A Gideon Lesson...

The Lord said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.'" So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained. - Judges 7:2-3

Sometimes it's hard for me to relate to stories in the Old Testament. I don't go out and fight battles for promised land. I don't do temple sacrifices or flee from an Egyptian army. This morning was different though. This morning, I felt God tugging on my heart as I read the story of Gideon.

You see, God tells Gideon to go defeat the Mideanites. He even confirms the command with a few pretty cool signs. So what does Gideon do? He goes and gathers up as many men as he can in Israel to fight. By the time he's ready to go to battle, he has 22,000 men ready to go. It seems like a pretty logical battle plan to me. It's not the way God wants it though...

No, God is in the business of bringing glory to Himself (which I think is pretty cool). He doesn't want Israel taking all the credit. He wants them to rely on Him. So what does He do? He whittles down Gideon's force from first 22,000 to 10,000 and from there to only 300 men. Yup, you read that right. Three hundred men to go against the whole Mideon army. In the world's perspective, this is like committing military suicide...

Yet with these 300 men God routs Mideon, and in doing so brings glory to Himself as well as teach the Israelites to trust Him. It's pretty cool how it all works out...

Where am I going with this? Well, God showed me a tie in this story to our current support raising situation.

You see, for the last few weeks, Jennifer and I have been working off of an extremely small list of believers to get a hold of to share our ministry with and ask for support. It's been nerve wracking as I look at all the people we've talked to so far and then see the small handful of contacts we have left with still 29% of our monthly support to raise. I look at the stats of what's happened with the hundreds of people we've talked to thus far to get to 71% and think, "There's no way that we can get 29% from this small of a group. Are you sure about this God?"

I'm sure that's the way Gideon felt when God left him with 300 men. "Wow God, um...300 men. Are you sure about this?" Yet God came through and conquered the Mideonites.

God has called Jennifer and I to this ministry. I have no doubt about it at all. There have been way to many confirmations to believe otherwise. I think He's just bringing us through a time where He's showing us that He is the ultimate one that raises our support. It's not about us. It's all about His glory. This handful of believers that we still have to get in contact with has got to lead somehow to 100%. Like Gideon, all we can do is step out and trust the Lord in this situation. In poker terms, we have to "go all in" on this situation and totally rely on the Lord to work.

Is it scary putting it all on the line like this? Yeah, at times it can be. I'll admit that I get freaked out at times. Honestly though, if there's one thing that I've learned so far on this ministry adventure it's that Jenn and I can totally rely on the Lord. He may not do things like we desire, but in the end it's always done in a way that accomplishes the task while stretching and deepening our trust in Him. This is just another one of those situations...

So I guess, like Gideon, it's time for me to head to battle. The 29% obstacle will be conquered. It's so amazing to have the Lord on your side...