An Unlikely Victory
By Matt Watson
Before Gideon was a warrior, he was a coward. Or, if that word is too strong for you, he was at least a passive compromiser.
When the Lord called him to fight, Gideon was hiding grain so the Midianites wouldn’t take it (Jdg 6:11), like hiding milk money from a bully. That is smart, rather than cowardly, but it sets up a pattern. His family worshiped Baal and Asherah, Midian’s false gods, and supplied the idols for the town to worship them too (Jdg 6:25-28). He doubted God, repeatedly (Jdg 6:36-40). And yet, God was merciful and gracious to him, encouraging him along the way that he, the Lord, was with Gideon.
Knowing Gideon needed an extra boost of reassurance, he sent Gideon and his friend on a stealth mission to get intel from the enemy. They snuck close to the enemy camp filled with Midianites and Amalekites. They overheard one Midianite soldier telling another about a bad dream he had, where a cake of barley had tumbled down a hill and knocked their tent flat. His comrade told him “This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp” (Jdg 7:14). Then with only 300 men, Gideon surprise attacked the Midianites and defeated them (Jdg 7:19-25).
The Upside Down Tactics of the Kingdom
God gave someone a bad dream about having a cake of barley thrown at him and it freaked the bad guys out enough that their massive army lost to 300 dudes with some flowerpots and torches. God does not use obvious people, strategies, or tools to gain victory. And that’s good news for us.
Moses had a stutter. Rahab was a prostitute. Gideon’s dad built idols. Ruth was a Moabite. David was a shepherd boy with a slingshot. King Joash was seven years old. Paul had murdered Christians. God used them all.
And God uses you.
Humanly speaking, it isn’t strategic. It makes no tactical sense. You and I know how messed up we are, and how broken our lives have been. But God knows too, and uses us anyway.
The most unlikely victory was the cross. By all accounts, it should have been considered a defeat. After all, it resulted in nailing the body of a man claiming to be God onto a cross so that he would slowly suffocate to death as he slumped below his nailed wrists and feet. There is no chapter in the Art of War about victory through crucifixion. No battle plan includes willful self-sacrifice by the commander. The president does not say, “Send me, I’ll go” in any desperate fight.
But that is what God did. He sent the Son, Jesus, to defeat sin and death, by becoming our sin and dying on our behalf. And in so doing, he made a complete victory:
“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”
God Can Use You Too
If God can use screw-ups like Gideon, or young men with rocks and a good arm like David, women of ill-repute like Rahab, or theological zealots like Paul, he can use you.
God doesn't need us to be Green Berets to impact the kingdom. He doesn't need you at all. But he chooses to use you. God invites you on his mission to proclaim the good news that the cross of Christ killed our sin, and even killed death itself. We get to go to work with our Father. He releases the captives, and we announce their release. It is not the superheroes that inherit the land, it's the meek kids that the King makes mighty:
“In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace.”
Want to be used by God? Here's how:
Step 1
Confess your idolatry and your doubt, whatever it is, and turn away from it to God. Luther said all of life is repentance. That's the first step, and the step Christians take every day for the rest of their lives. If you cling to your sins rather than to the risen Lord, then you must rely on them to save you. But they'll use you up rather than use you.
Step 2
Get plugged into the church. Build community, don't just hope for it to exist. The church relies on its members to do the work.
Allow me to provide a personal example. My wife and I wanted the church to be more deeply connected. We wanted opportunities to eat, drink, and be merry more frequently than when we gathered on Sundays. It is not our pastors' job to do that; it's ours. So we did. Every month we have a grill night (consider this your open invite), where people bring meat (or veggies for the herbivores) to grill and something to share, and everyone eats and has a good time.
The result has been that people who may not be in the same community group get to meet each other. Non-Christians have been invited and get to see how the church is made up of normal people, not wackadoodles. Relationships are built. And most importantly, we get to enjoy God in doing it.
It may seem odd, but God can use you just by throwing a party. A shared table is a shared life.
Step 3
Last, get ready to feel unsafe. God is good, but he isn't safe. Our idols cannot hide in a community for very long (which is why we should be in it). They get exposed and then stabbed to death. That is the whole point of our community groups and discipleship groups: to fight sin, follow Jesus, and fulfill the mission.
Not sure where you fit in God's Kingdom? Come talk to someone this Sunday at The Well Community Church at either the 9:00a or the 11:00a service at 8126 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209.
Like Gideon, you don't have to figure it out alone.
This article was originally published by Matthew Watson with Awake! Put on strength!, and is used under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license.