Preparation #43 GIDEON
Brian Kocourek
Beginnings in obscurity
It is
interesting to note that great men often seem to spring forth suddenly into
public notice and renown from the deepest privacy and obscurity.
There was
no gradual dawn of events that proclaimed their approach;
These me
came forth in their time and generation, because the world needed them.
The world
did not know of their existence until they came forth ready to teach, lead and
deliver.
Ø
So
was the coming of Elisha, who emerged from among the seven thousand
faithful but unknown men, not one of whom was known to Elijah.
Ø
John
the Baptist came up out of the Wilderness
Ø
Moses
invaded the frightened court of Egypt from the backside of the desert.
Ø
Gideon
is first seen in a kind of hiding place, where he was engaged in the ordinary
duties of the farm. He was threshing wheat behind a wine-press to escape the
notice of his country’s enemies, who now possessed the land. Here was secrecy
added to obscurity.
Many of
his countrymen, passed the lonely wheat thresher and and
had no clue that he was to be the deliverer of their nation. They might have
seen that he was industrious but that was the all they knew of him. They never
saw what God saw in him, but that didn't mean that it was not there.
Truly we are made to
stand in awe as we see this strange procession out of obscurity into publicity,
renown and greatness.
THE CALLING
The Lord
does not lay His hand upon men who are lazy, indolent and regarded as failures
in life. We have all seen such persons in the ministry, but that fact was no
proof that God had placed them there. There was a young man one time who was asked why he
wanted to become a minister in his church, and he replied, “I've tried
everything and failed in everything, and now I feel this must mean that I am called
to the ministry.” The Elder in the church
said, “I can not believe that a man who has been a failure in everything
all his life could, with any propriety or truth, construe that to be a call to
preach the gospel.” I knew of a man who
wanted to be a preacher because he didn't want to work a job. I offered him a
job a couple of times and he refused because it would have been too much
stress, and he couldn't take stress. AND HE WANTS TO BE A PASTOR? HAH!
While we
do believe God can and does use disaster and defeat in a man’s life in order to
whip him into duty, yet we also believe that the men whom God selects to
stand for and spread His holy truths possess those attributes of head and heart
which would have made them succeed in business or other occupations had He not
called them into His service.
Look how
industrious brother Branham was. He worked hard and even promised his father in
law that he would work till his hands bled for Hope.
Therefore we can see that the Lord lays
His hands upon industrious and faithful men when choosing prophets, apostles
and his five-fold ministry.
Ø Moses was taken from his flocks,
Ø David from the sheepfold.
Ø Elisha was plowing when the mantle of Elijah
fell upon him.
Ø Peter, John and James were fishing when
Jesus summoned them to follow Him.
Ø Matthew was busy in his office as a
tax-gatherer when the call of Heaven come.
Ø Even Jesus was a carpenter until the time
that God called Him forth to begin His ministry.
Ø And we shall see this morning that Gideon
was a farmer, threshing wheat when the Angel of the Lord appeared to him.
The world is no
different. It uses the same principles as God did.
Ø
The great Roman
general Cincinnatus was called from his farm to come
and defend his country.
Ø
George Washington
was called from his estate where he worked as a surveyor.
Ø
Abraham Lincoln
was called from his law office.
Ø
And anyone can
tell you that it is much easier to get a job when you already have a job.
The same principle
applies in the ministry today as it always has. The man who is busy for God,
keeps receiving fresh calls for service, and finds in doing so a steady
increase in grace, liberty, power and honor all along the way.
*** This is a principle that we should study
faithfully.
Ø
The Scriptures
tell us to "do with our might what our hands find to do",
and "to be always abounding in the work of the Lord
forasmuch as we know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord".
Ø Even Jesus said, "he who is faithful in
small matters will be counted worthy of receiving that which is greater and
more honorable. This, then, explains why the Lord, when selecting a
deliverer for Israel, did not go to some thriftless, shiftless character, but
came to a man who was busily threshing wheat on his farm.
We hear the parable of the ant, in PROVERBS 6:4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber
to thine eyelids. 5 Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand [of
the hunter], and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. 6
¶ Go to the ant, thou sluggard;
consider her ways, and be wise: 7
Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 8 Provideth her
meat in the summer, [and] gathereth her food in the
harvest. 9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when
wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? 10 [Yet] a little sleep, a little slumber, a
little folding of the hands to sleep:
11 So shall thy poverty come as
one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
We hear our end-time
Elijah prophet tell us …SERPENT'S SEED 58-0928E
042 A
little poem, that used to help me so much when I was a kid, goes something like
this:
There was a noble
Roman,
In the Roman Emperor's
days;
Who heard a coward
croaker,
Before the castle say:
Oh, it's safe in such
a Fir tree,
There's no one can
shake it.
'Oh, no,' said the
hero,
'I'll find a way or
make it.'
There you are. That's
right.
The
Bible tells us that certain men "are fitted to destruction", but it
also let's us know that others are ordained or,
"fitted to Glory".
ROMANS
After
God calls a man into His service, He
proceeds to fit him for his special ministry. This is God's way, His Divine
order and plan. All who have ever been used by God will tell you that long
before their service to God began, their lives were one big preparation of
trials and tests. A part of Gideon’s
preparation had come in his previous faithful life; but the demands to be made
upon him were to be of such a magnitude that he still needed more to be done
for him — and So God did that too.
We
find that Gideon waited upon the Lord with a sacrifice, and, while presenting
it, the fire of heaven fell on the gift. Gideon was permitted to look upon and
talk with the angel, who was none other than the Lord. Like Abraham, Moses and
Jacob he spoke face to face with God. In his job interview, the Lord unfolded
His plan of making him the deliverer of His people
The
bride of Christ has this promise from God as well. We have seen him face to
face in this hour. We have heard his voice, and we have a commission from Him
that we are no longer called church, but we are now called his Bride.
In
these scenes, we recognize the striking facts of humility, worship and
sacrifice on the part of man; and, finally, acceptance, communion,
commissioning-empowering and the face of God Himself, His very preresence with the man. The last is specially significant. If we
are to be unmoved by the faces of men, we must first look on the face of God.
We must go forth with the assurance of
the presence of the Lord, if we would stand as we should before the
Pharaohs of this world; and we must get our message and power from personal
communion with the Almighty if we are not to be overwhelmed by the majorities
of earth.
Moses looked on the
face of God, and after that stood up
against the rebellious and angry tribes of
Paul met Christ on
His road to
The disciples had been
called years before from their fishing, and, later, were told of the great work
in the world which awaited them. The command given to them was to “Tarry”
for the promise. They did so, and it came! Came with flames of fire and the
conscious-burning presence of the Holy Ghost. After that no one could
stop their forward movement. Commanded to cease from preaching, they
preached the more. Beaten and scourged, they rejoiced that they were
counted worthy to suffer shame for His sake. Put in prison, they sang at
The preparation in
their case was not the seven years in
a cemetery learning a few dead languages, but the speaking with the wisdom
of Heaven. It was not the gazing upon and listening for four years to some
be-spectacled professors talking about certain “ologies,”
excellent as all these studies are; but they had looked on the face of Him
who had made all things, and they knew Him, had spoken with Him as friend with
friend, and had received His truth and Spirit and power.
Brother Branham said, BE
NOT AFRAID IT IS I 62-0629 063 The trouble of it is today, when
a boy gets a call of God in his heart, filled with the Holy Ghost, and he goes
off to some of these cemeteries, or seminaries, or what (Excuse me.)... Anyhow,
he goes off there in that refrigerator, and they take out of him everything
that God put in him. That's right. I
believe the hour has come... I disagree with these big schools of theology
building today. We're talking about the coming of the Lord right at hand, and
building big schools and everything. Why, our own actions speaks louder than
our words. How could we be putting so much in buildings, and so forth, and
great schools, and so forth, and saying the Lord's a-coming? I say this: As
soon as God lights the candle, take off. If you don't know no more, just tell
them how it got lit. That's all. Let them get lit, and they'll tell somebody
else, and we'll have a candle-lighting time. That's what we need anyhow,
instead of so much theology: candle lighting. Just tell how it got lit. Just...
that's all you have to tell. Don't try to preach it; just say how it got lit.
