And Another Thing . . . Gideon
The question is almost never “Will God show up?”, but, rather, “Will we remain faithful?” The real tale of faith is usually found in the small moments before the big event. The story of God this week was about the victory Gideon’s army of 300 men won over the 135,000 Midianites occupying the land. God’s people were in a hard place, reduced to hiding in caves and scrounging for food. Starvation was an imminent danger for every family. To remedy this situation God chose an unlikely hero: Gideon, the least member (the runt) of the least tribe in the country. In God’s economy, he was the perfect choice.
Gideon amassed an army of 32,000 but God reduced the number to 300. In fact, it took two waves of reductions to get down to a size God believed was appropriate! Not only that, but Gideon’s inspired plan was to approach the enemy without weapons; they were to carry a torch hidden in a jar, and a trumpet. Three hundred unarmed men walked for miles toward what appeared to be certain destruction.
This march toward the battle is the part of the story that intrigues me. This march of faith is the battle. It is easy to say we trust God. It is another thing to instruct our own legs to walk us into the presence of an overwhelming force and near certain destruction. Everyone in Gideon’s army knew the stories of what God had done for their ancestors-- the parting of the Red Sea, Manna falling from heaven, Jericho’s walls falling down -- but He had not been in the miracle business for awhile. They had to wonder if things were really going to change. Would this be a God story, or just another failure? They mustered faith to believe that God was talking again and that Gideon had heard Him. So they walked through the dark night. With each step came the question, “Do I keep going or run away?” I wonder if the faces of their friends who left in the early reductions haunted them as they walked. I suspect they could almost hear their voices encouraging them to move toward the safety of known subservience and abandon their foolhardy quest for freedom.
As the small army approached the camp it all became very real. They could hear the noise of the soldiers. They knew they were committed. They would see it through.
Fredrick Buechner once wrote that “doubts are the ants in the pants of faith; they keep it awake and moving.”
Paul Tillich similarly wrote, “Doubt isn't the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.”
The King James Version of the Bible translates Hebrews 11:1 this way: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
There are times when our life with God requires us to go on a march towards something that only makes sense if God is on the other side of it. If God is not there it will be a disaster. Each time we receive this call we can choose to embrace our fear and run away, or to move with God until He releases us. Sometimes, we are called to go on the entire journey. With each step we must choose between continuing on with God or running back to the perceived comfort of what we know. Much of this march is a dance with doubt and faith. The trick is to continue the dance all the way to the end. Our faithfulness on the journey finally brings us into the position where God can do the amazing things He intends.
In Gideon’s case, God defeated a mighty force with just light, sound and a whole lot of faith. Faith was the journey then as it remains the journey now. Move with God and you will find him faithful.
And that is all I have to say about that . . . for now!
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