Battle Anxiety
Can you imagine Gideon wondering what he's just done, reducing his army to the 300? He must be anxious about going to battle. He might be thinking "...okay Lord, you know what you are doing...please don't let us be put to shame, I'm just following your orders...and you promised victory and you confirmed it with the fleece remember?" and indeed the Lord knows his anxiety and is gracious to him giving him another sign he didn't even ask for to encourage him.
Many times, God arranges things so that his promise seems impossible so that when it comes to pass everyone boasts in him and not in their strength and everyone rejoices in his faithfulness and that his awesome power is exercised in love towards them...but to experience such joy and glory, we must humbly walk the path of faith like Gideon who moves forward and obediently takes steps that risk his own life and increase the apparent impossibility of what God has promised. First YHWH must promise, next we must believe and continually seek him, and next we obey, trusting in his promise even when it's so lopsided that by all human wisdom it looks like certain failure, and finally YHWH comes through and does the impossible and we rejoice in his faithfulness and in the gracious experience of his glory.
Created about 1 year ago
