A FEW FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS

Judges 7: 1 - 8

1  Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 

2  And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. 

3  Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. 

4  And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. 

5  So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. 

6  And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. 

7  And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place. 

8  So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley. 

The story of Gideon’s battle against

the Midianites is a familiar one. It’s one

of courage, constancy and caution.

Gideon was the noblest of Israel’s

judges. He may have come from the

most obscure family in a small tribe,

but he was no coward. He may have

seemed to baulk at God’s command,

but that was only because men who

are worthy to do God’s work are never

anxious to begin with. They know it is

a high calling, not to be taken lightly or

for the wrong reasons.

Before Gideon warred against the

Midianites, he had to tear down the

altar of Baal that his father Jo’ash had

built. When he tore it down under a

threat of death, his survival proved to

everyone that Gideon was God’s

chosen leader. So, they named him

Jerubbaal, which means ‘Let Baal

plead’. The hand that had smitten the

idol was now ready to smite the

Midianites.

For seven years these Midianite

marauders had paralyzed Israel. They

had come through this valley time and

time again, swarming on Israel like

locusts. Taking all Israel’s treasures for

spoil. Once again, they were camped

in the valley after a successful raid, as

they prepared for their homeward

march.

But Gideon had had enough. Two

armies were now face-to-face; one on

the mountain slopes and one in the

valley. Gideon’s army was on the

south side of the valley, above “the

well of Harod”, which means

‘trembling’. Indeed, someone was

going to tremble.

A FEW FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS

We can learn a few lessons from

Gideon and his army.

Lesson One: Make sure your battle is by Divine means.

Don’t undertake God’s work unless He

has called you to the task. Gideon

prayed and asked God to use him to

overthrow their enemy. But he had to

be certain that this was God’s plan and

not his own pride that was inspiring

him.

You know the story of the fleece. Twice

Gideon asked for a sign…first a wet

fleece on dry ground, and then a dry

fleece on wet ground. It was only then

that Gideon was sure it was God’s idea

to lead Israel against the Midianites,

and not his own.

Gideon was now ready. His faith had

delivered him in times of difficulty and

disaster. He had been strengthened

during trials and tribulations. God had

sustained him through the pain of

persecution. He was now assured that

no weapon formed against him would

be able to prosper.

God saw that Gideon was ready. He

was a godly man, humble in spirit,

pure in his motives and faithful in his

commitment. But now God was going

to have Israel ready. Winning a battle

by Divine means meant that Israel

must not take credit for the victory.

The glory would have to go to God.

God had to prepare the right army.

Which brings us to the next lesson.

Make sure your battle is by Divine means.

Lesson Two: Make sure you fight your battle with the right army.

When Gideon was sure of his calling,

he put out the call to battle and 32,000

men showed up to fight. On the

surface, it seemed that Gideon had all

the tools to win. These soldiers

showed up because of their trust in

Gideon.

But after they arrived, many of them

looked down in the valley at the host

of fearless Midianites and maybe they

thought, “We can’t win!” Suddenly,

courage seemed to be in short supply.

So God told Gideon to weed out the

cowards. God said, “If they’re scared,

just tell them to go home!” And more

than a third of Gideon’s army headed

for safety. They saw the Midianite numbers and

sighed. They saw the Midianite weapons and

cried. They saw the Midianites celebrating

their victory, and they wanted to hide.

There is no sense plunging into service

for your Savior if you don’t think He

can win. The enemy will smell your

cowardice a mile away and make

mincemeat of you. Many a ministry

has failed because unprepared

believers quit before they made a dent

in their discipleship duties. Much of

the ministry’s work is left undone

because the soul-saving trench work is

neglected. It takes courage to fight for

Christ. It takes courage to believe that

“the battle is not yours; it’s the Lord’s!”

Twenty-two thousand men were afraid

to trust God. They were afraid to be

“doers of the Word, and not hearers

only.” They could never win. They

couldn’t help…they would only

hinder.

The enemy uses every trick in the

book to steal our spiritual victories. He

especially loves to use pride. Pride

can render our efforts useless. The

devil can charm an eager Christian to

take the right journey and answer the

right call for all the wrong reasons.

God will only use those who are

“approved” by Him… “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed…rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15).

Gideon now had just 10,000 men.

Make sure you fight your battle with the right army.

Lesson Three: In every battle, quality outweighs quantity.

