God Speaking

“It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.” (Psalm 44:3)

One of the joys of being a school teacher for me, was being able to tell stories to children and when I became a Sunday school teacher, this became even sweeter as I was able to tell real stories from God’s word. I have always found the stories to be so exciting from the Old Testament and with such powerful messages for us today, even though the events took place so long ago. Before I became a committed Christian I always, mistakenly, assumed the Bible was about good men and women and that we read about them to learn how to behave, not realising that the main character, Our Heavenly Father, was the only true example of goodness, and everyone else was only a thread woven into the tapestry to display the amazing glory of our God in his supreme and perfect goodness.

One of my favourite stories I loved to tell children, is found in the book of Judges, Chapter 7, in which Gideon, a Judge of Israel was about to engage in the battle of a lifetime. Israel had been overrun by the Midianites who were described like this,”…as thick as locust. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.” (Judges 7:12) A formidable enemy! But wait God tells Gideon to send 22, 00 men home. (The eyes of little boys listening grow wide with disbelief) Gideon does what God tells him. But wait, another twist to the story. God tells Gideon to send more home! He is now left with 300 hundred men to fight against thousands of the enemy. (Oh no, cry my little Sunday school listeners, he will never win). The clever ruse that God uses, yet again amazes the class. Now they are sitting on the edge of their seats wondering will it work. All Gideon uses is 300 hundred men, horns, jars and blazing torches. Victory for the Israelites. Even all the little children I have told this story to, easily grasp the astounding fact that it was God who really won the battle.

We may be facing a formidable challenge that looks a little like the battle facing Gideon. We may look at the resources we have, to try to overcome the obstacle and find them woefully inadequate. We may find ourselves equally unprepared to offer any resistance at all to overwhelming circumstances. We may have been discouraged by attempting our own methods and to have seen them fail. It is then we need to call on our Great Defender for his strength to fight the battle and he assures us he is able;

“I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27)

Some of us may believe, to ask the Lord to intervene on our behalf is a form of weakness and feel that somehow we have to prove to ourselves and others that we can deal with whatever life throws at us. We can also falsely believe that if we have in some way caused the approaching challenge, God is not willing to step in for us, but he has promised that whatever the challenge is that we are facing, if we ask for help he will provide a way out.

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

The one thing we have to remember is to acknowledge who it is who is capable of winning the battle and to allow him full control of the situation. A dear friend of mine just reminded me of the danger of hanging on to our challenges and told me how she has coped remembering these words.

LET GO

LET GOD