Judg. 7
It is a blessed thing when our souls are brought to that state in which we can trust God alone. We are living in a day when truth can be seen so readily—doctrines known to be true, accepted without exercise of heart—but if we are to be real servants we must be brought to hang on God only—to depend on Himself. How precious the lessons taught us in the words of Gideon to his three hundred followers—"Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon." This is the spirit of Paul when he says, "One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling [the calling on high] of God in Christ Jesus." He can say too, "Brethren, be followers together of me" and he weeps over those who, like those Israelites, remained behind and did not go on with Gideon. "Mark [he says] them which walk so as ye have us for an example"—that is, those who had the same object and mark as he had himself.
Now the three hundred of Gideon's day, of Paul's day, and of our own day, are made by the Lord the subject of careful training and of encouragement too. They are always weak ones; "fear and trembling" characterize them as to themselves. Paul can say, "I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." 1 Cor. 2:33And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. (1 Corinthians 2:3). Again, "When I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Cor. 12:1010Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)). And see how this "cake of barley bread"—Gideon—needs and gets from God encouragement amid his fears. God says to him, "If thou fear to go down," etc. He would ease every fear which true dependence on Himself would have removed. What comfort, what encouragement, what signs, he gives to Gideon! He fits every servant perfectly, who will not move on until he has real guidance from Himself, and complete independence of all natural resources. In the very word which the Holy Spirit uses in speaking of the three hundred, we see this also. We read, verse 8, he, Gideon, "sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained... three hundred men." When the first and ordinary (see Deut. 20) separation took place, it is, "there remained ten thousand." The twenty and two thousand went back, the nine thousand seven hundred were sent back, out of the ten thousand who "remained," or were left; but the three hundred were "retained"—kept by Gideon. The very word "retained" gives the idea of their needing encouragement. They were weak and probably felt their position. The word is often used for strengthening, and means to harden, to confirm, to lay hold of. A form of the same verb is used in Deut. 1:3838But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. (Deuteronomy 1:38), when Jehovah says to Moses, "Joshua, the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him." So in 1 Sam. 30:66And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. (1 Samuel 30:6), "David encouraged himself in the LORD {Jehovah} his God." Thus Gideon laid hold of those three hundred, for Jehovah's purpose, and for those he had upheld his God's goodness before them; like Paul he had to "comfort" with the "comfort wherewith" he himself was "comforted of God" (2 Cor. 1:44Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. (2 Corinthians 1:4))—to "lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees" (Heb. 12:1212Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; (Hebrews 12:12)). They not only remained," they were also "retained."
It is when we rise above man that we learn the joy of real dependence on God. How often are we driven to this, like David; but whatever way we learn that God must be our whole confidence, just at the moment when we cast ourselves on Him thus, He proves Himself not only equal to the emergency, but gives us joy and blessing far beyond our most sanguine expectations. He "will give grace"; But He stops not there; He will give "glory" too (Psalm 84:1111For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. (Psalm 84:11)).
As an instance of this, look at David at Ziklag. What a hopeless state he seems to be in there!—his friends going to stone him, his failures stinging him to the quick. But it is then that he finds that God must be everything; he encourages himself in Jehovah his God. And God is about to open a wonderful "door" for David. Man would say it was all over with him, but God is going to show His grace, and that He has "abundance" of it (Rom. 5:1717For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) (Romans 5:17)). And this some of us have proved. The true Philadelphian gets this "key," even that when all is ruin around, and in ourselves, God is the perfect resource, and there is the "open door." God in Christ opens it, and "none can shut."
David has encouraged himself in Jehovah his God. Will he get nothing from Him? He will get wonders. First, he is so enriched that he is made a bountiful giver himself. "He sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah" (1 Sam. 30:2626And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord; (1 Samuel 30:26)). This is "grace." But he must get "glory" too. A messenger comes to him with nothing less than a crown! "I took the crown [says he) that was upon his [Saul's) head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them hither unto my lord" (2 Sam. 1:1010So I stood upon him, and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen: and I took the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them hither unto my lord. (2 Samuel 1:10)). Did David encourage himself in the LORD his God in vain?
How blessed is this promise for the Philadelphian now! The hopes of the Church for earthly testimony are over forever. Soon the corrupt mass of profession shall be spewed out of Christ's mouth, but He "will give grace and glory" still. The grace is fully seen in the Philadelphian stage, the glory in the Laodicean. The Philadelphian can have both. Are we among those who buy of Him gold tried in the fire—white raiment—eyesalve? If so, we are in moral glory with Christ now. The crown springs from the ocean of grace. We "sup" with Christ who has died to all of man on earth. We find where He dwells, and abide with Him. This is as individual a matter as was David's resource in his God, and as inexplicable to many servants now as it was then. How lonely, yet how blessed is the path of the one who learns what grace and glory are now! The depth of Laodicean indifference and pride will make this more manifest as the darkness deepens.
Have we been "retained" in grace by our Gideon? If we have not, we shall certainly go back. Have we found out that we are utterly weak? Let us not draw back because of this. Let us not turn to some oasis in the desert, some resource in nature's bank which we have stored up. Nature must die. We must find out not only the evil, but the emptiness, of weak nature. We must find ourselves utterly at the end of our own resources and plans and would-be power. Then all our self-assurance, zeal, and activity, even for God, in His service, is laid bare. Those who settle down outside Canaan, like the Reubenites and Gadites, never know what this breaking up is. They have "received their inheritance... on this side Jordan" (Numb. 34:14, 1514For the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their inheritance; and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance: 15The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan near Jericho eastward, toward the sunrising. (Numbers 34:14‑15)). They do not go on to receive the "abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness." But, oh, how sad, how solemn, to stop short of the "possession of the LORD [Jehovah}"! (Josh. 22:1919Notwithstanding, if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the Lord, wherein the Lord's tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among us: but rebel not against the Lord, nor rebel against us, in building you an altar beside the altar of the Lord our God. (Joshua 22:19)). By doing so we escape all this exercise of soul—this conscious realization of the weakness which death, because of sin, has brought in; but what an exchange!
Of course grace can and does come in to break us up sometimes, no matter how we refuse and rebel; but I am looking at it now as it is shadowed forth in the Reubenites and their company, who are a sample of too many in this day. If we want to go on, Reubenite contentedness will pain us around; Reubenite zeal may seem to prove that we are doing nothing, and Reubenite anomalous mingling of nature-power and success even astonish us; but if Christ is really before us, if He is our Object and mark, we shall go on—we shall be "retained"; our weakness will leave room for His strength to "tabernacle" upon us. When self is found utterly wanting, then we shall be fit for any service to which we may be called. Man's need will not make us active when we ought to be sitting at our Lord's feet; we shall come forth knowing what "gold tried in the fire" is; and though nothing in ourselves, we shall be equal to do anything in Him. Want of complete dependence on God is the cause of all our disasters; and when we do fully trust Him, and wholly refuse nature's expedients, He never fails to help, yea, He gives "grace and glory." No matter how deep our failure—how extreme our case—He will succor us perfectly when we turn to Him alone. No matter how great our mercies, how high our elevation or favor, if we rest on man we shall suffer and fall. To preserve a faithful remnant testimony, every individual in that testimony must have everything direct from the Head, though the channels of blessing may and should be gratefully owned.
The Lord grant that we may be not merely among those who "remained," but that we may find ourselves "retained" by Himself. In all our weakness, our "little strength," He can and will encourage us. How gracious His words to the failing but true ones, in such a day as this. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." Rev. 3:19, 2019As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:19‑20).