When God calls an army to battle, it’s

not weapons or numbers that are His

primary concern...its courage and

faithfulness. God uses men and

women of great courage, who trust

Him implicitly. Spiritual battles are

won, not with weapons of warfare, but

with men and women who have been

tried in the fire and found ready.

It takes a quality army to fight against

iniquity. God had Gideon take his army

down into the valley, to a stream near

the enemy’s camp. It was there that

God reduced Gideon’s army to three

hundred…three hundred men who

drank water using their hands. Why?

Why use only the men who dipped in

the water with their hands? While

almost ten thousand got on their

knees and bowed their heads to drink,

three hundred chose to scoop the

water up with their hands and keep

their eyes on the enemy.

The army had now been ‘sifted like

wheat’. God had to sift out the

cowards, the selfish, the worldly, the

hypocrites, and the lukewarm. His goal

was to isolate the true saints of God in

Israel…those whom GOD could trust.

As Paul later taught, “They are not all Israel who are of Israel.” (Romans 9:6). *Likewise, they are not all Believers

who call themselves Believers. Many

are called but few are chosen.

The greatest lesson we learn from

Gideon’s experience is that a thinning

of the ranks does not need to make us

anxious…if we are sure we are doing

God’s Will. Never be afraid of being in

the minority. All battle preparation

requires a sifting of God. God tries

men to prove their faith, character,

integrity, sincerity, and principles.

Ministry is not for the fainthearted, the

weary, the fickle, or the wishy-washy.

You can’t win if you are not first

washed…by God.

A handful of men took a handful of

water…and God chose them for their

readiness. They were the faithful

whose “soul thirsteth after Thee”(Psalm 143:6).

They had already won the battle over

the temptation to flee. They had

already conquered the strongholds of

Satan. Now they had discovered the

wells of refreshment…to “trust in the Lord will all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding…” (Proverbs 3:5).

Make sure you fight your battle with the right army.

If we want to be effective for Christ,

that’s where we need to be. We need

to be wholly and completely trusting

in the Lord. Don’t allow yourself to be

among the two-thirds that are panic-

struck. Leave all the battle plans to

Him. God only requires that you be fit

for the task. The only thing you should

be assessing is…’my temperament

and my tongue, my faith and my

forgiveness, my conviction and my

commitment’.

The Lord is looking for a few faithful followers…

Whose efforts are sincere and whose values are real.

Whose judgment is sound and whose decisions are wise.

The Lord is looking for a few faithful followers…

Whose conscience is clear and whose emotions are controlled.

Whose decisions are wise and whose motives are pure.

The Lord is looking for a few faithful followers…

Whose FAITH is FIRM.

A few faithful followers for whom it

doesn’t matter what it looks like in the

valley...because you are ready…and

you know that God’s got this!

Gideon and his men won the battle. In

fact, it was not much of a battle at all.

We can only imagine the effect of the

sudden sound of trumpets and wild

war cry from Gideon’s army. As the

sleeping Midianites stumbled from

their tents, without leadership to

guide them, and without any

knowledge of the numbers of their

enemy, all they saw were the flaring

torches encircling them. The tactics

used by Gideon caused the Midianites

to turn on each other and to flee for

their lives. Solomon wrote about it in

Proverbs 28:1 He said, “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous is bold as a lion.”

We are Christ’s army. We have no

weapons to wield but the sound of the

trumpet call to repentance, and the

light of our committed lives shining

through our earthen vessels. But if we

boldly lift our voices in the ancient

war-cry of the Gospel, and let the

Word peal forth from us and flash the

light of our holy lives on this dark

world, we too can break the sleeper’s

slumber and introduce him to Christ’s

glad awakening.

Will you enlist in the army of our Captain…Jesus?

Will you become a partaker of His conquests?

Will you be transformed into a soldier for the Lord?

Christ wants a few faithful followers ready to fight.

He'll change your circumstances… Where there is fear, now faith will be in control.

Where there is despair, now hope will stand firm.

Where there is defeat, now victory will march on.

Isaiah 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD. 

2 Corinthians 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 

5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 

MAKE SURE YOUR BATTLE IS BY DIVINE MEANS.

MAKE SURE YOU FIGHT YOUR BATTLE WITH THE RIGHT ARMY.

IN EVERY BATTLE, QUALITY OUTWEIGHS QUANTITY.