The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD. (Proverbs 21.31, NIV)
There is indeed the need to shift from lazy dependence on God if that’s where we are. In matters of “teshuah”, God runs on our legs and fights through our hands to cause the victory.
However, there are those who have accepted their role in applying themselves unto victory and have been beset with the devil of self-belief instead of believing in God for the ultimate victory. God loves to humble us from attributing our success to our own efforts, because it is only with this humble mindset that gives the glory to God that He can do more with and through us.
God reminds us that all our horses are vain without His blessing and cannot be trusted for deliverance. Our best preparations, without His blessing, are preparations to fail. Without God’s “teshuah”, the strategy we trust is a strategy for failure. Even for those who don’t believe in God, it takes His sovereign blessing to give them victory. The Bible says that although the lot is cast, God determines the outcome. And considering the element of chance in all things, God indeed determines how our best shots fair.
We need to know that it is God who always causes us to triumph, and that there are higher purposes for our victory. David said to God, “In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.” (2 Samuel 22:30, NLT) Whose strength do you really move in? Yours or God’s? Because the psalmist says, “My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.” (Psalm 73:26, NLT) Our strength can fail us and our spirit can disappoint us when we need it most. It is God who can sustain our hearts in the day of adversity. This is why “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.” (Psalm 20:7) And for “those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31, NLT)
Trusting God does not cripple us. People think that when we ultimately and heavily rely on God for our victory, we become lazy. What could be further from the truth? It is in trusting Him that we arise and shine knowing that our light has come. It is in trusting Him that we find new strength to do exploits. It is in trusting Him that we run and don’t grow weary, walk and don’t faint. Trusting in God does not cripple us. It is trusting in chariots that cripples.
“…the people who know their God will display strength and take action.” (Daniel 11:32b, NASB)
God strengthens, He doesn’t weaken. Those who trust in Him are strong, they soar, they run, they walk. And He accomplishes more through them than through those who say “My power and the might of my hand have gained me this” (Deuteronomy 8:17, NKJV) or “my own strength has saved me” (Judges 7:2).
God demonstrated the vanity of human strength in His battle against the Midianites through an army led by Gideon. He trimmed a troop of 32,000 to 10,000 and then to 300. He proved that He didn’t need the strength of man to fight His battles but only works through them for His purposes. God is the adult and we are the children He’s helping write. The pencil is in our hands, but our hands is in His hands. And He is doing the writing even though we appear to be the ones.
22,000 of Gideon’s initial troop left when God used the criterion of courage. That was 68.75% reduction in the number. By extension, 68.75% of the time, we are afraid no matter how bold we make ourselves appear. The new number, 10,000 men, became 300 when God used the criterion of tactical wisdom. 9,700 men drunk from a river burying their heads or kneeling before it. This posture betrayed military wisdom as they could easily be drowned by an enemy if they were alone. Soldiers of God are to practice mental alertness at all times. These ones were not. They were 97% of the new number, 30.31% of the initial squad. By extension, 30.31% of the time, we are not being tactical or alert enough. In total, Gideon’s army was 99.06% afraid and unwise. Oh how unwise and afraid we are. And yet we win with all these and think it is by our courage or combat. If God had not trimmed this number, some of these 31,700 men may return and walk pompously on the streets of Israel. The women might sing their praise and they may take all the accolades that come with victory. Meanwhile, it was God!!! And it is God today, in all our victory.
Even with the remaining number, their commander was afraid. God had to give Gideon the courage to face the Midianites. In their true state, they were just a round loaf of bread. God was the force behind the round loaf that tumbled into the Midianites’ camp and overturned and collapsed it. We are indeed just like a round loaf that the enemy can chew. It is God’s hand that pushes us into victory. (Judges 7:1-25)
Gideon crept up just as a man was telling his friend about a dream. The man said, “I had this dream, and in my dream a loaf of barley bread came tumbling down into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent, turned it over, and knocked it flat!” (Judges 7:13, NLT)
David indeed had some experience on how to use the sling. He was courageous. He had faced lions and bears in the past. But he won over Goliath because he came against the giant in the name of the LORD. By all means, prepare. But trust in the name of the LORD for victory.
There is certainly no excuse for laziness. But there is no reason to trust in ourselves for the victory. When we see the contribution of God to our victory, we will realize that all our preparation is less than 1%. When we realize that another person did all we did but wasn’t successful, we will learn that victory rests with LORD. We should do all the hard work happily, trusting that God gives us teshuah. God will bless the works of our hands. God will prosper us.
Victory RESTS with the LORD even though we ACTIVELY receive it through HUMAN endeavor. We must leave the praise with God and acknowledge His hand in our course. I pray, Father, that we experience your victories more and more, in Jesus’ Name. Amen
