Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 7-8.

I debated on writing my initial thoughts about today’s passage because they are about the obvious lessons from this passage.  However, they are important lessons.  The first lesson relates to something I heard someone say when talking about a New Testament passage (I no longer remember either who said it, or what passage they were talking about), but it’s related to today’s passage.  The person said, “If you look at what you feel called by God to do and think, ‘I can do that.’  That isn’t what God is calling you to do.”  He went on to say that God calls us to tasks which we can only accomplish through the grace of God.  God calls us to tasks where we must give credit to Him.  When Gideon saw the army which had assembled in response to his call-to-arms, God told him that if he went into battle with that many men, the people of Israel would think they had won because of their prowess in battle and would not give credit to God for delivering them.

Now, I do not think that the quote I gave above is necessarily accurate…I think that sometimes God does call us to tasks about which we will say, “I can do that.”  In fact, I think to some degree He does so in ways which relate to the second lesson from today’s passage.  After God had reduced Gideon’s army to a mere 300 men, He gave Gideon a sign to reassure him that God would deliver the Midianites into his hands.  When we think about this, it is important to remember that Gideon had only summoned the Israelites to fight because God had given him a sign (actually, multiple signs) that He was calling him.  So, before going into battle, God gave Gideon a sign that God was going to use his plan to defeat the Midianites.  When God calls us, He will give us signs that we are doing His will, and that we are still on track.

As an example of this, almost 25 years ago when my fiancé, now wife, were planning our wedding we received such a sign.  For reasons, we had put our wedding planning on hold.  Then we resumed planning just a few months out and my wife had decided that she wanted a particular venue for our reception.  We spoke with the proprietor, who told us, “I am sorry.  I have no openings for the next two years, except for this specific date.  The couple that had reserved that date just cancelled yesterday.”  The specific date he had open, which had just opened up the day before we spoke to him, was the day which we had chosen for our wedding.  We locked in the date immediately.  As soon as we left, I told my now wife that this was God giving us a sign, that there would be times in our marriage when we would wonder if we had done the right thing in getting married.  God had him say that as a reminder to us that He had blessed our marriage.  If you have any question in your mind that you are doing God’s will, ask Him and He will provide you with a sign.  In this case we had not asked for a sign, just as in today’s passage Gideon had not asked for a sign, but God knew that we, like Gideon here, needed a sign.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.