LECTURE IV.—FAITH IN TRIAL.
A very remarkable trial was now to test the faith of Gideon. We left him
in the proud position of the leader of an army of thirty-two thousand
men; and we can imagine how the heart of the patriot would swell with
thankfulness and joy, as the prospect of delivering his country by their
means brightened before him,—how he would welcome the arrival of each
brave band, and count up the increasing number of his forces.
Further encouragement was given to Gideon by miraculous signs vouchsafed
to him by God in answer to prayer. “If Thou wilt save Israel by my hand
as Thou hast said, behold,” cried Gideon, “I will put a fleece of wool in
the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all
the earth beside, then shall I know that Thou wilt save Israel by mine
hand, as Thou hast said.”
Early on the morrow the chieftain arose, and sought the fleece where he
had laid it. He found it heavy with moisture, though the ground lay dry
around it; and Gideon wrung out from the dripping wool a bowlful of water.
Yet Gideon ventured to beseech God to grant a reversal of this miraculous
sign, in further confirmation of his faith: “Let not Thine anger be hot
against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray Thee,
but this once with the fleece. Let it now be dry only upon the fleece,
and upon all the ground let there be dew.”
Even as Gideon had prayed, so was the sign vouchsafed; the soft dew lay
on the earth around, while the fleece remained dry.
It has been remarked that in the fleece of Gideon we may see not only a
sign, but also a type of Israel, the chosen people of God. The living
water of divine truth, the dew of a peculiar blessing, rested upon
the children of Abraham when the rest of the world was as a dry and
thirsty land. Now—alas for those who rejected, who still reject their
Messiah!—the sign is reversed. As a dry fleece the Jews remain in the
midst of Christian nations, a marvel to the world; the dew which falls
so richly around them rests not on them as a people. Oh, may God hasten
the time when the Jews also shall receive the water of life; when they
_shall look on Him whom they pierced_; and when God shall make use of
them as His chosen instruments for the conversion of the heathen! Looking
forward to that blessed time, St. Paul—himself a Jew—exclaims, _What
shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?_ Let us pray then,
my brethren, for the dew of grace to fall upon the dry fleece, that
Jerusalem, the city of the great King, may once more become the joy of
the earth.
Gideon, strengthened by signs from heaven, and surrounded by the hosts
of Israel, might now fearlessly and confidently await the conflict with
Midian; but he was not only to do God’s work, but to do it in God’s
appointed way. _Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the
Lord of hosts._ The Lord thus spake 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. 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.”
In making such proclamation, Gideon was obeying a command given through
Moses (Deut. xx. 8), though it is possible that he might have omitted to
do so without the special direction from above. Startling was the effect
of the proclamation, and it needed strong faith in Gideon not to falter
when the force of Israel began to melt away like a snow-ball, till more
than two-thirds of the whole number had deserted the camp. Truly many had
been called, but few were chosen. Where were those who had so readily
obeyed the call of the trumpet, and quitted their homes for the field of
war? Of how many might it be said, _Being harnessed and carrying bows,
they turned back in the day of battle._ They were not to share the glory;
they had faltered in the moment of trial. Oh, brethren, may it never be
so with us! May _the fear of man_, which _bringeth a snare_, never make
us shrink back from the duty before us. What must have been the shame of
those who had come to the gathering of the hosts of Israel, and who had
then departed without striking one blow, when the rocks and mountains
rang with the shouts of their conquering brethren, and the victory in
which they might once have shared was won without them! _No man having
put his hand to the plough_ (or, to the sword), _and looking back, is fit
for the kingdom of heaven._
The force under Gideon had now dwindled from thirty-two thousand to ten
thousand men. Human wisdom would have deemed these all too few to oppose
the multitudes of Midian encamped in the valley before them; but not so
judged the God of hosts. 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.”
Gideon, in obedience to the command, brought down his forces unto the
water, leaving the selection of the chosen band of heroes unto Him who
readeth the thoughts of the heart. Doubtless the Israelites were thirsty
from their long march in the heat of that sultry clime; by far the
greater number threw themselves on their knees by the water, stooping
down eagerly to drink; three hundred only lapped from their hands the
cooling draught. 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.”
