35. FULFILL YOUR POTENTIAL
God always sees our potential and wants to build on it. Will you let him?
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What have you done in your life that has required you to be brave? We all must learn to defeat fears, meet challenges, and step up to hard situations. Therefore life requires a certain level of bravery. How can you overcome the fears of school exams, a new job, or of quitting smoking? The brave one is the one who dares to challenge the very thing that by nature he would shrink from. That doesn't mean the brave person doesn't feel any fear, but rather we get braver as we step from one challenge to another. No one can learn bravery if they never have to face something challenging. God may ask you someday to do some brave thing. Are you ready to step up and meet the challenge?
Suleyman the Magnificent's father was called "the Brave" because he had pushed the Ottoman Empire across Arabia. Now Suleyman was expanding the empire even further by pushing toward the north and overtaking Hungary. All of Europe was afraid of Suleyman because they had heard of his amazing accomplishments.
Although it was not really Roman, holy, or an empire, at that time Europe was controlled by the Holy Roman Empire. Instead of being a vast territory under the control of a central government, we actually know that it was a conglomeration of nation states controlled by the Catholic Church. And it certainly wasn't "holy" as it is common knowledge that the Catholic Church has been filled with dishonest
politics, plots and intrigue, murder and scandal for over a 1000 years.
But there is a backside to Suleyman's accomplishments that is little known. Suleyman the Magnificent, in his war against the Holy Roman Empire, had an unusual partner. A great man who fought as valiantly as Suleyman did. History shows that although they never met, they were allies against the same foe. The man's name was Martin Luther and he lived in Germany in the early 1500's. Unlike Suleyman who waged his battles with the sword, Martin Luther chose to ght with a pen. But it was a powerful pen! The impact of Martin Luther's words upon the enemy were as powerful as the iron balls red from Ottoman cannons. How did he help the Ottoman cause? We'll it happened this way.
Martin Luther's father wanted his son to become a lawyer, but the boy was plagued by fear that he would burn in hell and insisted on becoming a priest. But becoming a priest did not relieve Martin Luther's fear of damnation - instead it only increased his anxieties. Sometimes he would stay in the church long hours praying, counting prayers on his prayer beads, fasting for days, and beating his back with a whip, hoping in some way to account for his sins and earn a place in paradise.
At that time the Church of Rome was selling something called "indulgences." Basically, people could pay money to receive forgiveness for sins. You can guess how much money the Catholic Church collected from this! The poor people were taught that if they didn't give money, they would likely stay in a place of torment for a long time. What do you think they used the money for? Some of it was used to build up the grandeur of the Vatican. But they also used a lot of it to arm soldiers in the ght against the Turks!
Now, Martin Luther visited Rome wanting to earn freedom from the sin and threat of punishment that tortured his conscious. When he got there, he was shocked to find a city full of idols, brothels, and people selling religious trinkets, such as crosses, pictures of saints, and supposed slivers of wood from Jesus' Cross. As a result, Luther returned to Germany more confused than before. Wanting to find answers to his questions, he began reading the Holy Bible. In it he found the exact opposite of the practices he had seen in Rome.
Then he read these words of scripture: "The just shall live by faith."
It struck him like a lightning bolt. "Faith!" Not by long prayers and touching the graves of saints. Just like Abraham, it was possible for him to also live by FAITH. Luther who had been so fearful of hell fire, now found escape. He realized that his fear was based on the reality that he could never do enough good deeds to ful ll God's expectation. But faith, that was simple. All he needed to do was believe and trust in God.
His soul became so brave in this new found truth, that he was willing to risk his life to reveal it to others.
At that time the Roman church killed anyone opposed to her views. Nonetheless, Luther made a huge poster writing 95 faults with the Roman papacy and priesthood. To prove the truth of each problem he had identi ed, he provided evidences from the Holy Bible -- the word of God. When he was finished writing he boldly nailed it to the main door of the University in the center of the city!
