[One-Verse Meditation]

Judges 7:15 (NIV) “When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, ‘Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands.’”

[Meditation]

To fight against the Midianite coalition, thirty-two thousand Israelite men gathered. But God said their number was “too many” and sent the fearful away, leaving only ten thousand. But God says that even ten thousand is too many. After testing them by the way they drank water, the final number of soldiers left was a mere three hundred. This is a number that is utterly incomprehensible by common sense or experience, a number that makes defeat seem certain before the battle even begins.

God stated the reason for this absurd ‘holy subtraction’ clearly from the beginning: “or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me’” (7:2). Now, the perfect condition has been created where no one can boast of their own strength. At the end of their rope, Israel is now in a position where they can only look to the one LORD God.

To Gideon, who was standing in that very place of desperation, God once again promises, “I have given the Midianite camp into your hands.” And knowing his still-fearful heart, God tells him to secretly go into the enemy camp. There, Gideon hears the dream and its interpretation from the mouths of the enemy soldiers—their fear of the God of Israel and the proclamation of God’s victory. At that moment, Gideon’s last remaining doubts and fears crumble before the faithfulness of God. And right there, in that place, he worships God.

It is at this very point that we discover Gideon’s story is our own. The Lord calls us, who are faithless and weak, to be His warriors, and He demolishes all our strength and points of boasting. And in that very place of empty hands, He allows us to witness His work, so that we finally worship not ‘ourselves’ but the ‘Lord’. The fact that pure worship begins in the very place where all our boasting has been broken—this is the mystery of the gospel.

[Prayer]

Lord, in the place of empty hands, where all my boasting and strength have been broken, I finally see You at work. Let my weakness become the very reason I worship You, and let all my steps today become a song that sings of Your faithfulness. Amen.
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(Daily Reading)

Judges 7:4-18