"I got filled with something that's--that's burning me up." That's
all. Just tell about the lighting time, how it got lit, and it'll give the
light as it burns down. Let that one lights another one; and then he tell how
it lit, and he tell how it lit. There'll be a light around here after while if
we just tell that much.
When Gideon had been
told of his wonderful work, he in wisdom waited on God with his sacrifice.
Then came the fire, and the divine manifestation, and after that the true labor
of his life commenced. He looked
upon the face of the Lord, felt His burning presence, and now could go to the
work God has appointed him with victory already in his heart, and conscious
that through His grace and glory he will overthrow every opposition that hell
can possibly bring against him. This is God’s preparation.
Therefore we see two
forms of preparation here. The first is the man preparing himself for Life by
working hard and doing the very best he can in everything he does. The next is
God's preparing His servant for the specific call. God Gives him a special gift
which is the greatest gift of all, being able to get out of the way. PROVING HIS WORD 64-0816 133 "What
is a gift, Brother Branham, " It's something you know how to get yourself
out of the way. See? As long as you're there, it'll never work. William Branham
is the greatest enemy I got. See? But when I get him out of the way (See?),
then Jesus Christ can use the body. See?
GOD'S STRATEGY
One of the
most daring and remarkable acts of Gideon, which his countrymen gave him credit
for having planned, was a night attack upon the altar and grove of Baal. When
the people awoke the next morning they beheld, with amazement, the prostrate
trees, the demolished sanctuary of Baal, while the altar of God had been placed
back upright. It was all attributed to
Gideon; and yet we have only to glance at the Scripture to see that such a
thing had not occurred to him at all, but he only obeyed directions given him
personally by the Lord that very night.
God said, ISAIAH 55:8 For my
thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the
LORD. 9 For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
THE SET - UP
A vast
army of Midianites gathered against
Every true
follower of Christ knows what it is to be suddenly confronted at times with
what can be called “terrible odds.” A work becomes colossal, temptations
increase, trials multiply, friends fall away and adversaries gather in number
and become persistent in their attacks upon character, reputation, happiness
and usefulness. The temptation is sore
at such an hour to give up the combat and go back to privacy and obscurity. The
heart grows faint and sick sometimes as we note the grasshopper multitude,
count the camels, mark the tented plain and see the valleys choked up with the
enemies of God and the soul. So many are against the Lord and His cause and so
few are for Him. So many do not believe in or care for us; so few stand by us
in real heart affection and spirit loyalty. There is no doubt that at these
times the child of God would go down; but at such a crisis something happens
which means present deliverance and future victory. The Bible says when
the enemy comes in like a flood then there shall be lifted up a standard
against him. The relief and rescue in Gideon’s case was the sudden
coming upon him of the Spirit of God.
Therefore I wish to
introduce to you another principle for your daily walk. When the odds seem to
become to great against you, then is the time to look for god's presence to
step on the scene. when the enemy comes in like
a flood the Spirit of the Lord shall be lift up a standard against him. What is that? I the
Lord will be there myself to vouchsafe your safety. It will always be so to the faithful follower
of Christ. The promise is that as our days demand so shall our strength be.
When Gethsemane and its loneliness and bloody sweat also comes its an angel to
stand by us. When a Red Sea with tossing billows will appear to block our
progress, God presence is there to bring deliverance by which the waves are
split, a path is made bare and we cross over safe and dry-shod. The sight of difficulties and great majorities
are evidently granted unto us in order to drive us closer to the Lord. In some way relief and deliverance will come
to the man of God who is confronted by terrible odds. The Spirit will come
afresh upon the clinging, dependent and discouraged soul, and where just before
panic and defeat seemed imminent and certain,
behold! there is suddenly increased power and overwhelming victory.
THE FAILURE OF SIGNS
What is
there in the human heart which seeks after signs from Heaven rather than to
rest upon the Word and faithfulness of God?
Gideon had been told that he should be the deliverer of Israel. The
Spirit had fallen upon him. God had promised him that his presence will not
depart from him, He said, “I will be with thee;” and yet here he
was begging for a few paltry signs to be granted to his eyes, though the Lord
Himself had spoken through his ears to his soul. The word of the God was not
enough for this man. If he could just see some fleece drenched through and
through with water, while the ground was dry all around, then he felt he could
go forward and do the will of God. A little wet wool would be so convincing to
the judgment, so vitalizing and inspiring to the faith that, after that, he
would be able to go out and meet a perfect multitude of the Midianites!
So the dampened fleece was given by God whose word, by this new condition or
requisition, was now distrusted and discounted. But it all ended as anyone
could have predicted who has studied the nature and history of signs. Full of
inward shame and condemnation Gideon came to God again with the words, “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.” God, who was doubted
again, saw to it that a few locks of wool was dry in the morning while the
earth all about it was wet. What a soul-inspiring, majestic spectacle that
bunch of wool must have been to Gideon! Does anyone really think so? He had again
demanded in his unbelief something else than the word of God to help him
discharge his duty, and we doubt not that
when his hand touched the wool his own soul was as dry as the fleece before
him.
So the second sign
failed also, as can be seen a little further on in the Bible narrative, where
God, seeing the sinking heart of His servant, bade him go down at night in the
camp of the Midianites and get the assurance of his
coming victory from the lips of the enemy themselves. This was the third sign.
The wool manifestation, wet or dry, had come to naught, just as God knew it
would. The whole demand for signs springs from unbelief. I've got nothing
against little tokens along the way of life by which God confirms to the
obedient man that he is in the path of duty. But I am referring to a spirit of
doubt that will not take God’s word nor move forward as He directs without some
peculiar display of the divine presence and power, which in our conceit we
dictate to the Lord and also decide as to its fashion, form and continuance.
Jesus Himself spoke
out against this when He said, “Except ye see signs and wonders ye will
not believe.” And again He rebuked Israel when he said, “This nation
seeketh after a sign.” And when the Pharisees
demanded, “Give us a sign,” he sighed and said, “No sign shall be
given.”
IThe Lord seeks to bring His followers into a life of such
faith in Him that they will not ask nor care for strange sights and sounds. It
should be Sufficient for us that Christ tells us a certain thing, or bids us to
do this or that. We should believe and obey; trust and go forward; and rest on
His Word, and we should know that nothing shall offend, shake or move us. Such
a life glorifies God, and He will see to it that it also glorifies the soul. That is why brother Branham said the greatest
gift is to get ourselves out of the way. That let's you know God is in control.
The Scriptures tell us
a centurion came to Jesus saying, “Lord, my servant lieth
at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. But I am not worthy that Thou shouldst come under my roof; speak the word only and my
servant shall be healed.” These words not only made Jesus marvel, but
caused Him great joy. Turning to those who followed Him He said: “I have not
found so great faith; no, not in Israel.” This man asked for no sign, and
didn't even request Christ’s presence at his house. His entreaty was, “Speak
the word only!” This was the perfection of faith. If we want to please God
we must throw away every doubt when He has spoken; quit asking for strange
tokens and wonders; and, resting on His word, say, “No matter what happens, I
believe God; and though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”
PERFECT.FAITH.title JEFF.IN V-6 N-11
63-0825E 061
Oh, where should we be? There's perfect faith. No vision, "Just
speak the Word," never saw the squirrel. He just said this Scripture, what
it was, and "Speak it, and don't doubt it; but what you say, it'll be
there." And I took God at His Word, and it was there. That's right. That's
just as powerful... And friend, as your pastor, that's just as powerful as it
was when Joshua stopped the sun; because the sun was already there; the
elements was moving, and he stopped the movement. But this, He brought
something there that wasn't there; He created. I'm so glad to be acquainted
with the God that can take this dust of the earth, someday without anything and
call me back to life again that's...?... after I been planted in the grave. Oh,
my. There it is.
My
faith looks up to Thee Thou Lamb of
Calvary, You say and don't doubt, but believe that
what you've said, you shall have what you said. See, believe that it'll happen.
As we taught a few
weeks ago, brother Branham taught us that to lay hands on the sick is a Hebrew
tradition, so we should be beyond that. "Just speak the Word and my
servant will be healed. We should be healed by the Spoken Word."
