Trust like Gideon

Trust like Gideon

     One thing this Covid -19 virus has taught me is that we don't need more. We think having more will make us happy. This is due to impact bias. It's a falliable belief that we can predict our future emotional states. 

     I knew someone that would trade in their old car for a new one every few months. Why? They predicted getting a new car would give them the same level of happiness buying the initial car did. It turns out the more you have, the more you want, and that leaves us very unsatisfied. 

     This reminds me of Gideon and the battle against the Midianites. He kept adding and adding to his army. Bigger is better, right?

     God told Gideon that his army was too big. I know what you're thinking. How can any army be too big? God wanted the Midianites to know it wasn't an army that defeated them, it was God.

     God told Gideon to make his army smaller. Gideon obeyed. He trusted God, despite how ridiculous it sounded. He went from an army of thousands to mere hundreds.

     Upon spying on the Midianites, Gideon heard one of the soldiers share a nightmare he had about someone throwing bread into the camp and all the tents falling over. The Midianites thought this was a sign that Gideon and his men would defeat them.

     Gideon took this news back to his army. He ordered his soldiers to charge into the Midianite camp with trumpets, pitchers, and torches. They blew their trumpets and smashed their pitchers. The Midianites got scared and ran!

     Did Gideon need an outlandish army to defeat the Midianites? No, he needed to trust God. Sometimes, we feel like we don't have enough. It's because we compare ourselves to others. There will always be someone who has it better than us. There will always be something we want because we think it will make us happy! A newer car, a bigger house, nicer clothes, a better job. 

     In times of uncertainty, we must trust God even more. HE will take care of us. HE will meet our needs. Maybe not on our terms, but definitely on HIS.

     

This quote from Charles Swindoll says it best: 

"We must cease striving and trust God to provide what HE thinks is best and in whatever time HE chooses to make it available. But this type of trusting doesn't come naturally. It's a spiritual crisis of the will in which we must choose to exercise faith."