March 11, 2026 - Judges 7-10

32,000 men, too many!  10,000 men, too many!  300 men; ah, that’s a good number!  Of course, God’s statement to Gideon is what set all this in motion:  “The LORD said to Gideon, ‘The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, My own hand has saved me’” (7:2).  With the 300 now with Gideon, “That same night the LORD said to him, ‘Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand’” (7:9).  “So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more. And the land had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon” (8:28).  And so, not by human might or cunning but by the mighty hand of the Lord, Israel’s enemies were overcome.  But we’re still in the time of the judges, and that cycle – Sin-Suffering-Supplication-Salvation – continued for “As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god.  And the people of Israel did not remember the LORD their God” (8:33-34).  Nevertheless, the lesson from Gideon is obvious:  We ultimately place our trust not in our own strength but in the Lord.

Though faint, yet pursuing, we go on our way;

The Lord is our leader, His Word is our stay;

Though suffering, and sorrow, and trial be near,

The Lord is our refuge, and whom can we fear?

He raiseth the fallen, He cheereth the faint;

The weak and oppressed, He will hear their complaint;

The way may be weary, and thorny the road,

But how can we falter? Our help is in God!

And to His green pastures our footsteps He leads;

His flock in the desert, ho kindly He feeds!

the lambs in His bosom He tenderly bears,

And brings back the wanderers safe from the snares.

Though clouds may surround us, our God is our light;

Though storms rage around us, our God is our might;

So faint, yet pursuing, still onward we come;

The Lord is our leader, and heaven is our home!   -- John Nelson Darby (1847)