The truths written on that piece of paper nailed to the door, swept through the city like wild re. The hearts of all those who had been held spiritually captive, just like Luther, were finally freed from fear. Faith sprung to life. It became one of the first publications to meet the new invention called, "the printing press." The 95 Thesis, as they became known, first spread across Germany and then all of Europe. It exposed the lie that people could buy salvation and made invalid the promise that money or good works could earn a place in heaven. What do you think that news did to donations toward the Catholic Church? Suddenly the income died and there was no money to fund the war against Suleyman the Magnificent.
In addition Rome's attention was split in two directions. They had a new enemy called "Protestantism."
Though it may never have been Luther’s aim to link arms with the Turks, the end result was they became unknowing partners. By taking the word of God as true, God quenched this man's false fears, and then used him to wound one of the most powerful entities of his day. His stand against idolatry and false religion, helped to destabilize the greatest enemy of the Ottoman Empire.
There is a fascinating story in the Bible about a man who was very much like Martin Luther. His name was Gideon. He lived after Moses and Joshua had died. The people had already conquered the land of Canaan, built houses, planted vineyards and began to live on the land. Unfortunately, in this comfortable state, the people began worshipping idols! Here is where Gideon's story begins. Let's read Judges chapter 6 verse 1:
1 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.
The Midianite raiders had turned daily life upside down. Harvest time had turned into a time of terror. The Bible says in Judges chapter 6 verses 3-6:
3 For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 4 They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. 5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number- -both they and their camels could not be counted--so that they laid waste the land as they came in. 6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the LORD.
Now it so happened that a young man named Gideon was working in a winery. Oddly, he was working there in early summer when there wasn't a grape in sight anywhere! What was this fellow doing at a winery with no grapes? He was secretly threshing wheat. You see,he was afraid and hiding where he thought the raiders would least suspect to nd him. But God knew where he was! Let's continue reading in Judges chapter 6 verses 12-14:
12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor." 13 And Gideon said to him, "Please, sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian." 14 And the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?"
Did you notice the angel of the Lord greeted him by calling him a "man of valor?" God obviously saw Gideon as something other than a fearful young man. It is amazing how God always sees our potential and wants to build on it. We can read Gideon's conversation with the angel in Judges chapter 6 verses 15-23:
15 And he said to him, "Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." 16 And the LORD said to him, "But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man." 17 And he said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you." And he said, "I will stay till you return." 19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of our. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them." And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face." 23 But the LORD said to him, "Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die."
The angel's visitation was a tremendous experience that gave Gideon much courage. The Bible tells us that God appeared to Gideon that night and gave him his first assignment. It was a daring assignment, as it tested Gideon's loyalty to God over his own family. He was to go out at night and tear down his own father's idols, one to the idol Baal and the other to the mother goddess. Then he was to build an altar and sacrifice his father's prize bull to the true God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Before Gideon fought the Midianites, he had to make certain his own people were rightly following God. Let's read about it in verses 25 and 26:
25 That night the LORD said to him, "Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order.
Gideon took ten men and did exactly as the Lord had asked. In the morning all the town's people were furious when they saw the shattered idols. They demanded to know who had torn down the statues. When they found Gideon's father they said,
"Bring out your son, that we can put him to death."
But Gideon's father was wise, he said, "If Baal is a god, then let him defend himself! If these things you called gods were true, then do you need to come to their rescue?"
Of course there was no power in the false religion. People following superstitions and lies often get angry when someone challenges their false beliefs because they are ashamed of the fact that their religion is actually powerless. Truth has its own power and it doesn't need to be supported by human force or violence.
After Gideon cleaned up his neighborhood, He wanted some reassurance that God was with him. So he again asked the Lord for a sign. We can read about it in Judges chapter 6 verses 36-40:
36 Then Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said." 38 And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, "Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew." 40 And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
The miracle that Gideon witnessed gave him all the more courage to move ahead. Bold actions require an inner confidence that what one is doing is right. Gideon could be brave when there were signs and miracles. But how would he respond if God asked him to do reduce his army to half its size? What happened next was an amazing act of faith. Let's nd out in Judges chapter 7 verses 2 and 3:
2 The LORD said to Gideon, "The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.' 3 Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.'" Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.
