideon’s men; they pursued the Midianites until they caught them and finished the work. This is an amiable quality in the servant of the Lord. The Lord Jesus said, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34).