Smoking Out A Wasp's Nest...by Reinhard Bonke
Gideon’s battle cry was: “The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon”. (Judges 7:14 and 17). Maybe Gideon laughed at his own expression. What, Gideon’s sword the Lord’s sword? Hilarious! But God does hilarious wonders, and OUR sword is God’s sword. We use the same sword!
Gideon had very evident human weaknesses, but they did not disqualify him. On the contrary God made his weaknesses even more apparent. When the angel of the Lord greeted Gideon he declared, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior”. Gideon’s reply reads to me as if Gideon was stung by the way the angel put it. It would sound ironic – “mighty warrior?”
He was doing nothing mighty, only hiding from the marauding Midianites. Gideon’s reply was “If the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us. Where are all His miracles...?"
Gideon feared the invading hordes pillaging and killing so God sent him to free Israel from fear. The methods and means God ordered as military strategies seemed totally unrealistic, calling for a catastrophe. But it had a Divine wisdom.
Gideon’s sword was God’s sword, his contemptible army, was God’s battalion. That made Gideon invincible! Like Samson used a jaw bone in battle, the Lord used Gideon. He cleared the land of the Midianite plague like smoking out a wasp’s nest.
Gideon’s battle cry was: “The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon”. (Judges 7:14 and 17). Maybe Gideon laughed at his own expression. What, Gideon’s sword the Lord’s sword? Hilarious! But God does hilarious wonders, and OUR sword is God’s sword. We use the same sword!
Gideon had very evident human weaknesses, but they did not disqualify him. On the contrary God made his weaknesses even more apparent. When the angel of the Lord greeted Gideon he declared, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior”. Gideon’s reply reads to me as if Gideon was stung by the way the angel put it. It would sound ironic – “mighty warrior?”
He was doing nothing mighty, only hiding from the marauding Midianites. Gideon’s reply was “If the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us. Where are all His miracles...?"
Gideon feared the invading hordes pillaging and killing so God sent him to free Israel from fear. The methods and means God ordered as military strategies seemed totally unrealistic, calling for a catastrophe. But it had a Divine wisdom.
Gideon’s sword was God’s sword, his contemptible army, was God’s battalion. That made Gideon invincible! Like Samson used a jaw bone in battle, the Lord used Gideon. He cleared the land of the Midianite plague like smoking out a wasp’s nest.