Can you imagine Gideon lying on his bed at night pondering the events of the day when 22,000 of his soldiers were sent away? If ever there was an opportunity for fear this was it. But it seems Gideon's faith stood strong. God wanted Gideon to know that it doesn't matter how many are on your side but WHO is on your side. But, God wasn't finished with stretching Gideon's faith. Let's see what happened next in Judges chapter 7 verses 4-7:
4 And the LORD said to Gideon, "The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' shall not go." 5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, "Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink." 6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. 7 And the LORD said to Gideon, "With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home."
Now Gideon had just 300 men to go into battle with against a massive army. God had reduced the army to such a degree that everyone who heard the news would know that the battle was won not by military strength, but by faith in God.
That night God told Gideon and his men to carry trumpets, earthen pots and torches. These are strange weapons for war! Then they were to wait in the dark around the camp of the Midianites. Thousands and thousands of the enemies' tents were below them.
Gideon divided the men into three groups of a hundred and they perched on the hills in the darkness waiting for the signal from Gideon. We can read what happened next in Judges chapter 7 verses 19-22:
19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch,
when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. 20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets
to blow. And they cried out, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!" 21 Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. 22 When they blew the 300 trumpets, the LORD set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled.
In a moment 300 pots crashed to the rocks. The Midianites' hearts melted as they looked at the thundering mountains and saw the lights of what they imagined were thousands of soldiers. The torches pierced through the night sky, terror seized their hearts, and in confusion they began to fight against themselves! God had used Gideon's willingness and turned it into bravery and victory for his people.
Here is a final story of bravery from a village not so far from you.
Kenan's father had been an alcoholic. The villagers had told Kenan from the time he entered elementary school,
"Your grandfather was an alcoholic, your father is an alcoholic and you will be an alcoholic."
Sure enough, after Kenan got into high school he drank his first beer. But that was just the beginning. Soon, rakı became Kenan's best friend, or should we say his worst enemy, until he turned 37. At age 37, something happened that changed Kenan's life and saved his family's happiness.
On a bus trip, Kenan met an Ankara businessman who had broken free from alcohol. Never before had Kenan thought it possible that he could be different than his father or grandfather. But oh, how badly he wanted to be free! He had hurt his wife and now he had begun hurting his little boy. As hard has he had tried to quit drinking, the truth was that the bottle was his master. As Kenan listened to the Ankara man's story, he started to believe that he too could be free. This business man shared step by step the seven secrets of his success. The Ankara man told Kenan,
"The first thing you must know is that you do not have power in yourself to quit. You don't have power to push this bus, you don't have power to fly a plane, and you don't have power to quit alcohol. God, however, can give you that power."
He told Kenan,"Your human effort isn't enough."
Kenan knew it was true because he had tried to quit before. Then the man wrote down the first secret on a bus napkin and talked about it. After that he wrote down all seven secrets and handed it to Kenan before the two parted ways. That hour, that day, that moment he made a brave determination in his heart to follow the seven secrets at any cost. Today Kenan is free, happy and a new man.
What was this man's fear? He was afraid that he couldn't overcome the inherited inclination to be just like his dad and grandfather.
His new start began when one day he believed someone who said that he could change by faith in God alone.
Luther and Gideon and Kenan all had one thing in common in their stories of bravery. Each made a decision to be brave and face a challenge and each of them gained the victory over their fears by an unseen power. That power came to them through the action of faith. If Luther had been a positive thinker and believed in himself, would that have overcome his fear of death and hell fire? If Gideon had only believed in himself would the Midianites have ed? If Kenan had only believed in himself would he have overcome alcohol? We can have faith in the wrong thing and gain no victory. In each of these cases the victory came not because they had a faith in themselves. It was by faith in God that miraculous bravery was born. That real power over every evil thing comes from God. This is true bravery, the bravery that overcomes the world. And it is yours by faith. Won't you ask God to strengthen your faith today?
Discussion Questions
1. Do you think God can make a person brave?
2. Martin Luther left the priesthood and for the rest of his life fought against the religion that he had been a part of. What was the
turning point that made him brave?
