Notes. To discourage dependence upon our own resources apart from God. Bible Quiz questions, student guides

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1 To discourage dependence upon our own resources apart from God. Bible Quiz questions, student guides "When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song," tenor Luciano Pavarotti relates. "He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy, took me as a pupil. I also enrolled in a teachers college. On graduating, I asked my father, 'Shall I be a teacher or a singer?' "'Luciano,' my father replied, 'if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.' "I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it's laying bricks, writing a book--whatever we choose--we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that's the key. Choose one chair." Gideon was a young man who made a choice, the choice to believe God and obey Him, though the odds seemed stacked against him. What can you learn from Gideon? I. PLACE OF VICTORY (Judges 7:1) The Valley of Jezreel was a strategic trade route in the ancient world. It is a pass between the mountain ranges of Carmel and Galilee, a valley approximately 14 miles by 9 miles. The Kishon River flowed through it. It was a strategic gold mine, and the Midianites wanted to control it as their little fiefdom, their personal economic empire. If they could control that valley they could control the main trade route between Egypt and Mesopotamia. This plain has been called the battlefield of Israel, the place where in the end times a great final battle will be fought by the armies of the world. 1

2 Sometimes it is helpful to know the root meaning of words. The place where Gideon camped was near the well of Harod. Harod means fear. Gideon means He that cuts down. Both are well named! Where is your Harod? Your place of fear and hiding? Wherever or whatever it is that you fear, God is calling you out of hiding to follow Him into battle. II. PREPARATION FOR VICTORY (Judges 7:1-15) A. Eliminate the Crowd (Judges 7:1-3) God spoke to Gideon and told him to attack the Midianites. Gideon assembled an army, and then God spoke again. He told Gideon that there was a problem with his army. Gideon probably thought, Yeah, I know, we don t have enough men. After all, he was facing a Midianite army of 135,000 men! He was outnumbered four to one. How are those for odds. But God said, No Gideon, the problem is you have too many. Huh? God told Gideon to send home anyone who was afraid, that is, anyone who did not trust God. Guess what? 22,000 men turned tail and went home. Now there were only 10,000 men left. Gideon s odds are 13 to 1! Ralph Waldo Emerson said, A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer. Out of 32,000 men, only 10,000 stayed those five minutes more. Apparently, faith in God is a prerequisite for success. God does not want to force us to follow Him. He uses only those who trust Him. In his book, The Man from Galilee, Thomas Pilgrim wrote: Christ's kingdom always calls for the note of sacrifice, taking a chance, living on the edge. There was a man in Florida who wrestled alligators for tourists. After one of his performances a lady noticed he wore a string of alligator teeth around his neck. She said, That is sort of like wearing a string of pearls. He replied, Not quite. Anyone can open an oyster. B. Excuse the Careless (Judges 7:4-8) God came to Gideon again and said, There are still too many men. Ask the men to drink from the river and whoever laps like a dog should be sent home. Interesting. Perhaps these men got in a position of rest. They were so focused on water that they lost their focus on the enemy. But 300 men stayed alert. They knelt down and scooped up water to drink from their hands so that they could keep their eyes outward to scan the bushes on the other side of the river. At the end of the sifting, only 300 men were left. Now Gideon s odds were down to 100 to 1! How s that for stacking the odds in your favor? Are you willing to be faithful to God, to rely upon Him 100%? Would you be okay with a mate who was faithful to you at least 75% of the time? Doubtful. Then why is it so odd to recognize that God wants us to keep our eyes upon Him alone? God does not rely upon human numbers. We trust in horses and chariots, but God wants us to trust in Him alone. To which group do you belong? The lappers or the lookers? When will you trust God? C. Exhort the Courageous (Judges 7:9-15) 2