THE SIFTING PROCESS
Gideon
had, after his summons, only thirty-two thousand three hundred men to oppose an
army vastly larger. Hopelessly inadequate even as that number seemed, yet the
Lord informed His servant that he had too many. He also knew of elements of
weakness and defeat in the band that Gideon did not and could not know. So the
Lord had the following test made: Let all that are fearful of heart return
home, whereupon twenty-two thousand church letters were immediately called for,
and as promptly given.
This was a
wonderful numerical landslide, a fearful defection, and really showed the fear
among God’s people. Two out of every three in the army of Israel were
cowards. I have no doubt that if a
similar test were applied to the church today, it would empty most of the pews
and pulpits in the land. Moreover, but would this be a weakening of the church?
Or a strengthening of the cause of Christ. If two-thirds of the people in the
church today were out of it, it would be better for the church and better for
the world as well.
A preacher
once reported that his appointment as Pastor of a certain church had been
blessed with a gracious and powerful revival. When he was asked how many
members he had received during this revival; he replied, he had lost three hundred, and it was the
greatest revival that had ever visited that church. The first sifting of
Gideon’s army through the power of fear was followed by another test that went
still deeper in the character. This next test sent ten thousand more fell out
of the ranks, leaving only three hundred men to face the Midianite
army.
This same
double sifting was also seen among the disciples of Christ. The first falling
away was beheld when He began to go deeper in spiritual things. So many left that Christ asked the twelve if they
would also forsake Him.
The second sifting was
after the Resurrection. He had met five hundred of His followers in a mountain
of Galilee. The Baptism of the Holy Ghost hat not yet taken place. It was to
occur in Jerusalem. The Savior’s command was that they should tarry there for
it. And yet, when that wonderful blessing took place, only one hundred and
twenty of the five hundred were present. Three hundred and eighty would not
find it convenient to leave their employments and homes and wait for the
promise of the Father. It's heartbreaking to see the sifting process going on
in a church, because some fall away because of a sermon, others become angry over some form of church
order, and still others find objections to the length or freedom of the
services. Still others fall away because of the use of different bibles or song
books or such menial reasons as that. And so the separation steadily goes on
like a dividing current.
The same sifting took
place in this Message. Some followed men rather than Christ; some switched off
on what they called non-essential doctrines; some backslid under persecution;
some were cowed into silence; while still others take up erroneous teaching,
get side-tracked, and then off the track, down the hill, in the woods, with the
locomotive on its back and wheels still going, but getting nowhere.
It would be a great
experience never to be forgotten to revisit the scene of a great revival a year
or so after it comes. It would take fifty policemen and a board of detectives
to find the original company and get them together again. And, even if the
physical reassembling were possible, other things far more important would have
vanished in the way of faith, love, brotherly kindness and godliness never to
return. No amount of preaching, praying and singing seem to be able to restore
the glow and glory or reproduce former scenes of grace, together with the
tremendous conviction as well as power which rested upon the congregation. Some
have had their feeling hurt, some are mad, some have “modified their views,”
some have gone into “deeper truths,” as they call them; some are writing,
talking and preaching about “deeper deaths,” and thereby have discounted the
doctrine of Christ's Presence, which the Bible tells us is the crowning
ministry of grace; some have gone into sin; and so, in different ways, the
blessed, beautiful, glorious work of revivals past has been smitten, scattered,
and, in most places, utterly wiped out.
In
this message God granted us a small revival in the early 80's. As a pastor in
this Message I have seen The Spirit of God give victory over every kind of
opposition, and the church was a daily scene of power, praise, liberty and
salvation. Many would come and tell me they felt like they were being born
again; all over again. Then shortly after those early conventions where
hundreds came together, other meeting were held. Men rose up whose sermons
became filled with scathing abuse and warnings to stay away from those Parousia
guys. . It seemed to be the signal for the incoming of every discordant and
dividing spirit. Some preachers changed their views, Some returned to their old
Pentecostal ideas, others went into error. Bickering sprang up. Fanaticism
showed its face. Open Sin re-inscribed its name on the register for rooms and
the Devil sent in his card. The result of it all was that today there is
scarcely a deader place, religiously, than the Message churches. These are
instances of “a falling away,” that the scripture warned us would take place,
and yet they are no disproof of the doctrine of this end-time Prophet, but are
illustrations of the weakness of human nature and the power of the devil in this
world over even good people. We can imagine how Christ’s heart was torn when He
witnessed the wholesale departures and desertions from Himself.
On one occasion He
said: “Were there not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” And so great was the
defection among His followers that He asked the twelve if they were going also.
Peter, replying for them, said “No.” And yet it was not long after that that
the Savior listened to the sound of these same disciples’ feet as they fled
down the road, leaving Him in the hands of His enemies. No, the thinning out
and falling away in any case is no reflection on the divine grace and truth,
whether of doctrine or experience; but is a revelation of the power of the
Sifting Process when applied to poor humanity. Let every man be a liar, Christ
is true; always has been and always will be. He is the same yesterday, today
and forever.
THE THREE HUNDRED
The people
of Israel might well have been discouraged at the sight of the rapid melting
away of Gideon’s army if they had not had to steady and gladden them the
spectacle of the faithful “three hundred” who would not leave the field, but
stood true to God and their leader in face of everything. And so we might well
be downcast over the coldness, indifference, backsliding, side-tracking and
actual derailment that we see taking place in so many different directions, if
we did not observe just as unmistakably the faithfulness of Christian
individuals and the steadfastness of those little bands of true and tried ones
who survive and remain after every revival, no matter what stand the community
takes or how many of the congregation grow cold and go back to the world. These
are members of the “ Three Hundred Brotherhood,” who never stop to count
numbers or consider the magnitude of the opposition, but simply ask what is
right, and then stand or go forward just as God directs. We may say what we
will about all men being the same and all souls being alike. In one sense they
are equally precious in their immortality, but, after that, there is a
marvelous difference. One man is worth more to the cause of God than another.
One person has more magnetism, influence and aggressiveness than another, One
individual has often done what a whole congregation was not able to perform.
Now, when, in addition to these natural powers, the man is filled with the Holy
Ghost, the Bible itself declares the spiritual rank or ratio in the statement
that one is equal to a thousand. The “Three Hundred” of Gideon did easily what
the fearful “twenty-two thousand,” who departed in a hurry for home, could not
possibly have done. Many hundreds of years have passed away since that time,
but the Three Hundred still remain. The Brotherhood has been perpetuated. Their
spiritual posterity lives after them.
The tenth leper who returned
to give thanks to Christ for his healing was a member of this mystic devoted
band. The one hundred and twenty who took time to leave farm, shop and
fishing-boat and wait for the Baptism with the Holy Ghost in Jerusalem belonged
to this blessed Fraternity of the wholly consecrated. John and Peter, lingering
in the court-yard when Jesus was being tried and scourged, and Paul and Silas,
singing and praising with bloody backs in a midnight prison, were captains in
that noble company of the Three Hundred that is seen in every age and country,
no matter who is the king nor how the law reads, whether for or against them.
As seen down to the present time the Three Hundred is a band of faithful souls
who cannot be driven from truth and duty nor coaxed or sopped into compromise
and sin. Men may come and men may go, but they keep on forever.
The writer, in common
with other Evangelists and pastors, has seen much of his work scattered and
destroyed; but, with them, he can also say that he never revisited a place
where there had been a genuine revival but he would find a band of men and
women, a little company of faithful ones, who had weathered the storm, outlived
the pestilence, survived the persecution, remained firm in the falling away and
kept their hearts like a watered garden in the midst of general spiritual
drought and deadness. Such spectacles prove the truth of the doctrine, the
genuineness of the experience of holiness and the possibility of human
faithfulness under any and all kind of adverse conditions, provided Christ is
allowed to remain in the heart. So these true and tried individuals, these
faithful little bands, these struggling small companies of Holiness people
become a text and sermon, as well as an inspiration besides, to all who are
doubting, hesitating, reeling and ready to fall. They demonstrate by their
lives that what they have stood and done we can stand and do. If they can
endure and survive the shock of temptation, the loneliness of a devoted
Christian life, the venom of slander, the laugh of ridicule and the blow of
misrepresentation and hate, — then all of us can do the same. The living
illustration becomes then an appeal to arise, move against the walled cities
and possess the land.
