“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?” Judges 6:13a

You are not the first person to have ever said or thought this, just saying.

Gideon was a leader in the time of the judges. The Israelites were resettling in Canaan after their exodus from Egypt. Although many of the surrounding nations had been conquered, there were still some remaining groups who were causing trouble, especially the Midianites during this particular time.

Gideon, encouraged by the Spirit of the Lord (Judges 6:33-35) had called his people to arms and had assembled a large army of 32,000 men. What happens next defies logic. God told Gideon he had too many men and proceeded to systematically whittle down the army to 300 men. Yes, you read correctly: from 32,000 to 300 men (Judges 7:16-22). God said that anyone who was afraid could go home, and 22,000 men went home! Then God devised a test based on how the remaining men drank water from a brook. The 9,700 who knelt to drink were sent home, leaving the 300 men who lapped the water like dogs.

With these 300 men, a tiny fraction of the original army, Gideon went up against a Midianite army of 135,000. (This would have been intimidating with the original army of 32,000.)  And here’s what happened (Judges 8:10-12):

“Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen. ¹¹ Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the unsuspecting army. ¹² Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army.”

When I read this story in my daily Bible reading last week, I could not help but think about our Nashville Rescue Mission staff. Despite all our efforts, we cannot seem to get to a full staffing situation. With the labor shortage and the pandemic, we have too many unfilled positions and too many who cannot come in because they are either sick or have been exposed. It is disheartening to see our numbers dwindle, and overwhelming when we are faced with numbers of desperate people we are called to serve with such short staffing.

This is what we need to take away from this story:

• Our work is God’s work. “Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s’” (2 Chronicles 2:15b)
• God is sovereign. “Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you” (Jeremiah 32:7)
• God has already won. “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,

and every tongue shall confess to God” (Romans 15:11)

So, I’m going to say something that you may not like, but know that I am talking to myself as much as to you. Because we have this assurance, we don’t need to worry or fret when someone doesn’t show up for their shift. We don’t need to get frustrated. We don’t need to feel defeated. And, we don’t need to complain.

God has chosen us as his “Gideon’s Army.” We may be tiny, but we have the Spirit of the Lord to go with us and fight for us. Therefore, we need to believe that every challenge is an opportunity for God’s providence to be magnified. We need to be confident, joyful, patient, persevering, positive and trusting.

I know this is hard; I know it’s human to feel down when you are so tired and frustrated, especially when you don’t see results or even some gratitude. It seems like it takes more energy to be positive, but that’s not really the case. According to WebMD: “We may not have the technology to measure it, but you probably know what negative energy feels like. It can come from negative people, from your surroundings, or from your own psyche. It can leave you exhausted both mentally and physically. Negative energy perpetuates itself, therefore, breeding more negativity. Learning to deal with negative energy is important for your health and happiness.”

On the other hand, according to this Johns Hopkins website: “…there is definitely a strong link between ‘positivity’ and health. Additional studies have found that a positive attitude improves outcomes and life satisfaction across a spectrum of conditions—including traumatic brain injury, stroke and brain tumors.”

The website references some ways to develop positivity. But the most effective way is to just ask God. If you genuinely want to share this victory with God, just tell Him and then follow His lead. “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Matthew 19:26).

God has a way of taking something small and doing something big. Don’t let the enemy take your joy, no matter what the circumstances. We saw that God reduced the forces of Gideon to prove that the victory would be His. God was fighting for Israel. God is fighting for us. “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

The Battle Belongs to the Lord

In Christ,

Judy