3. Gideon asked God for a sign. What are things we can learn from Gideon about asking God for signs?
4. Gideon received a clear sign with the wet fleece. Do you think that made it any easier to watch his army be narrowed down to 300
men?
5. Pray that God will give you bravery when you need it most.
Suleyman the Magnificent's father was called "the Brave" because he had pushed the Ottoman Empire across Arabia. Now Suleyman was expanding the empire even further by pushing toward the north and overtaking Hungary. All of Europe was afraid of Suleyman because they had heard of his amazing accomplishments.
Although it was not really Roman, holy, or an empire, at that time Europe was controlled by the Holy Roman Empire. Instead of being a vast territory under the control of a central government, we actually know that it was a conglomeration of nation states controlled by the Catholic Church. And it certainly wasn't "holy" as it is common knowledge that the Catholic Church has been filled with dishonest
politics, plots and intrigue, murder and scandal for over a 1000 years.
But there is a backside to Suleyman's accomplishments that is little known. Suleyman the Magnificent, in his war against the Holy Roman Empire, had an unusual partner. A great man who fought as valiantly as Suleyman did. History shows that although they never met, they were allies against the same foe. The man's name was Martin Luther and he lived in Germany in the early 1500's. Unlike Suleyman who waged his battles with the sword, Martin Luther chose to ght with a pen. But it was a powerful pen! The impact of Martin Luther's words upon the enemy were as powerful as the iron balls red from Ottoman cannons. How did he help the Ottoman cause? We'll it happened this way.
Martin Luther's father wanted his son to become a lawyer, but the boy was plagued by fear that he would burn in hell and insisted on becoming a priest. But becoming a priest did not relieve Martin Luther's fear of damnation - instead it only increased his anxieties. Sometimes he would stay in the church long hours praying, counting prayers on his prayer beads, fasting for days, and beating his back with a whip, hoping in some way to account for his sins and earn a place in paradise.
At that time the Church of Rome was selling something called "indulgences." Basically, people could pay money to receive forgiveness for sins. You can guess how much money the Catholic Church collected from this! The poor people were taught that if they didn't give money, they would likely stay in a place of torment for a long time. What do you think they used the money for? Some of it was used to build up the grandeur of the Vatican. But they also used a lot of it to arm soldiers in the ght against the Turks!
Now, Martin Luther visited Rome wanting to earn freedom from the sin and threat of punishment that tortured his conscious. When he got there, he was shocked to find a city full of idols, brothels, and people selling religious trinkets, such as crosses, pictures of saints, and supposed slivers of wood from Jesus' Cross. As a result, Luther returned to Germany more confused than before. Wanting to find answers to his questions, he began reading the Holy Bible. In it he found the exact opposite of the practices he had seen in Rome.
Then he read these words of scripture: "The just shall live by faith."
It struck him like a lightning bolt. "Faith!" Not by long prayers and touching the graves of saints. Just like Abraham, it was possible for him to also live by FAITH. Luther who had been so fearful of hell fire, now found escape. He realized that his fear was based on the reality that he could never do enough good deeds to ful ll God's expectation. But faith, that was simple. All he needed to do was believe and trust in God.
His soul became so brave in this new found truth, that he was willing to risk his life to reveal it to others.
At that time the Roman church killed anyone opposed to her views. Nonetheless, Luther made a huge poster writing 95 faults with the Roman papacy and priesthood. To prove the truth of each problem he had identi ed, he provided evidences from the Holy Bible -- the word of God. When he was finished writing he boldly nailed it to the main door of the University in the center of the city!
The truths written on that piece of paper nailed to the door, swept through the city like wild re. The hearts of all those who had been held spiritually captive, just like Luther, were finally freed from fear. Faith sprung to life. It became one of the first publications to meet the new invention called, "the printing press." The 95 Thesis, as they became known, first spread across Germany and then all of Europe. It exposed the lie that people could buy salvation and made invalid the promise that money or good works could earn a place in heaven. What do you think that news did to donations toward the Catholic Church? Suddenly the income died and there was no money to fund the war against Suleyman the Magnificent.
