ESOCS Devotional 9 July 2023
MEMORY VERSE: “And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands…” Judges 7:2 KJV
TEXT: JUDGES 7:1-23 (KJV)
Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
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, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
3 Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
4 And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.
5 So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.
6 And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.
7 And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.
8 So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.
9 And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand.
10 But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host:
11 And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host.
12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.
13 And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.
14 And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.
15 And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.
16 And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.
17 And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do.
18 When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.
19 So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.
20 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.
21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.
22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.
23 And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
No doubt quantity is good, but it is more celebrated if the quantity is backed up with quality. There are those who have numbers, whereas others boast of members. From experience numbers are not always reliable. However, members are not only counted but can be counted upon. This therefore, makes it imperative for absolute carefulness to be applied in the choice for a formidable team. It takes a properly selected team to bring home the desired result and celebration.
In order not to have His glory tampered with by the Israelites, God decided to select a few but formidable men of war in the battle against the Midianites. The large number will make them proud as though their strength gave them the victory.
It will interest you to know that God is still committed to the selection of team members to handle kingdom business. Leaders must therefore, watch out for the signals per time so as to get the best people on the team.
According to our text, God instructed Gideon to use two selection methods in reducing the team to the most acceptable number:
- WORD TEST: “Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, whosoever is fearful and afraid…” (Judges 7:3). There are several persons on the team list, either by omission or commission who are not fit for the task. Some are physically challenged, academically disadvantaged, psychologically unstable, morally unfit, financially impoverished and spiritually bankrupt. Unfortunately, many of them lack the boldness to communicate their decision, putting word test to use will unveil the truth. A total of 22,000 persons withdrew from the battle by the word test strategy.
- WATER TEST: This is the test of the spirit, to ascertain our spiritual buoyancy, fervency and intensity. It is to confirm our spiritual sensitivity and alertness. It is shocking again to note that 9,700 persons failed this test. Therefore, it is a wakeup call on everyone who must be part of the team for God’s Kingdom business to maintain high spirituality as assessment test may be conducted any time.
- Leaders must deploy spiritual measures in verifying team members.
- As much as possible, engage team members in a discussion before deployment.
- Members must show themselves fit for any responsibility per time.
- Lord, thank you for the privilege of being a team member in your kingdom, grant me the grace to always meet up the test required in Jesus Name, Amen.
FURTHER READING: Zechariah 8:1-17; Mark 9:14-29; Acts 8:4-17
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ESOCS Devotional 9 July 2023