In conclusion, we
thank God for Israel’s “Seven Thousand,” for Gideon’s “Three Hundred,” for
Pentecost’s “One Hundred and Twenty” and for all the faithful followers of
Christ today, whether they reach the number of hundreds in a great City
Tabernacle, dedicated to Full Salvation, or are a despised little Corporal’s
Guard worshipping in a dingy mission room or hall, or whether the “Three
Hundred” is seen sifted down to the solitary individual living the life of
holiness alone in a cold fashionable church or in the midst of an
unsympathetic, worldly family circle.
God
be thanked for the Three Hundred, and, above all, for that Spirit of Grace and
Truth who calls out the Three Hundred from the great ranks and bodies of men
and causes them to stand true to God and themselves in the face of all the
opposing thousands and millions of earth.
CHAPTER 9
THE MIDIANITISH TENT
The Lord
is exceedingly pitiful and kind to His servants. He is mindful of the failing
body and the sinking heart. He steps in at critical times and shows the divine
omniscience as well as love in sudden reliefs and
assistances that came, as His people afterward declare in commenting upon them,
just at the very moment most needed. So the Lord finds the despondent Elijah
under the Juniper Tree, diagnoses the case, sees that an exhausted body has
much to do with the prophet’s discouragement, and so sends an angel to prepare
him a meal lets his tired servant go to sleep, wakes him up to eat a second
time and then sends him on his way to duty. The man had asked for death and the
Lord sent him a breakfast and an angel to cook it. The whole scene translated
into language meant, “Live and not die.”
The same
observant God knew that Gideon’s army, now reduced to three hundred, looked so
diminutive and incapable in comparison with the black masses of the Midianites that were covering the hills and choking the
valleys, that He had to do something to rally, cheer and strengthen the
drooping heart of His servant. So He said to him: “If thou fear, go thou with Phurah, thy servant, down to the host and thou shalt hear
what they say; and afterwards shall thine hands be strengthened.”
Drawing
near one of the tents in the darkness, Gideon, crouching in the gloom, heard a
soldier talking to another in the night. He was telling him a dream which had
greatly troubled him. He said that he saw a cake of barley bread tumble into
the host of Midian, smite a tent and knock it flat.
Whereupon his aroused companion said: “This is nothing else save the sword of
Gideon — for into his hand hath God delivered Midian
and all the host.”
One can imagine the profound effect this
remarkable speech must have made upon the listening warrior outside in the
shadows of the night. Who wonders the Bible says that “he worshipped;” that he
returned to his little army and said, “Arise, for the Lord hath delivered into
your hands the host of Midian?”
The whole scene is
full of significance and suggestion. The talk in the Midianitish
tent is still going on, still overheard and, to this day, still a great factor
in the success and victories of God’s people. Many of us are permitted to go
down and hear what our foes are saying. And, to our amazement, we have
discovered again and again that they recognized God’s possession of our lives,
realized our full strength and were themselves already defeated in heart.
We have overheard the
talk in the tents of the world and found that, in spite of their swarming
numbers, sounding trumpets, gay processions and flashing accouterments, that
sinners are anxious, disquieted and miserable. With all their bluster and show
they confess that they rush to every place of amusement to drown thought and
forget care; that they drink, revel and travel not only to get rid of heart
burdens, but to obtain deliverance from themselves. They are also overheard to
say that their plans, hopes and ambitions have been failures, that they are
disappointed in life and that the Christian course is the best for anyone and
everyone.
We never heard such
admissions, but, like Gideon, we worshipped and felt our hands and hearts
strengthened for mightier achievements for Christ and His blessed cause. The Midianite Tent is found in the ranks of Formal Worship.
Such formalists affect to be satisfied with stately ceremonies and declare
against all “excitement,” as they call it, in the religious life. On a certain
occasion hundreds of this class of people, cultured, intellectual and
respectable every way, were gathered in one of their annual
ecclesiastical-social assemblies. Among the groups was one composed of several
of the very foremost of the church. They were discussing a neighboring
congregation which enjoyed and was pressing the blessing of holiness. These men
were in the famous Midianitish Tent, and one,
speaking to another, said, “They may not suit our ideas, but one thing is
certain, that God is with them and they are getting people saved at all of
their services.” A heartsick follower of the Lord, sitting near, overheard the
words, worshipped God, returned to the company to which he belonged and said to
them, in substance: “Arise, for God will give us the land.”
A Bishop was
addressing the class for admission into conference, on Saturday morning, when
he said to the row of young ministers before him: “From my soul I pity a
preacher who has to stand before persons in his congregation who have a deeper
religious experience than himself.” There were some in the audience that day
who had been abused and ridiculed unmercifully for claiming the blessing of
heart purity. As this Bishop, who was not a believer in the second work of
grace, uttered the words mentioned above they felt that a whisper had floated
out from the Midianitish Tent and it had made them
wonderfully stronger for having been heard. Time would fail to enumerate the
instances in the lives of our readers when, tempted to disparage one’s own self
and work and to magnify out of all truthful proportion the opposition of men
and the influence of devils, God would in some way bring the Midianitish Tent around, and lo! such confessions were
heard of felt weakness, such anticipations breathed of coming defeat, such
commendations spoken of the supposedly absent man or men and their work as to
fairly electrify the drooping spirit and send the now enthused soul back with
redoubled energy and courage to the field of conflict and duty. The writer of
these lines makes humble as well as grateful acknowledgments to God for the
power for good over his life of the Midianitish Tent.
He rejoices and praises God for the miracle of the wet fleece, and for the
words “I will be with thee;” but he has also abundant cause for thanksgiving
for the whispers which the Lord has allowed to come wafted in the most
unexpected way through the night to his ears from the tabernacles and tents of Midian.
CHAPTER 10
THE WEAPONLESS BATTALION
It
is noticeable that the Three Hundred went into the battle against Midian without a single instrument of war. There is no
mention made of their having anything in their hands but pitchers, lamps and
trumpets, and none of these are considered military weapons by any country or
in any age. While it may seem that later the company had swords and spears,
yet, if it was so, they must have taken them from the hands of the slain Midianites or as they found them scattered by the fugitives
along the road and over the plain. The point we make is that they went forth to
battle and achieved a stupendous victory without the use of sword, javelin,
battle-axe or any engine of war. It requires some Christians quite a time to
learn this wonderful secret, that in the holy life we need no carnal weapons for
attack or defence. We are apt to enter Canaan with
the knowledge and customs of Egypt and the Wilderness still clinging to us, and
so we repose for awhile great measures of confidence in the bow and arrow and
the horse and chariot. As the Israelites never dreamed of walls falling down
before a shout and armies vanquished by harp playing and singing, so we enter
upon the life of holiness with lingering beliefs in the power and efficiency of
great arguments, scathing articles, stinging repartees and severe retaliation,
with all other human and carnal methods which we think necessary to protect
ourselves, advance God’s cause and bring confusion to the ranks of His and our
enemies.
It grows with an increasing wonder upon
the spiritual man that the success he craves does not come, and never will
come, by the use of carnal weapons. Little by little the repeated statements of
the Bible, and continually fulfilled before his eyes, settles in the form of a
sweet and strong persuasion of the heart that he is perfectly safe in God and
can be nothing but a victor over every kind of foe so long as he remains in
God. Hence it is that genuinely godly
people are not upset by attacks of tongue and pen, and go on in their work
without rushing before the public in self-defense or with measures of
retaliation. It is perfectly marvelous to see how God can and does defend His
own. He has pledged Himself to do so. He has said, “No weapon formed against
thee shall prosper.” The word “deliver” is constantly used in regard to the divine
rescue of soul and body from the hands of men and devils. That is a remarkable
speech of Christ where He declares that “They who live by the sword shall
perish by the sword.” This saying can be legitimately lifted from the military
world and applied to those who are always contending, snapping, snarling,
criminating, insinuating, slandering and abusing their fellow beings. They will
go down by just such weapons as they have pitilessly used on others.
