A Life Without FearParaugs

Day 6: When It Doesn’t Make Sense

Gideon has finally come to the point where he has overcome his fear and believes God will fulfill His promise. He has faithfully rallied the troops, ready to now take on the Midianites. 

But now God throws a wrench in the gears. He’s determined to show Gideon and all of Israel that the impending victory over the Midianites would come about fully because of Him. Not anything that Gideon or Israel might do.

So He tells Gideon to reduce the number of warriors. He wants just 1 percent of the original fighting force left to go up against the Midianites and their allies.

Yep, from 32,000 down to 300. Three hundred to go up against an army that the Scripture says were as thick as locusts. In other words, innumerable. When Gideon surveyed the forces of his enemy, they were spread out as far as he could see.

The Gideon we first met would have balked with excuse after excuse as to why this was a crazy idea. But this Gideon doesn’t question God for a moment. He is completely on board. And when Gideon is left with just 300, he is ready to rock and roll.

God is the God of the 1 percent. He often works in the midst of unthinkable odds, showing His mighty hand. It can feel completely counterintuitive to you and me, but He tells us flat out that He doesn’t do stuff the way we would do it. 

Remember Isaiah 55:8: 

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.”

The way we do things are not the way He does things. If we were Gideon, we would go for the largest possible army, certainly not a small army of 300! But that isn’t God’s way. And notice Gideon doesn’t question this for a moment.

His native fear is being replaced by faith. Not just a blind faith, but a faith in the God who over and over again has shown Himself faithful.

Trusting God can be a scary thing because you have to give up control. And God may be doing a work in a way that feels unsettling. It just doesn’t make sense. 

This is where God wants you to fully entrust to Him your situation. Because He knows that the only antidote to fear is faith. Faith in Him to do what is best for you because He knows much better what is in your best interest than you do.

In my reading plan Perfect Trust, I point to the fact that God can be trusted fully because He is perfect. He loves you with a perfect love and will never do anything that is not in your best interest.

What you face right now may not make sense to you, but it does to God. So place the full weight of your faith in Him today. Entrust it all to Him and watch Him work.