“The LORD said to Gideon, ‘You have too many men…. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce to the people, Anyone who trembles…may turn back.’ So 22,000 men left, while 10,000 remained.”
Judges 7:2-3
When my quick and able brain allowed me to complete legal work on many complex transactions at once, and when my work as an attorney provided financial stability for our family, it was easy to think I could trust in my own strength. Haven’t we all done that to some degree at various times in our lives?
But after my stroke took away many of my abilities, I could relate to Gideon. God trimmed his troops in the end from 32,000 to just 300 before fighting and defeating the mighty Midian army. His smaller army forced him to put all his trust in God and not in his own perceived strength.
Why would God have us trust His strength in our weakness? He gives the answer in the story of Gideon. He knows how confident we grow in our own accomplishments, and He teaches us to boast not in ourselves but in His victorious hand alone.
In his commentary, Matthew Henry says of this verse, “My own hand has saved is a word that must never come out of the mouth of such as shall be saved. He that glories must glory in the Lord” (1710).
But after my stroke took away many of my abilities, I could relate to Gideon. God trimmed his troops in the end from 32,000 to just 300 before fighting and defeating the mighty Midian army. His smaller army forced him to put all his trust in God and not in his own perceived strength.
Why would God have us trust His strength in our weakness? He gives the answer in the story of Gideon. He knows how confident we grow in our own accomplishments, and He teaches us to boast not in ourselves but in His victorious hand alone.
In his commentary, Matthew Henry says of this verse, “My own hand has saved is a word that must never come out of the mouth of such as shall be saved. He that glories must glory in the Lord” (1710).
Scripture Focus
Judges 7:1-22
Insight
“God has called each of us to do that which can only be accomplished in His power at work in us.” (David Platt, 2019)
Bible In A Year
- 1 Samuel 15-16
- Psalm 127
- 2 Corinthians 8