A still more wonderful
utterance is to be found in the Psalms in the words, “Mine eyes are ever toward
the Lord; therefore shall He deliver my feet from the net.” Here is a man who
has had laid for him all kinds of traps, pitfalls and engines of cruelty and
destruction. Instead of studying the topography of the country, securing a
guide, taking a stick and probing the ground before him, the assailed
individual turns his gaze upward and fixes his eyes on the Lord. He is not
looking at his own feet nor walking the dangerous ground, but contemplating the
God of Heaven. He acts as if he had no feet to guard or as if there was no
danger before him. The whole proceeding appears foolish and even suicidal to
the careful, calculating, prudent man of the world; and yet the highest wisdom,
the divinest philosophy is in the whole course. The
argument is, because my whole attention is given to God, my love, thought,
labor, life, all fixed upon Him; “therefore!” will He devote His observation,
love and power upon me. As our eyes are turned toward His face, His eyes are directed
toward our feet. We have committed our all to Him, and He will save us from
every evil word and work, from every false friend and open foe, and, in a word,
from every pit that may be dug for our steps before our unobservant vision. Our
eyes are on Him and His eyes are on us. What need of sword and cannon, of
horses and chariots. What necessity for cuts and slaps, for crimination and
recrimination, for explanation and retaliation? If we have elevated God as
supreme in our hearts and lives, He will elevate us. “And now,” says David,
“shall mine head be lifted up above all mine enemies.”
We never knew a man
who was a dweller in the Canaan life to forget these things and take up carnal
weapons but would realize immediate loss in his soul and get worsted in his
encounters with men. It was God’s way of reminding him that he must not trust
in the bow or spear nor go down to Egypt for help, nor hire armies from Syria.
The reassuring word is, “The Lord is my defence. The
Lord is my shield and buckler. The Lord is my fortress and deliverer; my
buckler and the Lord of my salvation and my high tower.” Recently, at a
meeting, we heard a preacher confess to having lost the blessing of
sanctification. His explanation was that he had been fearfully persecuted, and,
before he knew it, he had taken up arms in self-defense, got to striking back,
and so lost the sweetness and power, and, finally, the whole blessing of
sanctification. Mr. Wesley was advised once to defend himself from certain
attacks. His reply was that he was perfectly confident that the God, who had
taken care of him thus far, could also preserve his reputation. History has
thoroughly vindicated the truth of his statement.
Numbers of times the
writer has started to answer attacks of various kinds made upon him by tongue
and pen, and where he could easily have vindicated himself, when suddenly the
recollection of his consecration would come back to him, the memory of a
blessed morning when he had laid everything on the altar, family and friends,
past and future, appointments and reputation, and took God to be his judge,
defender and rewarder in all things. The single swift
thought of that day would cause the pen to be laid aside, the sword fall
quickly into its scabbard, the chariot sent back under the shed and the horses
of war returned in haste to Egypt. God Himself is the best defence
of the Christian. His Word says that He will show Himself strong in behalf of
those who are perfect in heart, and that if our ways please Him He will make
our enemies to be at peace with us, and, better than all, that all things shall
be made to work together for our good if we but love Him.
CHAPTER 11
THE STRANGE INSTRUMENTS OF GOD
Nothing
scarcely is more remarkable than the character of the agencies and
instrumentalities employed by the Almighty for the accomplishment of his
purposes among men. In their selection the Lord sees to it that their very
nature will reveal the power back of them. The manifest inadequacy of the thing
or person used is bound to direct the eye and thought of the observer to God,
and so, of course, the glory and praise travel in the right direction. In
sending a man to talk to a great king and lead a vast body of captive people
out from bondage earthly wisdom would have selected a golden-tongued orator or
a renowned warrior with a sword rivaling that of Richard Couer
de Lion or Saladin, the Arabian prince. Instead of this God chose a man slow of
speech, and, for a wand of authority, let him carry to the court and palace of Pharoah a rod which Moses himself had cut out of a thicket
to guide and protect his flocks.
In another
instance horns were used to knock down the walls of a city; an ox-goad to
secure a nation’s deliverance from bondage; handkerchiefs to carry health to
the sick; while a hammer and nail in a woman’s hand got rid of a great enemy of
Israel whom the army had been powerless to capture and destroy. In the victory
Got proposed giving to Gideon, trumpets, lamps and pitchers were to be used. If
the Midianites could have seen the odd weapons
beforehand what laughter and scorn would have been occasioned. How strange,
even today, appears the peculiar panoply of the “Three Hundred.” It must have
been a great trial of faith to the men themselves as they marched through the
night to their posts with a trumpet in one hand and a pitcher containing a
burning lamp in the other. But God had so commanded through Gideon, and they
obeyed. The Lord has never ceased to work wonders after the same manner. He
uses the ordinary means, but again and again breaks in with instrumentalities
that are extraordinary because of their evident inadequacy.
Let the reader turn to
First Corinthians and read in the first chapter the kind of men God has taken
to confound the world and achieve stupendous victories for the truth, and he is
bound to be impressed and amazed. Paul says “God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the
world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and
things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to
bring to naught things that are; that no flesh should glory in His presence.”
Over and over have we
seen the Spirit of God resting upon and using a man who was uncouth, illiterate,
obscure, unknown, but who was devout and completely given up to the will of
Heaven. We have beheld such men achieve victories and secure wonderful results
where other individuals with scholarship, eloquence and high position had
utterly failed. It was Gideon’s humble soldiers and weapons all over again.
Again we have seen the
pitchers, lamps and trumpets lifted and waved before the eyes of the world, and
used of God today, in a song, a shout, a cry, an amen, a mannerism, a lisp, a
gesture and other simple things, to accomplish what could not be done or was
not done by practiced anthems, labored discourses and learned volumes.
According to old-time methods an ordinary lamp in a homely pitcher sent a panic
to the heart of a great congregation. A piece of common goods brought health to
a big church or community. There was a plain-looking hammer in the pulpit that
day and not much was expected, but God supplied the nail, and the man struck
the truth and drove conviction through head and heart and fastened his hearers
to the altar and to the floor.
Again, we have seen a mere stick of a man as to
outward polish or inward gifts. He was no scholar, had no remarkable natural
endowments, but was endued with the Holy Ghost; and we have noticed that when
he lifted his voice in prayer, testimony, song or preaching, somehow the fire
fell and ran along among the people as in the days of Moses. Let it not be
supposed that the Lord despises and discounts great natural gifts, intellectual
ability and acquisitions of knowledge. The trouble is that most of such endowed
people will not allow God to use them. Then another difficulty is that, even
when such individuals are surrendered to the Lord’s will and service, outsiders
get the idea that their success and influence springs from their wisdom and
eloquence. Hence it is that God has to break in with his lowly human trumpets,
lamps and pitchers and places
CHAPTER 12
The above
sentence is a simple one and, doubtless, overlooked by many in reading the
history of Gideon’s devoted band, but it is not the less wonderful. The
faithfulness, obedience and courage contained in that single line meant
everything in that famous night conflict, and means as much today.
In order
to surround the vast camp of the Midianites, Gideon’s
Three Hundred could not be deployed in compact ranks, but had to stand far
apart. This meant loneliness and called for individual faithfulness and
personal bravery.
The night
had settled, and, evidently, it was a dark one; a great host was stretched out
before these men; each man had a thousand of the enemy upon his hand; and yet,
in face of the tremendous odds, the natural apprehensions which struggled in
their breasts, they were true and every man stood in his place. May we all
learn the lesson. There is a post of duty for each one of us. God’s Spirit and
Providence will lead us to it and the Lord would have us to remain there. To
leave such a divine appointment and trust is not only disastrous to our own
spiritual life, but it is as direful in its effect upon others. We are placed
there for a blessed purpose. God has need for us at that point. Somebody is to
be cheered, helped and delivered by our consecrated lives. Some evil is to be
met and put down by us. An attack is to be made upon sin wherever it is and the
armies of the aliens put to flight.
Happy for
the man and happy for the world when God can find his servant always at the
post of duty; that when he needs his voice, influence and life and turns to lay
His hand upon him, he is there waiting for the touch and listening for the
call. We wonder how many Christian parents there are who are not in their place
in regard to the duty of family worship. Then there are empty pews in the
church and vacant seats in the prayer-meeting and protracted meeting that
declare the same fact. Besides this, there are men in the practice
of law and medicine and still others in the store and on the farm who ought to
be preachers and missionaries. In a word, the man in not in his place and this
means loss to the cause of God, absence of blessing to the human race and
trouble and judgment to the faithless one himself. The place God calls us to
fill is not always pleasant. It is a station sometimes where darkness abounds,
loneliness is felt, the majority is against us, and the prospect, from a human
standpoint, anything but cheerful, promising and reassuring. And yet right
there the Lord has placed some who read these lines — and right there he wants
them to remain. He knows our frame and just how much we can endure. As the
Captain of the Guard He is making continual rounds. When He comes to visit the
lonely vidette, or relieve by change of post or
circumstance, or promote to Heaven itself, may He find us, as was said of
Gideon’s Band, each one standing faithful and true in his own place.
