The Lord is mindful of His own, He remembereth His people. He may, indeed, permit faith to be put to sharp trial, but His love supports His servant through it. If, as in the case of Gideon, God removeth earthly friends; if He take from us the prop of human aid, He can supply other props, and even from the enemy’s camp. When friends are silent, encouragement can come from the lips of a foe. A Balaam, eager to curse, has been made an instrument to bless.
Strong as was the faith of Gideon, we cannot wonder if a feeling of misgiving arose in his mind when he looked on the handful of men to which his force had been reduced. How was it possible that they should meet the shock of battle with the multitudes of Midian? They were brave and resolute men, they would follow him to the death; would it not be indeed to the death; had he not been selecting victims for slaughter rather than warriors for conquest? We must conclude that some such thoughts as these troubled the spirit of Gideon, from the very circumstance of God’s finding it needful thus to strengthen his faith:
“Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand,” said the Lord. “But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: and thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host.”
It could not have been personal fear that weighed upon the soul of Gideon; his anxious care must have been for the safety of others, for the success of the effort to free his country, or formidable would have appeared the adventure which he was called to undertake almost alone. But Gideon appears to have had no hesitation or fear in trusting his own life to God’s providential care. We picture to ourselves the leader, with his single attendant, silently treading the path towards the enemy’s camp, lighted by the glimmering stars in the dark blue midnight sky. How wide spreads the camp of Amalek and Midian, how innumerable seem the dark tents within which are slumbering foes, “like grasshoppers for multitude,” with their camels tethered around, “as the sand by the sea-side for multitude!” Nor are all amongst the host sleeping: Gideon hears the sound of voices in converse as he approaches the tents. The man of God stands still, as conscious that what he will hear will be a message from God to himself.
GIDEON LISTENING.
“Behold, I dreamed a dream,” said one of the Midianites to his companion, little guessing on whose ear his words would fall; “and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.
“And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else, save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.”
The message from the Lord had been given, and Gideon required no more. There, close to the unconscious enemy, he worshipped; then returning with renewed faith and hope to the warriors of Israel, he cried, “Arise, for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian!”
Brethren, are we to look for such encouragements now? The age of miracles, it may be said, is past; we must rest upon what has already been revealed, nor seek for wonders and signs to encourage our feeble faith. Yet, without interrupting the course of nature, God has His own way of giving strength to the weak and joy to the sorrowful. An instance of this, which occurred during the fearful Indian Mutiny, suggests itself to my mind. Two ladies and a child were prisoners in the power of the cruel enemy, who had destroyed the brother of one of them by blowing him from a gun. Great must have been the anguish of mind, the fears of these captive ladies—they were encompassed, as it were, by the hosts of Midian; could faith endure the fiery trial? The child fell sick, medicine was asked for, and the captors gave it wrapped up in a soiled piece of paper. Who would have guessed that through the enemy of our name and of our faith would be sent medicine not only for the body but the soul? With wondering joy the ladies discovered that the scrap of paper was a leaf torn from an English Bible, and containing such a portion of Scripture as was most exactly suited for their comfort and refreshment. With what emotions must the poor prisoners have received such a message from God as this, conveyed through the enemy’s hand: I, even I, am He that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail (Isa. li. 12-15).
Doubtless these captive Englishwomen received those blessed verses as a promise from God, even as Gideon did the Midianite’s relation of his dream, and in their dreary prison bowed their heads and worshipped. The ladies were delivered from the fury of the oppressor; the captive exiles were loosed; and surely with them, as with Gideon, would faith be confirmed, not only for the present time of peril, but through all the succeeding years of life.
When we regard faith, as we have been doing during this course of brief lectures, under the emblem of a fruit tree, we must remember that it is no standard rearing itself aloft in the pride of its strength, but a plant in itself but feeble, which must lean on the Rock of Ages; which, even when its branches are fullest of swelling fruit, needs the props, the supports which God’s grace only can give. Without these supports how the branches would lie low on the earth, their fruit be defiled with its dust! How constantly in the history of God’s people do we find strong consolation given at the moment when faith is most ready to fail! To Jacob, a lonely, benighted wanderer, is sent a bright beam of heaven. Does he fear to encounter an angry brother? the angel of the Lord meets him and blesses. Joshua, ere commencing an arduous campaign, receives the promise, I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. To David comes the assurance of his final triumph from the lips of the very enemy engaged in hunting for his life: I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand. But I need not multiply instances of which the Scripture records are so full; now, as when He dwelt upon earth, our gracious Saviour says to the anxious, afflicted spirit, Be not afraid, only believe; and to His disciples entering on the conflict with sore temptation, Let not your hearts be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me.
Rest, therefore, ye afflicted servants of God, on the promises made by your heavenly Master. The night of trouble may be around you, enemies may be before you, difficulties may press you from without, temptation assail you from within; but this is no proof that God has forsaken you. Are you looking to Him, trusting in Him; are you ready, like Gideon, to go forth in His strength to fight His battle against every besetting sin? Then fear not, for He is on your side; heaviness endureth for a night, but joy cometh in the morning; nay, more, the Lord giveth songs in the night, even before the darkness passeth away the tried one, like Gideon, may worship God and rejoice. The believer goes from strength to strength, even as day by day on the bough the fruit ripens and swells towards perfection. There is a growth in grace, an increase in love and in submission, which is visible even to the world.
The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: He is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them: He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him.
