Who knows you better than anyone else in the world? For me, it's easy. My wife Carrie knows me so well, she can often predict How I'm going to react and sometimes, the very words I'll use.
This past week she was killing me! We were sitting on our couch chatting, and she was in rare form, making me laugh simply because she knew what I was thinking and I couldn't get anything past her. Even though I try to be spontaneous and hold my cards close to my chest, she can read me like a book. Rarely can I get anything by her.
Carrie knows me pretty well, but God knows me better! And by the way, he knows you too!
When I read this story I'm so impressed by the numbers that are involved. God lowers the numbers of the Israelite army from 32,000 to 300. Did you catch that? 31,700 Israelite soldiers have left! There are 300 men that Gideon leads against thousands upon thousands of Midianites. If you were to read the entire chapter of Judges 7 you'd read that God gave Gideon and the Israelites the victory. That's really cool, 300 verses thousands, and the Israelites win. Crazy odds-cool story!
But the one line that really jumped out at me was this, "You have too large an army with you. I can't turn Midian over to them like this—they'll take all the credit, saying, 'I did it all myself,' and forget about me." God knows our hearts. Just like Carrie can read me in certain circumstances God can read me ALWAYS. He knows our inclination to accept all the credit when something is great, but blame him when it's not. God doesn't desire to share his glory, just the blessings of it! And God's clear: 32,000 or even 10,000 soldiers overcoming the odds isn't miraculous enough. It needs to be evident that the odds were insurmountable-that the Israelites had no chance-without him.
Can you imagine what he can do through a life completely surrendered to him? I believe God's wants to do crazy, miraculous stuff in us and through us. What would happen if we humbled ourselves and asked him to do things that could only be done by him? The type of things there's no way I could do for myself so it's clearly a miracle.
My prayer is that we will see God do immeasurable things in us and through us, and that we ask for more. Not for things to be selfishly consumed or for things that improve our status, but the really crazy stuff like life change that's beyond yours and my capabilities! The really crazy wild things like eternal destination changes and healing within families. Stuff that only God can do. I pray that you will see and be a part! He knows you so well, and has your best in mind!
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