The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/judges/7.htm

In chapter 7, we read of the battle between Israel and the Midianites, and there were thousands upon thousands of Midianite soldiers.

Now God wanted to prevent the army of Israel from being prideful, so He instructed Gideon to narrow the army down to 300 men. God was with them, and knew that only 300 men would be needed to defeat the Midianites. Had the entire Israel army went to battle and won, they may take the credit as their own.

Just before they attacked, at night, one of the Midianites had a dream, a dream that I believe God gave to him. And his dream was interpreted by another Midianite soldier as a prophesy, a prophesy that Gideon and the army of Israel would soundly defeat them. So when Israel attacked, at the signal of Gideon, the Midianites fled. But Gideon was able to capture and kill two Midianite princes.

In chapter 8, we read where Gideon and the 300 men pursued the Midianites, but they were tired and hungry, so they stopped by two different towns asking for food, but the elders of the town refused them. Gideon made a promised that when they returned in success, they would tear down a tower in one town, and he would whip the elders of the other town with thorns.

Gideon and his army caught up with the Midianites and defeated them easily because God was on their side. Those 300 men chosen for battle killed over 100,000 Midianites. And two kings fled, but Gideon caught up with them and captured them.

When he returned to the two town, Gideon showed them that God was on his side, and they were indeed, strong enough to defeat the Midianites. And just as he promised, he tore down the tower in the one town and whipped the elders in the other town with sword. He then killed the two kings, because they had invaded Manasseh and killed some of Gideons family.

When they returned from battle, the people of Israel wanted Gideon and his sons to rule over them, but Gideon replied that no one but God would rule over Israel. And while this was the appropriate answer, Gideon sinned by making an ephod for himself, a breast plate of jewels. And the people of Israel bowed down to the ephod, and committed idolatry, so they again sinned against God.

What can we learn from this story? First, never be proud. It is a sin. And I can tell you from experience, every time I have found myself full of pride, something also happened that took me down a notch and put a blemish on my pride. I am a guardian of a special needs adult man, who with great help and guidance, is able to cook some meals. I usually have to give him step by step instructions for him to be successful.

Despite him simply carrying out my instructions, he became prideful about his cooking abilities, and the next time he cooked, he assured me he was capable of doing it, and he ended up spoiling one of the dishes. I tried to make him understand that that was quite possibly the result of him being prideful, and it would have likely turned out good had he remained humble.

Second, don’t even flirt with idolatry. We have enough idols in our lives that we do not need to be bowing down and worshiping them. Bow only to God and Jesus. In fact, we’ll see in the future where a Biblical character bows to an angel, and the angel tells him to “get up” because he (the angel) was not holy, and not worthy of being bowed to.

Finally, we can do anything when God is on our side. God gives us the ability to defeat armies, we simply have to have faith. Don’t be like the children of Israel in the wilderness, who was afraid of invading the Canaanites because they were “giants”, and Israel did not have enough faith in the Lord.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4-13.