In addition Rome's attention was split in two directions. They had a new enemy called "Protestantism."
Though it may never have been Luther’s aim to link arms with the Turks, the end result was they became unknowing partners. By taking the word of God as true, God quenched this man's false fears, and then used him to wound one of the most powerful entities of his day. His stand against idolatry and false religion, helped to destabilize the greatest enemy of the Ottoman Empire.
There is a fascinating story in the Bible about a man who was very much like Martin Luther. His name was Gideon. He lived after Moses and Joshua had died. The people had already conquered the land of Canaan, built houses, planted vineyards and began to live on the land. Unfortunately, in this comfortable state, the people began worshipping idols! Here is where Gideon's story begins. Let's read Judges chapter 6 verse 1:
1 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.
The Midianite raiders had turned daily life upside down. Harvest time had turned into a time of terror. The Bible says in Judges chapter 6 verses 3-6:
3 For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 4 They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. 5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number- -both they and their camels could not be counted--so that they laid waste the land as they came in. 6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the LORD.
Now it so happened that a young man named Gideon was working in a winery. Oddly, he was working there in early summer when there wasn't a grape in sight anywhere! What was this fellow doing at a winery with no grapes? He was secretly threshing wheat. You see,he was afraid and hiding where he thought the raiders would least suspect to nd him. But God knew where he was! Let's continue reading in Judges chapter 6 verses 12-14:
12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor." 13 And Gideon said to him, "Please, sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian." 14 And the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?"
Did you notice the angel of the Lord greeted him by calling him a "man of valor?" God obviously saw Gideon as something other than a fearful young man. It is amazing how God always sees our potential and wants to build on it. We can read Gideon's conversation with the angel in Judges chapter 6 verses 15-23:
15 And he said to him, "Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." 16 And the LORD said to him, "But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man." 17 And he said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you." And he said, "I will stay till you return." 19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of our. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them." And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face." 23 But the LORD said to him, "Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die."
The angel's visitation was a tremendous experience that gave Gideon much courage. The Bible tells us that God appeared to Gideon that night and gave him his first assignment. It was a daring assignment, as it tested Gideon's loyalty to God over his own family. He was to go out at night and tear down his own father's idols, one to the idol Baal and the other to the mother goddess. Then he was to build an altar and sacrifice his father's prize bull to the true God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Before Gideon fought the Midianites, he had to make certain his own people were rightly following God. Let's read about it in verses 25 and 26:
25 That night the LORD said to him, "Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order.
Gideon took ten men and did exactly as the Lord had asked. In the morning all the town's people were furious when they saw the shattered idols. They demanded to know who had torn down the statues. When they found Gideon's father they said,
"Bring out your son, that we can put him to death."
But Gideon's father was wise, he said, "If Baal is a god, then let him defend himself! If these things you called gods were true, then do you need to come to their rescue?"
Of course there was no power in the false religion. People following superstitions and lies often get angry when someone challenges their false beliefs because they are ashamed of the fact that their religion is actually powerless. Truth has its own power and it doesn't need to be supported by human force or violence.
After Gideon cleaned up his neighborhood, He wanted some reassurance that God was with him. So he again asked the Lord for a sign. We can read about it in Judges chapter 6 verses 36-40:
36 Then Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said." 38 And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, "Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew." 40 And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
The miracle that Gideon witnessed gave him all the more courage to move ahead. Bold actions require an inner confidence that what one is doing is right. Gideon could be brave when there were signs and miracles. But how would he respond if God asked him to do reduce his army to half its size? What happened next was an amazing act of faith. Let's nd out in Judges chapter 7 verses 2 and 3:
2 The LORD said to Gideon, "The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.' 3 Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.'" Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.
Can you imagine Gideon lying on his bed at night pondering the events of the day when 22,000 of his soldiers were sent away? If ever there was an opportunity for fear this was it. But it seems Gideon's faith stood strong. God wanted Gideon to know that it doesn't matter how many are on your side but WHO is on your side. But, God wasn't finished with stretching Gideon's faith. Let's see what happened next in Judges chapter 7 verses 4-7:
4 And the LORD said to Gideon, "The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' shall not go." 5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, "Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink." 6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. 7 And the LORD said to Gideon, "With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home."
