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“And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many…Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead” (Judges 7:2-3).
Gideon’s army was small by modern standards — only 32,000 men. Yet the Lord said that this was too many, for Israel might think that they had defeated the Midianites by their own power. The Lord told Gideon to tell anyone who was afraid to go home, and more than two-thirds of his army left.
This might have discouraged Gideon, for now he had only 10,000 men. However, we know that the Lord does not need large numbers to win a battle. There is no point in having men try to fight when they are afraid.
It is the same in the work of the Lord today. If we are afraid of the world, or afraid of Satan, then we are not ready yet. We need to go home and learn a little about how the Lord has overcome the world, and defeated Satan. Then we can go out in confidence, not in ourselves, but in the Lord.
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