[Illustration: GIDEON’S ARMY DRINKING AT THE BROOK.]
Mysterious command, and yet was it instantly obeyed. Gideon dismissed the
greater part of his forces, not to their homes, but to their tents. They
had yet their appointed part to take; they would complete the victory;
they would follow up the pursuit. It is not given to all to be foremost
in peril or in fame. Some are called to do great things, to suffer great
things for God; others have a humbler part to perform: they have to
follow up the successes of their brethren; not to shine conspicuously
as Christian heroes, but to do their duty steadily as Christian men. It
is very possible that some bold spirits amongst Gideon’s ten thousand
may have been tempted to repine at being excluded from the glorious
privilege of those who were to bear the brunt, and win the highest
renown. And now the zealous servant of Christ, kept back by sickness or
some other dispensation from active usefulness for his Lord, finds it
hard to realize the truth, “They also serve who only stand and wait.”
He fain would be in the scene of action; he fain would join in the
glorious strife. Must he look on while others labour? must he stand
still while others fight? My brethren, the place which our great Leader
assigns to us is the right place, however humbling it may be to our
pride. The submission of those who retired to their tents may have been
as acceptable to God as the courage of those who remained to perform the
perilous duty before them.
The truth which is especially brought to our notice in this remarkable
portion of the story of Gideon, is the necessity that God should be
given the glory of every high and holy work which He enables His people
to perform. Israel was not to say, “Mine own hand hath saved me.” Weak
instruments were purposely chosen, that the honour of success might
pertain unto God, and not man. And how often has the same lesson been
taught in the history of the Church! Not the mighty, not the noble or the
learned were appointed at the first to proclaim the gospel of salvation.
When the lowly and illiterate, when fishermen from Galilee were chosen
as leaders of the hosts of the Lord, who could not but own that their
success was due to the power of the Spirit? It is right that we should
employ all lawful means to further God’s work, but let us beware that we
rest not in means; let us especially beware that we use no means that are
not sanctified by His blessing. Had the ten thousand valiant men been led
forward by Gideon against the foe, what would their number, what would
their courage, what would their zeal have availed? Doubtless shameful
defeat would have followed presumptuous self-confidence, and he who had
rested on an arm of flesh have found that he had leaned on a broken reed.
Christians are now not unfrequently placed in a position which may remind
us of that of Gideon, when he found his forces melting away in the face
of a formidable foe. In the midst of active labours for God, one is
smitten down by sickness, his work is still to be done—the power to do
it seems taken away. Another, active in works of charity, suddenly loses
the means of which he has made such liberal use, his resources dwindle
like the army of Gideon, and he is tempted to cry, “O Lord, wherefore
hast Thou crippled my usefulness? what I had, was it not devoted to Thy
service?” My brethren, if the blessing of God be left behind, we may rest
trustfully in the assurance that He will care for His own work. He can
make a few victorious over the many. His blessing on a cruse of oil and
a handful of meal made them a surer source of supply than the granaries
of the wealthy. God hath not forsaken, He would only humble and prove His
servants, and teach them through trials of faith to look for success only
to Him.
Were it not for our past experience that flowers must fade to make
way for fruit, how sad would be the sight of the fading blossoms on a
tree—the petals strewed in the dust, their brilliant beauty departed!
But we know that what is more precious is left behind; that on the bough
remains the green germ of the fruit which shall renew the beauty of the
tree, and give to it a value beyond what it possessed in the smiling days
of spring. So see we faith in trial. Outward advantages may be taken
away, sweet hopes may fall and wither, but if the fruit-tree be thriving
and deep-rooted, harvest glory is yet to come. Job—stripped of property,
children, health—might lament the day of his birth, and believe that his
season of active usefulness was departed for ever; but through his very
trials and losses he passed to greater glory and joy, and has become a
fruitful source of blessing to the Church of God through many generations.
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