CHAPTER 13
THE BATTLE AND VICTORY
Who ever
heard or read of such a battle as is here related in the Bible, where three
hundred men actually surrounded or encircled a vast army, taking with them as
weapons of conquest such peaceful, harmless instruments as pitchers, lamps and
trumpets? At a given signal from Gideon every man blew his trumpet, broke his
pitcher, waved his lamp and shouted, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!”
This was all, and anyone can see it was perfectly inadequate in itself to
accomplish what was seen in an immediate, overwhelming victory. Of course a
good deal can be said about the panic created by the sudden blare of three
hundred trumpets, the crash of as many pitchers and the flash of long lines of lights
which seemed to burst out of the darkness on all sides. But a panic will not
make a fleeing army hew itself to pieces; and but for God the multitude of
frightened, maddened Midianites would have run over
Gideon’s little company and trampled that body out of existence, even as a
stampeded herd of buffalo grinds a plain into powder, sweeping all before its
wild, destructive flight, and a mob, in its mad rush under alarm, has trod
hundreds of people to death.
God was in
the awful fear that fell upon the Midianites, and He
was in it to so guide and direct the frantic rush that the three hundred
escaped all harm, while their adversaries drew their swords and slew one
another on every hand.
The ordinary retreat of an army is a
remarkable spectacle, while one conducted under fire is simply dreadful. Even
to read of the evacuation of Moscow by the French army and their flight through
Russia is so full of horror that it never can be forgotten. But the stampede of
the Midianites was especially shocking in that, while
they fled, they kept wounding, striking down and killing one another, until
over one hundred thousand corpses lined the roads and covered the fields. This was a greater fatality than the loss sustained at
Mannasseh, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Shiloh, Corinth
and Fredericksburg, six of the largest battles of the Civil War. The truth
taught in this occurrence is that God can set the enemies of His people
fighting among themselves, a fact not only shown in the Bible, but proved in
history and recognized in our own immediate generation and community. We have
all seen combinations and coalitions formed against devoted servants of God,
and soon after beheld them torn and divided with internal discords, while the
hands once raised in wrath and violence against the Lord’s people were now
turned in bitterness and cruelty against each other. We have gone down among
the adversaries of Holiness and found anything but agreement and peace among
them. Their tongues slash, their pens puncture and their hands wound one another.
There is also discord in the columns of formal and stately ecclesiasticisms.
There is war between the different theologies, creeds and catechisms. There is
bitter rivalry between the church on the street and the one located on the
avenue.
The strife is seen
continued in the ranks of the people who sidetrack on some false conception of
duty or misunderstanding of the Bible or religious experience. Such seceding
bodies always get in time to fighting among themselves, and then the public is
treated to a spectacle of divisions and subdivisions until the heart sickens
and the mathematical faculty fairly reels. The only unity existing in the great
battle against the Midianites was in Gideon’s Band.
That harmony and unification was the great factor in God’s hands of securing
the triumph and of pressing the victory to the very end. We seem slow to learn
Bible teaching and backward in understanding the Spirit; but nothing has been
more plainly taught by the Lord than that He will not go out to battle with a
company of people who are fighting among themselves. This fact alone is
sufficient to justify the prediction of the coming defeat and failure of all
striving bands and bodies. The house divided against itself cannot stand; and
they who use the sword shall perish by the sword.
The
trumpet stands for testimony and the lamp represents the shining life. The two
must go together if we would obtain victory over the hosts of evil against us.
The combination of the two was essential the night of Gideon’s battle, and is
as vitally necessary today. The testimony and life must be seen together in
blessed agreement and fellowship. The one without the other would be like the
lamp without the trumpet, or the trumpet without the lamp, when the charge was
made on the Midianites. It was the two coming
together which brought the confusion, fright, panic, flight and victory, As for
the broken pitchers, they stand for these human vessels of ours which go down
under the fatigue, exhaustion, labors and wounds that come in the service and
the battles of the Lord. The lamp is plainly seen when the pitcher is broken.
That means that, through our toils, sufferings and death, the flame of Truth
and the light of experience in us will flash forth all the more clearly and
powerfully. The self-denials, the cross-bearing, the daily dying, the being
ground to pieces for the truth, humanity and Christ’s sake, are marvelous
crevices and apertures for the glory of God in us to shine through. And it does
gleam forth and men see it: the pitcher is broken, but the lamp is thereby made
visible, the light flashes forth, conviction is awakened, salvation flows and
victory comes.
CHAPTER 14
THE MEN OF NAPHTALI
In the
seventh chapter and twenty-third verse of the Book of Judges we read that when
Gideon, with his chosen band had defeated the Midianites
and the scattered remnants of that army were fleeing for their lives, that then
the men of “Naphtali, Asher and Mannasseh
gathered themselves together and pursued after the Midianites.”
It is difficult to read this without a smile, because it is so like poor,
fallen human nature, and as we see it still today. These were the very people
who, through fear of the Midianitish host, had left
the battlefield and gone home. But now that the enemy had been defeated and was
in full retreat, who so bold as the men of Naphtali!
Here they come! Make way for them! Look how they charge! Did anyone one ever
see the like? How bold they are! How they sweep everything before them! How
they press close upon the fugitives who were already doing their best to get
away! Those wonderful men of war have long ago passed away, but they have left
a numerous posterity behind them whom we cannot fail to recognize.
As seen
today the Naphtalites appear at church when a
difficult protracted meeting has suddenly flowered into a glorious revival. A
faithful little band had held on to God through much surrounding indifference
and opposition and prayed through and over trials of most heart-sickening
nature; moreover, they were allowed to struggle on alone and unaided by
hundreds of the membership who were under as great obligation to obtain the
moral and spiritual victory as themselves; but when the fire fell and the
success of the meeting was unquestionable, here came the absentees in perfect
droves to take part in the triumph. These modern men of Naphtali
declared that they had faith all along that victory would come, and though they
were not present at first in body, yet they were there in spirit from the
beginning, etc., etc.
The Tribe
of Naphtali is seen again when a man succeeds in
life. While the struggle was going on with him and in him to keep his head
above the water, or his feet fixed on slippery ground, not a member of that remarkable tribe could be seen. The lonely struggler
needed sympathy, friendship, affection or material help. He craved these
things, sought for them, but did so in vain, At last the long deferred success
came; victory perched on his banner, and everybody could see that the man had
won in the great battle of life and was now rich or famous in some way, when
lo! and behold! here came the Naphtalites marching
down in crowds to meet the conqueror and offer help where none was needed. Yes
indeed! They had always been his friends! They always said he would come out
all right! They would knock anybody down who dared to say anything against him!
Nor
is this all. Some of them suddenly discovered that they were related to this
life success; others named their babies after him; while still others claimed,
with knowing looks and nods of the head, that they had a great deal to do with
the securing of the success and had also much to do with the making of the man
himself. O these men of Naphtali, Asher and Mannasseh! These people who are missing when we want help
most and who turn up armed to the teeth when we have won the battle and need
assistance now from nobody! Who has not seen them, laughed at them and grieved
over them? And yet, no matter how the glaringly inconsistent life and the true
character become evident to all, yet, as a people, they continue to live and
flourish, leading the van when the retreat is sounded, bringing up the rear
when the advance guard is fighting, plundering the wagon train when the victory
is won and performing in tongue prodigies of valor when the war is all over and
peace has been declared. We once heart it said of a preacher that he was
invisible six days and incomprehensible the seventh. The Naphtalite
is equally remarkable. Invisible when needed; visible when not wanted; a
soldier in time of peace; an absentee in time of war; a toiler when the harvest
has been gathered; and the rest of the time a blusterer and braggadocio when he
has nothing in the world to boast about.
