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When is three hundred greater than thousands upon thousands? Answer: When the hundreds are under God’s direct guidance. Gideon led such a group at one time. Today’s Little Lift recounts the story of Gideon’s valiant men even though it has been told and retold countless thousands of times.

“And the LORD said to Gideon, ‘The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, “My own hand has saved me.”Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, “Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.”’ And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained. But the LORD said to Gideon, ‘The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, “This one shall go with you,” the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, “This one shall not go with you,” the same shall not go.’ So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, ‘Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.’ And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water.Then the LORD said to Gideon, ‘By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place.’” (Judges 7.2-7).

The rest of the story is history. God gave Gideon the victory just as He had promised to do. One of the interesting facts of this story has to do with God’s reason for reducing Gideon’s army to the point of being ridiculously outnumbered. Notice what He told Gideon. “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’”God intended to give the victory, but He also intended to do it in such a way so as to leave no doubt as to where the real power lay! Note also that a victory other than by the prescribed means would be giving Israel the glory against God!

As a great sportswriter once said, God cares not that you win or lose, but rather He cares “How you played the game.” Merely winning the battle is no enough where God is concerned; He cares that it is won in the right way and for the right reasons. Not only is winning not everything, it isn’t anything as far as God is concerned! Multiplied thousands upon thousands of the inhabitants of heaven will be those who lost their final battle; Paul, Peter, Stephen, Lazarus the beggar, and Sampson, are but a few that come to mind. It is not enough to do good works; when they are done “before men” (i.e. in the sight of men), they are to be done in a manner such “…that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5.16).

In a society that seemingly thinks that everyone who wins is a winner, this is a valuable character lesson which needs to be emphasized on all fronts. When it comes to sports, academia, the social arena, politics, religion, and any other endeavor of worth, it is not the winning that makes us winners; it is how the battles are fought! Gideon’s three hundred men have memorialized this principle for all time if we will but stop and hear him speak.

Question

1. Why did God not want Israel to win by numerically overwhelming their opponents?

2. Is it wrong for men to see our good works? When they do, who ought to get the glory?

3. What is a “winner”? Was Paul one? Peter? Jesus? If yes, by whose standards?

4. Where God is concerned, how important is the manner in which the battle was fought?

"Refreshment in Refuge" from Gina Burgess

What's to be thankful for in this?