What God can do with the little

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 11 JUNE 2023

JUDGES 7 VERSES 7 – 15

Gideon was a man raised up in a time of darkness.  God was going to use him in a mighty way in the land in which he lived.  If I was to put a title on this passage it would be “what God can do with the little.”  Last week we left Gideon revaluing the situation.  He had rallied the troops behind him, recognised where the enemy was coming from, was prepared to advance then he had to revaluate.  God steps in at that moment.  The battle is changed, it become more tense.  Gideon begins to think everything is falling apart.  God is about to change things.  The army that was before him numbered 135,000 and he only had 32,000 behind him.  Notice the description of the enemy – verse 12 “like grasshoppers”.  They were ready to do battle.  Now God says “you have too many men, I can’t allow you to have the victory with such.”  When God takes away our supports what do we lean on?  Equipping for the battle.  Nearly think God was showing a sense of humour.  I am sure Gideon spent a sleepless night knowing he had to face this vast number before him.  I am sure he pondered, re-evaluated.  Maybe when things go wrong for us we start to think are we in the place God would have us to be in?

 

The problem Gideon now faced.  What does Gideon offer to God – his surrendered will.  Remember when the angel came to Gideon the first time he was threshing wheat.  The angel told him he was a man of valour and the Lord was with him.  Gideon argued back – how can God be for us if all these things are happening to us?  Gideon had destroyed the idol in his own home.  He tested God by placing a fleece and asking for it to be wet the following morning while the ground was dry.  Then he asked for the ground to be wet and the fleece dry and it was so.  Total dependence on God and what he had to say to him.  God had put a finger on the problem – once that was dealt with then he was ready to move.  His will was surrendered to God.  We cannot move in life until our will is surrendered to God.  He will not fight against you.  He wants you to surrender your all to him.  How different it was for Jonah.  When God came to him and told him to go to Nineveh and preach there Jonah refused.  Why?  Because he knew if they heard the truth they would be saved and he didn’t want that.  Jonah ran from the word of God.  God gives us a word in season, points out the sin in our heart and then shows the remedy for that sin.  He sent his son into the world to go to Calvary so that we might be saved yet we say ‘no Lord’.  Maybe God knows about the situation in our lives.  You cannot let it go.  You cannot trust the Lord.  He needs our surrendered will.  God was dealing with Gideon’s fears.  If I was to allow you to go down with those men they would say we did it ourselves.  The Lord said to Gideon ‘there are too many in number’.  Uzziah the King was a young man when he came to the throne of Israel.  He turned the people back to God and raised up a mighty army, dug many wells but then he got to a stage where he was strong, his heart was lifted up to distraction.

 

The plans God made.  God said to Gideon ‘let those go who are afraid’ verse 3.  Remember the spies sent out into the promised land.  They returned and were afraid.  Here were a people delivered out of Egypt, trusted God for what he said, he would bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey.  By the time they got to the brink of the promised land they began to be discouraged.  They sent out spies and when those spies came back they all gave a report of it being a good land but the enemies – well they just would not be able to overcome them.  God said I am giving you this land, all you have to do is possess it.  They said no the enemy is too mighty, too strong.  Do you feel like that, with a task God gives you to do.  You say you couldn’t talk to people, you couldn’t do this or that.  The enemy was working against the people.  The people decided to choose leaders to take them back to Egypt again.  They were even going to stone Joshua and Caleb.  These 2 men brought back a report that stated God would give the victory.  A fearful spirit crept in and took over.  What did Gideon do?  God saw those who were fearful and he told them to go home – 22,000 men left.  Jesus says in John 15 “I am the vine, and my Father is the husbandman.  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”  Some have to be taken away.  We get too comfortable at times.  We look around and see churches full up but then something happens and the numbers dwindle away.  What is God doing?  Something for the future.  God was always looking to the future.  Time after time God told Israel not to lean on other nations for support but on him.  God takes us when we are least expecting him to.  Remember Elijah and the widow woman – Ahab was told by Elijah that he had a word from God for him.  God told Elijah when he gave this word he had prepared a place for him by the brook Cherith.  The ravens will come with meat every day.  There would be no rain for 3½ years.  Elijah would sit at the brook every day and one day he noticed that the brook had dried up. The Lord came to him again and told him “I have commanded a widow woman to keep you sustained.”  As he made his way to her house he met her picking up some sticks.  She was going to make a meal for herself and her son but that was all they had.  I wonder did God speak to her before this, to tell her of the task he had for her?  She surrendered to him and his word before Elijah came.  God showed her what she could do with what little she had.  Gideon is left with an army of 10,000.  God tells him there are still too many.  I am sure he is scratching his head to see what would happen next.  God said “let the men go down to the water to drink and those who lap are to go with you but the others will depart from you.”  He finished with 300 men.  The enemy was still the same.  Gideon’s number is dwindling day by day.  I wonder what the enemy thought as they saw this.  All the time God was strengthening Gideon and the army for the battle.  Gideon watched how they drank.  Is there a lesson here?  As the men were drinking Gideon was watching them.  People are watching you every day, how you act or react.  Think of Joseph in the prison house.  A lot has happened in his life.  There were 2 other men with him – the butler and the baker from Pharaoh’s own palace.  Maybe he got to know them.  One day he noticed that they were sad.  He took time to listen to them and interpret their dreams.  2 years later we find Joseph standing in the house of Pharaoh interpreting a dream like the dreams of the 2 men in prison.

 

There was a specific purpose behind the battle – all for the glory of God.  If you are seeking glory for anything else all will be lost.  Are you on the victorious side today?