Read:
Judges 7:2
"And the Lord said unto Gideon 'The people that are with thee are TOO MANY for Me to give the Midianites into their hands..."
What a predicament...to have too much for God to work! Most would blame not having enough for their not working; but God here blames having TOO MUCH for His not working! And that is exactly where Gideon found himself. From living in a cave to leading as a captain, Gideon had done everything right in preparation for this national deliverance God was about to work through him.
1) He had become officially right with God - 6:17-23
2) He had, in his new rightstanding, brought down his family's idol - 6:25-32
3) He had received and responded to the Holy Ghost (in an Old testament way) - 6:34
4) He had affirmed through two divine signs that this calling was truly of God - 6:36-40
But there was another event that took place between #3 and #4 that was not of Gideon's doing: people from all over Israel began to rally to his side. As Gideon had responded to the Holy Ghost by blowing a trumpet, the people responded to the trumpet and began to naturally amass an army. Now what could be wrong with that? Not a thing...except that what began by the Spirit was now being finished in the flesh!
In our zeal for the Lord, our imagination (of course under the more spiritually sounding tag of an "open vision" or the "discerning of spirits") often takes over from the Holy Ghost that which He has started; and we usually end up adding way more to the "mix" than God originally intended. We mean well! We really only wanted to help! Like Namaan, we just thought it ought to happen this way or that (II Kings 5:11).
Nevertheless, God said to Gideon "You've got too much for Me to work"!
I wonder if He might be saying that to the American Church?! I wonder if through the years of abundant "revelation", proseprity and freedom, we believers in this country have accumulated way too many "accessories" for the worship and work of the Lord?!
If we have, then before the "revival" move, we can like Gideon expect a "downsizing" move, where God whittles away at the excess add-ons of our ministries and lives until we are left with only that which He originally called us and graced us to walk with and in!
Let this word from the life of Gideon be like a spotlight on our multiple "irons in the fire" for God; and let it be a great release from the stress of trying to maintain more than we were meant to carry out! And let it finally be a great big "governor" on our zealous engines; so that we never again outrun and overshoot God in His working out of His will in our lives and thus have to carry the burden of "TOO MUCH" in our own strength.
II Kings 10:16
"And he (Jehu) said 'Come with me, and see MY zeal for the Lord..."
Our zeal usually embellishes (sprucing up the truth with extras that are "not so true") God's instructions and words. Yet, only HIS zeal (Isaiah 9:7) can perform His own will!
He started this thing - let Him finish it!
Comment by Keith Edwards:
Today I want us to take heed to this devotional and let God do His perfect work in our life, ministry, and workplace. We have accumlated much here in America and the church, and God wants us to put Him first place in everything. Let's be like Gideon and open our hearts to the Holy Spirit. Lets ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any mixture that we may have, and lets Let Him burn it out of us.
Prayer:
Lord, we desire you and only you today. We ask that you will forgive us for adding to your mighty work by letting things creep up in the body of Christ that is fleshly. We want to be like Gideon and trust you Lord as we fight the good fight of faith as we blow the trumpet in Zion, Amen.
by Joel Hawkins and Keith Edwards