Now Gideon had just 300 men to go into battle with against a massive army. God had reduced the army to such a degree that everyone who heard the news would know that the battle was won not by military strength, but by faith in God.
That night God told Gideon and his men to carry trumpets, earthen pots and torches. These are strange weapons for war! Then they were to wait in the dark around the camp of the Midianites. Thousands and thousands of the enemies' tents were below them.
Gideon divided the men into three groups of a hundred and they perched on the hills in the darkness waiting for the signal from Gideon. We can read what happened next in Judges chapter 7 verses 19-22:
19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch,
when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. 20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets
to blow. And they cried out, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!" 21 Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. 22 When they blew the 300 trumpets, the LORD set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled.
In a moment 300 pots crashed to the rocks. The Midianites' hearts melted as they looked at the thundering mountains and saw the lights of what they imagined were thousands of soldiers. The torches pierced through the night sky, terror seized their hearts, and in confusion they began to fight against themselves! God had used Gideon's willingness and turned it into bravery and victory for his people.
Here is a final story of bravery from a village not so far from you.
Kenan's father had been an alcoholic. The villagers had told Kenan from the time he entered elementary school,
"Your grandfather was an alcoholic, your father is an alcoholic and you will be an alcoholic."
Sure enough, after Kenan got into high school he drank his first beer. But that was just the beginning. Soon, rakı became Kenan's best friend, or should we say his worst enemy, until he turned 37. At age 37, something happened that changed Kenan's life and saved his family's happiness.
On a bus trip, Kenan met an Ankara businessman who had broken free from alcohol. Never before had Kenan thought it possible that he could be different than his father or grandfather. But oh, how badly he wanted to be free! He had hurt his wife and now he had begun hurting his little boy. As hard has he had tried to quit drinking, the truth was that the bottle was his master. As Kenan listened to the Ankara man's story, he started to believe that he too could be free. This business man shared step by step the seven secrets of his success. The Ankara man told Kenan,
"The first thing you must know is that you do not have power in yourself to quit. You don't have power to push this bus, you don't have power to fly a plane, and you don't have power to quit alcohol. God, however, can give you that power."
He told Kenan,"Your human effort isn't enough."
Kenan knew it was true because he had tried to quit before. Then the man wrote down the first secret on a bus napkin and talked about it. After that he wrote down all seven secrets and handed it to Kenan before the two parted ways. That hour, that day, that moment he made a brave determination in his heart to follow the seven secrets at any cost. Today Kenan is free, happy and a new man.
What was this man's fear? He was afraid that he couldn't overcome the inherited inclination to be just like his dad and grandfather.
His new start began when one day he believed someone who said that he could change by faith in God alone.
Luther and Gideon and Kenan all had one thing in common in their stories of bravery. Each made a decision to be brave and face a challenge and each of them gained the victory over their fears by an unseen power. That power came to them through the action of faith. If Luther had been a positive thinker and believed in himself, would that have overcome his fear of death and hell fire? If Gideon had only believed in himself would the Midianites have ed? If Kenan had only believed in himself would he have overcome alcohol? We can have faith in the wrong thing and gain no victory. In each of these cases the victory came not because they had a faith in themselves. It was by faith in God that miraculous bravery was born. That real power over every evil thing comes from God. This is true bravery, the bravery that overcomes the world. And it is yours by faith. Won't you ask God to strengthen your faith today?
Discussion Questions
1. Do you think God can make a person brave?
2. Martin Luther left the priesthood and for the rest of his life fought against the religion that he had been a part of. What was the
turning point that made him brave?
3. Gideon asked God for a sign. What are things we can learn from Gideon about asking God for signs?
4. Gideon received a clear sign with the wet fleece. Do you think that made it any easier to watch his army be narrowed down to 300
men?
5. Pray that God will give you bravery when you need it most.