CHAPTER 15
THE HUMILITY OF GIDEON
In little
things the character of men is constantly revealed; the small actions of life
being like crevices in a building through which is seen the light, furniture
and inhabitants within. In the war cry adopted by Gideon, in the proper placing
of the name of God, the man’s self-distrust, his dependence upon God, in a
word, his humility, are all clearly made manifest. The battle-cry was, “The
sword of the Lord and of Gideon.” The Lord was put first, and he placed himself
last. This is not the rule of procedure with very many of God’s people by any
manner of means. As a young preacher we were much struck with letters written
in the various “Advocates” from the different stations and circuits, and it
required quite a little while to understand them. They ran about as follows:
“Mr. Editor. — When I was sent to this charge by the last Conference I found
everything on the circuit in a most lamentable condition. The church buildings
needed repairs, the parsonage was scarcely habitable, the people would not come
to the House of God, quarrels and dissensions abounded and religion was at a
low ebb. “But I at once took hold and went to work, and the results are simply
wonderful. I have repaired two of the church buildings, repainted the parsonage
and held meetings all over the work. I have received many accessions, reorganized
four Sunday-schools and took in three new Sunday afternoon appointments. Nor is
this all. Family altars have been raised, many rcconciliations
effected, the Conference collections doubled, the preacher’s salary paid in
full and the whole work is on fire. Never in all its history has the circuit
been so prosperous; but it cost me the hardest year’s work of my life to bring
it about.
“ ‘To God
be all the glory.’ “ “ I. M. A. Hornblower.”
The last
sentence, “To God be all the glory,” seemed to be a kind of afterthought with
the brother. He came near forgetting that God had done anything
at all, when suddenly it seemed to strike him that it would look better to
acknowledge that God was present in the year’s work, and so the reluctant
sentence, “To God be all the glory.” Different from Gideon’s words, the letter
really read, “The sword of Myself and the lord.” The writer once heard a
gentleman say that he knew a sprightly young man whose father took him into
business with him, giving him a fourth or fifth share of the profits. The sign
in front of the store read, “John Smith & Son.” Needing to be repainted
after a dusty season, it was taken down for repairs. The junior partner, at his
own urgent request, was allowed to superintend the painting; when, to the
astonishment of the father as he came down town next morning, the sign read,
“James Smith & Father.” Of course men would be ashamed to uplift such signs
in the religious life, but their conversations, letters, spirit, manner and
life itself plainly indicate that with them God is the junior member of the
firm. The burden of their talk is not what the Lord did, but what a certain
sermon accomplished, their skill and judgment prevented and wise management and
general ability effected. Then if all these wondrous doings appear in the form
of a public bulletin on the Chanticleer order, some conscientious pangs left in
the breast may occasion the lugging in at the very end of the report the
modest, easily-overlooked sentence, “To God be all the glory!”
The great characters
of the Bible were little in their own sight. Moses could not see why God had
chosen him. Gideon had to have signs and miracles wrought in his sight before
he could believe that he would be a mighty conqueror. The truly great are
always simple, natural, approachable and gracious. Their very greatness enables
them to behold merit in others and at the same time recognize their own
deficiencies. The morally and mentally little man is dreadfully afraid of being
overlooked, and so we behold on his part a swagger, pomposity, and
boastfulness, that, however impressive it may be to the ignorant and
uninitiated, is disgusting to the discriminating and wise. We remember, as a
boy, overlooking the quiet figure of a plainly-dressed general who commanded a
corps of twenty-thousand men, and being deeply impressed and awed by a third
lieutenant, who, richly adorned in tinsel, brass buttons and plumes, paraded
and sunned himself on a hotel gallery as a thing of beauty and a joy forever.
It was some time
before we discovered that the violet is in society as well as in the garden,
and that the full head of wheat droops, and that the stalk does not stand as
straight and as high as the one that has nothing upon it. Truly the meek and
childlike spirit is lovely in all, but in none is it more so than with those
who occupy high and exalted positions. If men were morally great who are
officially and financially prominent this would be blessed for all; but,
unfortunately, the two kinds of greatness are not often linked together. The
rule is that the higher the position and office the more difficult it is to get
on speaking and friendly terms with the individual and the more certain are we
to expect rebuffs. It is ten thousand million-fold easier to have audience with
God, the Almighty King of the Universe, than to obtain a glance or word from
men who are dressed in a little brief authority.
CHAPTER 16
THE MAGNANIMITY OF GIDEON
The
word magnanimity is a compound from the Latin magnus,
great; and animus, mind or soul; so that to be magnanimous is to be
great-hearted, noble-spirited, large-souled. The
characteristics of such a nature are found to command admiration and approval
from their very moral excellence and superiority. The whole life is
diametrically and eternally opposed to that spirit and conduct described under
the word “littleness.” It cannot do what is called a low and contemptible
thing. The truly magnanimous man could not stoop to take an advantage; could
not retaliate; could not originate or circulate a slander; and would be
incapable of doing anything in a spirit of meanness or revenge. Neither would
such a character cherish unworthy suspicions of another; nor, under the guise
of friendliness, lay verbal traps to bring about the humiliation of a brother.
In a word, we cannot conceive of a great-souled man
doing anything little and despisable. One striking
feature of soul or character is the readiness to overlook and forgive slights,
wrongs and injuries of different descriptions.
A second
feature is the quickness to give credit to others for the merit they possess
and works they have performed. Such a man does more than this: he is willing to
pass in silence over his own achievements and victories, and his commendation
and praise be given to others who otherwise would have been overlooked. This is
true greatness. This is magnanimity itself. Gideon possessed this spirit in an
abundant measure. It cropped out when he was in the flush of his wonderful
victory over the Midianites, in the reply he made to
the angry speech of the Ephraimites. It will be
remembered that these last-named people did not join in the battle until Gideon
had defeated the enemy and was driving them towards the Jordan. The tribe above
mentioned then joined in the pursuit and killed the two Midianite
leaders, Oreb and Zeeb.
After the fight the Ephraimites chided Gideon very
sharply about his failure to send for them earlier; whereupon this great-minded
leader of the three hundred made one of the noblest speeches
of his life in the words: “What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not
the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and what was I able to do in comparison of you? It
took a noble man to make this speech. A little character could not have uttered
it. The two-by-four nature would have found it not only difficult, but
impossible to divide honors, much less give the greater credit to anyone else
than himself.
Admiral Sampson found
himself unable to state, in his dispatches to Washington City, that Schley had
won the Santiago victory. Even preachers discover an unwillingness to give
credit to others of their vocation for mighty sermons and mightier performances
in the Christian life. Then men damn each other with faint praise. The fear
with many seems to be that the stock of honor and glory is not enough to go
around, and so they would appropriate all that can be had. We recently read two
letters from the same writer, and which appeared in the same copy of the paper.
In one the Evangelist gave a most glowing and flattering description of his own
meeting, not sparing certain adjectives and adverbs. In the other letter he
referred to another Evangelist’s meeting which he attended for several days,
and the reference was without a word of commendation, but contained a blow
instead; and then the writer passed on to speak of a second meeting of his own
which he had begun, and which he proceeded to puff, and yet the revival
services he ignored had resting upon them, from beginning to end, the favor and
power of God. The composer of the two letters did not possess the magna anima.
Had he met the Ephraimites, as did Gideon, he would
have reversed the speech of that leader, and said: “You do well, you men of
Ephraim, to worry and be mortified. You did almost nothing, while I did
everything. You killed two men who were running and doing their best to get
away, while I put a whole army to flight and slaughtered them by thousands. But
your getting angry does not alter facts. You did simply nothing in comparison
with me.” Magnanimity is notably lacking in other instances and lives that we
have not space to mention in this chapter. We have confined ourselves to its
manifestation in Gideon in his giving praise to others rather than to himself,
and, more than that, ascribing greater honor to them than he reserved for his
own proneness and achievements. The noble leader of Israel actually
anticipated, by his own lips, the words of Paul, and was “In honor preferring
one another.”
