I was reading through Judges chapter 7 the other day and noticed
a curious detail. A detail I had read past many times before; a
detail that seems almost insignificant. If you recall, this is the
story of Gideon. In chapter 7 Gideon has gathered his army and they are
looking down at the sprawling Midianite army. God tells him to whittle
his group down and in doing so Gideon ends up with only 300 men. That
night the Lord tells him to take his servant and sneak down to the enemy camp
so that he can overhear the conversation between a couple of soldiers.
The conversation basically reveals that they are as scared of Gideon as Gideon
is of them. Gideon is thankful for this and - this is where the curious
detail comes in- 7:15 reads:
"And
so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation,
that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, "Arise,
for the Lord has delivered the camp of ..."
What I noticed was that Gideon worshipped first, and THEN he
returned to the safety of his own camp. Think about when you were a
little kid and you woke up in the middle of the night and had to go to the
bathroom. And you had to walk through the dark house to get there.
The fear was almost paralyzing and you probably held it as long as you
could. And maybe, when you were done, you ran back to your bed as fast as
you could, almost in a panic, and pulled the covers over your head. Well
here's a man who is such a coward that he's practically scared of his own
shadow; who probably had to work up enough nerve just to sneak down and get
that close to the enemy. And rather than go back to camp, to relative
safety, and then give thanks to the Lord, he stays and gives thanks where
he is. Within ear shot of the enemy.
The 23rd Psalm talks about walking without fear even when facing death. The Psalmist says in verse 5, "You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies..." in the very presence of our enemies the Lord provides for us. Something I've had to work on along my Christian walk (and I'm probably not alone) is the concept of giving thanks in all things. Sometimes, when I'm facing a tough situation, I forget to give thanks until I'm on the other side of it. But I've learned that whatever is going wrong, there is something going right that I can be thankful for. Whatever I have lost, there is still plenty I have that I can be thankful for. No matter who I am up against, I still have a God who is bigger. And one thing I've learned along the way: the more I've remembered to give thanks in the midst of trial or tribulation, the bigger the table that God has spread before me.
