This Is a Story about God

CONSECRATE Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  HEAR Judges 7:4–6 (NIV) But the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. CONSIDER Can you even imagine this? But the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there.” The shoe is solidly on the other foot now, isn’t it? We have gone from Gideon testing God to God testing Gideon. So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” I’ve heard preachers try to churchsplain this to mean that those soldiers who cupped the water into their hands were the real warriors because they did not drop to their knees but stayed in a battle-ready position. Then we get this. Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. Can you imagine? Three hundred tongue lappers! Yep! That should do the trick. Let’s make sure we are doing the same math here. Gideon started with ten servants from his father’s staff. He issued the call to arms and fielded a team of thirty-two thousand. He let everyone who trembled in fear go home, which reduced the army by twenty-two thousand, leaving ten thousand. Now we are down to three hundred. This is not a story about Gideon. It is certainly not a story about battle strategy or leadership. It is not even a story about faith (though Gideon does get an honorable mention in the famed Hall of Faith; see Hebrews 11:32). This is a story about God. In fact, that is what the whole story of the Bible is about: the one true God of heaven and earth, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Over and over and over we try to make the Bible about us. Our main questions tend to be about us: How does this apply to my life? What is this telling me to do? How is this relevant? Those are just not really the questions the Bible is asking or answering. The Bible aspires first, middle, and last to do one thing: reveal God. The Word of God and the Spirit of God are ever working to reveal the eternal God to mortal human beings—to lift our eyes to the hills with the clarion query, “From where does our help come?” Our help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. This is a story about God. There is simply no one like him. PRAY Father, we stand amazed and in awe of you. You, God. You alone. You are amazing, astounding, and the more we see you, the more we want to see you. Thank you for your Word and your Spirit and the gift of revelation. Help us to fathom you more today than we did yesterday, and then again tomorrow. That will be enough. In Jesus’s name, amen.