nothing is impossible~Judges 6-7

"The Middianites and Amalikites were the children of the desert who through their roving habits which begot naturally a desire for plunder, led them into a systematic practice of robbing the Israelites. During the season of the harvest, they came from the deserts on the south and on the east like great swarms of locusts and carried away the grain and the livestock upon which the Israelites subsisted."

"For seven years Israel was thus impoverished, and adopted every means at their command to conceal their property and to hide themselves from the dangers of slaughter by the Middianites. In that period, through southern Palestine, they made caverns in the earth that may still be seen. In time however they came to feel so deeply their suffering and humiliation that they appealed to Jehovah, the God they had forsaken in their worship. He was their last refuge, their last means of escape from the awful bondage of those times." Tanner, Old Testament Studies, 1:288-289

The Lord commanded Gideon to go to smash the heathen altar of his father Judges 6:25-26 and fight against the Middians Judges 6:14. Gideon was loath to follow this command, because he didn't quite believe that the youngest son of a poor man could or should be made into such a powerful man Judges 6:15. Although it's unusual for God to give signs, he used this power to reassure Gideon Judges 6:16-23, 36-40, 7:9-15.

I love this part of the story. Even though the forces that Gideon had gathered were outnumbered 4 to 1, God told Gideon to thin out the army. By some interesting tests, Gideon was left with only 300 men to fight this battle. Gideon knew God was with him, and Gideon's little band did conquer a vast fighting force. Read Judges 6 and 7 for a full account of this amazing victory.

When the Lord commands us to do something, we can ALWAYS accomplish it. God is more powerful than any army or any evil force. If we remember this, we should not have cause to fear. That is especially important today with the takeover of the US government. I'm not sure how it will all end. However, since I believe that God's hand was in the writing of the US Constitution and that He saved the North American continent for our once righteous nation, I believe He can help turn this awful tide. Nevertheless, I also believe that will only happen if as a nation we like Gideon chop down the groves and throw down the alters of sin in our society.

So the message to be learned from Judges 6 and 7 is that to have God on our side, we must choose to follow His commands. We must do this because we love God and not for any other reason. When we allow Jesus to change our hearts to follow Him, we become as David of old. "My soul breaks with longing that it hath unto Thy judgements at all times." Psalm 119:20 God desires that we live the letter of the law, oh, yes, but He does not require that we break ourselves with the law. He is merciful and does not require that we run faster than we have strength.