A. Israel's army is small, but still too big for God to use

a. This must have been a severe trial for Gideon; his army of 32,000 men is already overmatched by 135,000 Midianites - yet God thinks his army is too big, and He commands Gideon to invite all who are fearful to go home. He is left with only 10,000 men!

i. Gideon was probably surprised at the number of men who were afraid to fight, and hoped that only a few hundred would leave. But we are told that they assembled in a place where they could see the 135,000 Midianite troops. The sight of so vast an enemy must have put fear into a large number of the Israeli soldiers

b. Why was Israel's army too big? Lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying "My own hand has saved me." Even with a victory with 32,000 troops, Israel could have been admired as the underdogs who triumphed through their own great bravery or strategy. God wanted the odds so bad that the victory would clearly have only His fingerprints on it

i. If we really believe Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts (Zechariah 4:6), our smallness does not matter; if we really believe Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God (Psalm 20:7), then smallness does not matter

a. Why did God use this way of testing the troops? Perhaps because those who would cup the water to their hands and bring it to their mouths would be better soldiers, because they could keep their eyes on their surroundings even when taking a drink

i. The Hebrew word for laps is yalok, which is a word to imitate the sound a dog makes when lapping water

b. Why did God cut away 9,700 more men who were ready to fight? Because in God's eyes, The people are still too many. There were simply too many for God to use

i. In fact, we rarely consider that bigness is often a hindrance to the work of God; it is harder to truly rely on God when you have all these wonderful resources at your fingertips. It can be done, but it is hard to be big and rely only on the Lord. When we are big, we can do a lot in human resources and "give the credit" to God

ii. Some of us need to hear: you're too big to be used by God. You're too strong. You have too much influence, and you are trusting in all those things instead of the Lord.

iii. Paul was in danger of being too strong for his own good - so God brought a weakness into his life, so that Paul would keep relying on the Lord's strength - and be stronger than ever (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

c. God assures Gideon that victory will come, even through only 300 men. Now the Israeli army was less than 1% of its original size; the proportion was 400 Midianites to each Israeli soldier. Gideon was in a place where all he could trust in was God and God alone

i. Our flesh hates being put in such a place; but when we are in such places, then we see the Lord do His great work

d. God wanted to eliminate the fearful and those who thought first only of convenience, the easy way

i. "The thought is disturbing, but it may well be true, that the composition of God's army to fight Satan's hosts in any day is really little different. How many Christians are so fearful of the enemy that they are of no real use in this warfare, and how many of the remainder are so self-centered, rather than God centered, that they find little place for effective ministry." (Wood)

a. Here, we find the tender mercy of God; He is dealing with the doubts and fears of Gideon, and wants to assure him

b. When God asks us to do hard things for Him, He doesn't fold His arms and sit back and expect us to do it on our own. He is there to guide us and keep us and encourage us all the way

a. God allows Gideon to see that He is doing the same thing in the minds and hearts of other people, even the Midianites themselves

b. Barley bread was the bread of the very poor; the vision means that the camp of the Midianites will be knocked over by a humble nobody

c. This was no coincidence; no display of luck. God was using this whole situation to build the faith of Gideon, and it worked so well that all Gideon could do was worship God

i. It was no accident that the man dreamed the dream that night; no accident that he told his friend about it at just that moment; no accident that Gideon comes the exact place where he can overhear the man telling the dream

d. It must have built the faith of Gideon to know that his enemies were afraid of him; it is by lack of faith in God that we make our enemies stronger than they are. The devil is afraid of you - or at least of what you can be

e. Gideon's encouragement was contagious; once he had been encouraged by God, he could not help but spread that encouragement to others, and his encouragement built their faith

B. The army is small enough to be used by God to win the battle

a. There is no specific mention that God gave Gideon this plan through supernatural revelation. Yet, because Gideon is a Spirit-filled man (Judges 6:34), the supernatural can operate very naturally in his life

b. This plan probably came very naturally to Gideon, but upon reflection he could clearly see how he was being prompted by the Holy Spirit

a. The Midianites awoke to an explosion of noise, light, and movement coming down on them from all directions; no wonder they thought they were being attacked by an army even bigger than they were

b. Why did they cry out the sword of the Lord and of Gideon? Wasn't this pride on Gideon's part? No, it was wisdom in attack, because clearly the Midianites were already afraid of the sword of Gideon (Judges 7:14), and shouting this would help in sending them into panic

i. The Midianites may not have known who the Lord was, but they knew there was a man from the Lord named Gideon. It was appropriate for Gideon to take this leadership role

ii. Without pride, leaders must lead, and leading means putting yourself where the people can see you and respond to your leadership

c. The first phase of the battle wasn't between Israel and Midian, but the Midianites fought themselves. This is a good example of how we can be more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37); we get the spoils of victory though Jesus won the battle for us

d. Origen makes the 300 men types of preachers of the gospel; their trumpets a pictures of preaching Christ crucified; and their torch-lights are types of the holy conduct of the preachers

a. God did the great work through this small number of men; but once the great work had begun, He wanted as many as who could to get involved in the work