3 In Judges 7:9-15, God gave Gideon one more over-the-top encouragement to press forward. No doubt, with only 300 men, Gideon needed this, even though he had not asked, as he had previously asked for signs. God instructed Gideon to go down during the night as a spy to listen to the enemies campfire conversations about the upcoming battle. Though they were thick as locusts, (verse 12) Gideon went with his servant, Purah. Upon arriving, he almost immediately heard a man telling his friend a dream in which a round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed. The friend responded that this can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands. When Gideon heard this, he was filled with awe and worshipped God. Returning to his waiting soldiers, he said, Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands (Judges 7:15). When we face formidable obstacles at the command of the Lord, He very often provides unusual encouragement from unexpected sources. In Gideon s case, it came from his enemies! How like God to provide this amazing source of encouragement. III. PLAN FOR VICTORY (Judges 7:16-21) God gave Gideon a unique strategy in verse 16. Let s not forget that the Israelites had no weapons; the Midianites had relieved them of weapons years before. So God armed his army with unique weapons: He told Gideon to use jars of clay as weapons. Huh? Empty pitchers that were to be broken on Gideon s command? The jars were to cover lit torches until Gideon gave the signal, then the 300 men, surrounding the enemy on all sides of their camp, were to uncover the torches and smash the jars. That must have been a terrifying sight to the sleep-groggy enemy. They awoke to torches on all sides of their camp and the thunderous noise of many smashing jars, the sound of trumpets in stereophonic surround-sound, along with the shouts of Gideon s men. Gideon won a great victory that day, but it wasn t because of his human strength. It was because He obeyed God s instructions. God sent Gideon and 300 men of Israel to fight against the Midianites, an army of 135,000. The odds against Israel were an overwhelming 450 to 1. Think about it. The Israelite soldiers fought with bow and arrow. Imagine how many arrows each of them would have needed to carry just to have one perfect shot for each Midianite enemy soldier! God knew what He was doing. He sent the soldiers into battle with a light load: a torch, a pot, a horn, and a voice. That was all they needed; oh, and God, of course, whom they carried in their hearts! Still, it didn t sound very logical to face an army of 135,000 with these paltry weapons. Would you be willing to obey God, even if it seemed to you that His instructions were terribly flawed, against all logic? In his book One Crowded Hour, Tim Bowden describes an incident in Borneo in Nepalese fighters known as Gurkhas were asked if they would be willing to jump from airplanes into combat against the Indonesians. The Gurkhas didn t clearly understand what was involved, but they bravely said they would do it, asking only that the plane fly slowly over a swampy area and no higher than 100 feet. When they were told that the parachutes would not have time to open at that height, the Gurkhas replied, "Oh, you didn t mention parachutes before!" (Our Daily Bread, January 30, 1994). Israel s victory that day was something like sending a team of middle school girls to defeat a pro football team in the Super Bowl! Gideon didn t have the 3

4 normal weapons of war at his disposal. Israel had been stripped of them by their oppressors. But God was not dependent upon such things. Empty pitchers were symbolic of the total lack of human power involved in this situation. Those pitchers were more effective tools in God s plan. Are there resources at your disposal which you would never think to use? In what resources do you place your trust? Your money? Your looks? Your talents? What if God wants to strip you of self-reliance upon these things before He can use you, because if He allows you to succeed in your own strength, you will actually think that you were self-sufficient. That is dangerous because there will come a day when we will face evil that we cannot overcome and will not have the only resource that can! Just as God told Zechariah, in Zechariah 4:6 Not by might or nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty we also must learn to rely upon God alone. Adrian Rogers tells about the man who bragged that he had cut off the tail of a man-eating lion with his pocket knife. Asked why he hadn t cut off the lion s head, the man replied: "Someone had already done that."likewise, when we brag, we need to brag on God because the victory was His from the beginning. He is the one who cut off the head of the lion so that we could carry around the tail! Interactive Idea Bible Quiz Quiz questions are included with the Leader s material for this unit. Form teams and conduct Bible Quiz over this material at this time. IV. PARTICIPATION IN VICTORY (Judges 7:22-25) A. Participation With God (Judges 7:22) The plan was a complete success. In verse 22, when the trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. In the end, it was not the empty pitchers or the loud trumpets, but the Lord who brought victory to Gideon and his men. But that was just what He had intended. He told Gideon as much in Judges 7:2, when he told Gideon to send the fearful home, In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her. We must recognize that God s plan, from Genesis to Revelation, is to display His attributes, His mighty power and His love throughout all His Creation. When we participate with God in His purposes, we may rest assured that His purposes will prevail but also that we will enjoy the fruit of His success. B. Participation By Israel s Tribes (Judges 7:23-25) When it appeared that Gideon s motley little crew would actually win, other tribes began to join in the fray. Verse 23 says, Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites. Gideon also sent a messenger to Ephraim to help capture fleeing Midianite soldiers. 4

5 Isn t it interesting how many times only a few people have the courage to face overwhelming odds arrayed against them, but when it appears that they might actually win, a lot of other people appear from out of nowhere to celebrate the victory. God brought about a great victory through Gideon and his 300 men. It was just as God intended it should be, a display to the whole world of His mighty power to save His own. But it began with a choice, Gideon s choice to obey God. Will you also choose to obey Him? Interactive Idea Ask students to name one historical figure (including from the Bible) who was faced with overwhelming odds, but put their trust in the Lord and succeeded. Ask, Does God always use the same kind of people for His will? No, but what is the one unifying characteristic about all of these figures? Ask students to guess. (They were all WILLING!) (Alternative: They all trusted and believed in God!) 5