CHAPTER 17
THE SNARE OF GIDEON
The
first man in the land was now Gideon. He was the conqueror of the enemies of
his country and had been made Judge of Israel. The blessing of God was upon
him, and he possessed the favor, confidence and love of the people. And yet, in
the face of all this honor and glory, we see the man going down under the
double snare of gold and false worship. The fall brought not only trouble to
himself, but evil to the nation, as a degenerate leader and corrupted religion
are bound to bring woe to any people. In the very flush of his victory Gideon
got his eyes faced on certain golden ornaments worn by the Ishmaelites,
which represented a vast fortune. Ant so he secured them. With the entrance of
covetousness came idolatry, for the Bible declares that “Covetousness is
idolatry.” An image of worship was made out of a part of the gold and
afterwards erected or set up in Ophrah; and the Bible
says that “and Israel went thither a whoring after it.” After this, on the
death of Gideon, the people worshipped Baal one wrong step leading to others
deeper, darker and more damnable. Why is it that so many great and useful men,
before finishing their course on earth, will write, say or do something that,
if it does not undo all their previous work, leaves some kind of blemish on the
good name or fame, causing the wicked to laugh and the righteous to grieve?
The Bible
tells of just such happenings in the lives of Saul Samson, Balaam, David,
Judas, Demas, Mark and a number of others. History bears witness to the same
melancholy fact from John Calvin, who had a man burned at the stake on
theological and doctrinal grounds, and to Aaron Burr, who, after a life of
brilliant service, plotted the overthrow of his country. S. S. Prentiss, the gifted
orator from Mississippi, fell back exhausted at the conclusion of one of his
most wonderful speeches, when a member of Congress leaped to his feet, bent
over the prostrate man and shouted in his pallid face: “Die, Prentiss, die!”
His idea was that the eloquent speaker before him had reached the highest point
of earthly success and glory, and should pass away thus at his very best.
When we study the
spiritual life, the same character of facts confront us. Paul said to the
Galatians: “Ye did run well, who did hinder you?” The “hindrance,” it is
noticeable, came after the “running well.” The twofold snare of Gideon
presented itself after his great victory. David’s temptation drew nigh after he
had performed some of the noblest acts of his life and composed a number of his
sweetest Psalms. The teaching from these and many other scriptural instances
is, that awful moral lapses and falls may take place after years of remarkable
services and faithful living. An humble-spirited preacher is made a bishop and develops
into an autocrat or pope. A gifted but lowly-hearted country boy enters the
ministry, has success, gets his head turned, develops oratory, strives for
popularity, and by-and-by a backslider in heart and life is in the pulpit
giving announcements and pounding the Bible. A faithful layman, entrusted with
a large sum of money, is true for years, and then, in middle life, listens to
the Tempter, and first uses, and, later, purloins sacred funds and flies from
the country a disgraced man. Time would fail to tell of men who, after ten,
twenty, thirty and forty years of correct moral and even religious living, went
down under some sudden or prolonged temptation, and got as far from God as they
had been previously distant from the world and the Devil.
The snares that trap
and catch men are different; but Satan, who seems to give no man up while he is
living? finds some way by which to confuse, entangle, sidetrack and secure his
downfall if it be possible. The snare in Gideon’s case, as has been said, was
gold; with Samson and David, lust; with Saul, envy; with Balaam and Judas,
money; with Demas, the love of this present world. To this day men are falling
away from duty and God on account of these things. And because the Devil has
had such success in the employment of these baited traps and flower-covered
pitfalls, he is as persistent in his temptations these days as in former times.
He knows the power of the snare and the weakness of the nature he has to deal
with, and never seems to be discouraged.
This is the reason
that the Bible has so much to say about “Watching and Praying;” about working
out one’s salvation with fear and trembling; and utters the peculiarly solemn
words, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall.” We have all known men who not only thought they stood,
but really did stand in grace and were used of God; and yet we have seen them
sour, grow bitter, become envious, backslide in heart, backslide in life and
then lay around for years as helpless, useless and melancholy in appearance as
the wrecks of ships thrown by a storm on the beach and left after that to
whiten and fall to pieces as the days and months rolled by.
God save us from the snare of Gideon and from those of
Saul, Samson, David, Judas and Demas and from any and every other kind which
the enemy of our souls would place in position to cripple and capture us, and
finally, to destroy and damn us, both soul and body, in hell forever.
CHAPTER 18
THE FINAL SCENE
The
writer of the Book of Judges says, in the conclusion of the eighth chapter,
that Gideon “died in a good old age.” In another verse is the statement that as
soon as Gideon was dead the “children of Israel turned again and went after
Baal.” In Hebrews Paul says that “he died in the faith.” From these different
passages we gather that the famous leader of the “three hundred” must have
repented of his error and got right with God, for it is said that “he died in
the faith.” Not only that, but his influence for good must have been
reestablished, for the instant he died, and not until he died, the people of
Israel went after Baal. This teaches most unmistakably the restraining power of
the man and the ascendancy for good he regained and which he then wielded until
the hour of death. Not all men get back to God from their life-strayings, but when such wanderers do return, the coming
home rejoices not only Heaven but every true child of God on earth. The more
prominent and useful they were the sadder their lapse or fall is felt to be,
and the deeper is the joy if they get back to salvation and usefulness.
A man’s
gifts and power for good will naturally make him a target for the Devil. In the
Boer War, in South Africa, the best marksmen were stationed in tree-tops and
upon lofty crags to pick off the English officers, and, as a consequence, we
read that the mortality among them was simply dreadful. Satan knows that some
men are worth more to God than others, and that their fall would mean more than
that of those less prominent and successful; and so he makes peculiar and
persistent and violent attacks upon them. Death is said to love a shining mark;
and so does the great adversary. How he must gloat in entangling them in his
toils on earth and seeing them bound in everlasting chains in hell. If such a character is wounded, but recovers strength
and power again, it naturally brings dismay to the Devil and a great joy and
thankfulness to the people of God. But how much more blessed and inspiring it
is to see a man faithful to God and truth and duty from the start to the finish
of his career. It commends the cause of God, commands respect, stimulates faith
and brings in a great army of new volunteers. David, Samson and Gideon went
into sin and error before completing their course in life. They were restored,
and died in the faith; but the blemish was left on their name and fame and the
blot on the pages of their history.
There were other
characters like Job, Daniel, Joseph and Paul who never failed. They were true
to God through trouble, temptation, worldliness and persecution. Heaven has
long ago approved them. Nor is this all, for mankind itself, in reading of
their trials and triumphs, their battles and victories, has also passed
sentence and declared them to be the real heroes and victors of this world.
Truly, it is better to be like this latter class than the former; and we can
be. The Scripture is faithful to warn us concerning the possibility of
disastrous failure. “Ye did run well, who did hinder you?” Again we have the
passage, “I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest by any means,
that I, after having preached the Gospel to others, may be a castaway; “ and
still again, the solemn passage, “Let him who thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall.” The same Bible, however, tells us that we need not fall.
The promise is that “He will keep us from falling;” that “He is able to do for
us exceeding abundant above all that we can ask or think;” while Paul adds, “I
am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him until
that day.” It was a heart-stirring scene in the old-time days of the South to
see all the slaves gather from the fields at dusk with their bags and baskets
stuffed full and piled high with beautiful snow-white cotton. The laborers
would stand or sit around in the shadows of the early night, while their days’
work was weighed and publicly proclaimed.
But it will be a far
more wonderful sight to behold the toilers of Christ coming up from every land,
and, at the Judgment Day, lay down before their God their trophies, sheaves and
good works — the labors of a lifetime.
The unspeakably
sorrowful feature connected with the close of a great war and the return of the
soldiers is that so many who went forth never come back, but are left sleeping
under the soil of many a bloody battlefield or in the obscure graveyard of some
far distant hospital or prison. Far sadder than this will it be if many who
were once soldiers of Christ and marched away to fight His battles should have
been wounded, captured or destroyed by the enemy and never come back. The Devil
will finally surrender, the war on earth be over and then the Celestial army,
the Church Triumphant, will appear returning to enter upon everlasting peace,
when lo! it is seen that many who once fought in the ranks for Christ are not
beheld in the homecoming. They have been left on some distant field of sin.
They were mortally wounded by Satan. They were not faithful unto death. Like
the angels, they kept not their first estate. Like Baalam,
Judas, Saul and Demas, they fell and “went unto their own place” in the world
of the lost, the eternal captives of the Devil. How we pray that all of God’s
Israel may be saved, that those who read these lines, as well as he who writes
them, may endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ, fight a good fight, keep
the faith, and dying, find our latest foe under our feet at last. May we be in
our places on that wonderful day when the Saints come marching into Heaven from
all climes and nations of the earth. And may we all have the King to smile upon
us, and bless us, and say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord.”