2008. 1. 20 Rev. Kim, Young Bong

Words for the New year 3:
The War Is in God’s Hand
--Judges 7:1-8

1.

If you were to choose the most significant battle in the world’s history of wars, which would you choose? There may be some who may recall a recent movie released called '300' which has the Thermopylae battle scene. 480 years B.C., facing over a million of the Persian invading army marching southward towards Greece, Spartan king Leonidas gathered an elite troop consisting of 300 warriors to stop the encroaching army at the approach to the Thermopylae canyon. They stand to fend off the invaders until the last warrior drops in the battle. As the 300 of the elite forces bought time in this manner, the populace of Greece was about to muster a united front, and eventually affords a win over the war with Persia.

There are several reasons why this war remains one of the most memorable among all battles. Just the fact that 300 elite warriors fended off an army of a million is something to remember by. Of course, that battle was not won. But the battle was the turning point that enabled Greece to prevail over Persia. We can say in such a case that they lost the battle but won the war. The reason that this battle remains as the greatest fight is because of the importance of that war. If the 300 elite forces were not able to fend off the invaders to buy enough time, then Persia would have invaded Greece, and the Western history and the world history would have taken an entirely different course of direction.

For those well familiar with the Bible, the 300 Spartan elite warriors would have reminded them of the scene of the 300 elite fighters of Gideon bring down Jericho. There are quite a few aspects of the Gideon’s battle of Jericho that would place it as a prominent one among the recorded battles.

We are now about three weeks into receiving the grace of reflecting upon our readings of Gideon. The first week was about the story of calling unto Gideon, and we reflected upon our gifts and abilities and possessions that we have to serve upon our neighbors. Last week, we reflected upon the spiritual readiness to rid ourselves of idolatry so that God takes first place in our hearts. Today we reflect upon the story of a special battle of Gideon.

The battle of Gideon had quite a few highlights akin to the battle of the Thermopylae. With only 300 elite warriors they overcame the Midian army of more than 200,000 strong. However the more surprising aspect is the implements used by the Gideon warriors. Their implements were empty vessels, torches and trumpet. Of course, in the ensuing battle there were swords and spears to fight, but to bring down Jericho, they held these non-weapons as their implements of battle. They used these implements to bring down Jericho without spilling one drop of blood.

2.

The number of warriors given to Gideon was not just 300. Gideon had no trouble stirring the Israelites living the lives of death to rise against the oppressive persecution of the Midianites. The initial followers numbered 32,000. To face the 200,000 Midianite army, the gathered 32,000 warriors would have seemed incomparably dwarfed. Moreover, the Midianites were seasoned warriors, whereas the Israelites were merely oppressed subjects. They were not trained for war either. There was no comparison either by the number or by the state of readiness.

Let’s think now about what must have been going on in Gideon’s mind. How pathetic must he have felt? Wouldn’t it have seemed to be a moment for bemoaning to God? Perhaps, this is how one would have talked to God. "Why, if you had to drag out someone comfortably in hiding, shouldn’t you have furnished me an army of sufficient strength? How can you ask that I take this ragged bunch into battle with the Midianites? Just counting the numbers, they outnumber us by at least ten folds. They are equipped with the latest weapons and have enough provisions to last any war. Just how can you expect me to do anything? "

As flabbergasted as Gideon was, God delivered an even more astounding answer. "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her," (verse 2). The passage is saying that the gathered warriors, as dwarfed as they were by the army of the Midianites by ten to one, still numbered too many. It is saying that if they were to prevail in battle in the present number, then there was the risk of believing that they prevailed out of their own strength. The passage asks to reduce the strength to make clear that there is no such delusion.

God first orders all who has any bit of fear to retreat back home. What must have been going through Gideon as he carried out the commandment? Seemingly he must have barked 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead. Only those who are willing to die in battle shall remain!’ but he must have inside expected something else. He must have wanted to hear, "Not me, chief! We are all determined to risk our lives. Please take us all." Then he would have retorted, "God, its not working out. Nobody's going back. Just take them all then?" But what is going on here? Two out of three who were standing take flight out of sight. Gideon’s high hopes must have crumbled. Taking a final count, the 32,000 strong diminished to 10,000 standing bodies.

Gideon reported, "God, now there remains 10,000 warriors willing to risk their lives. Is this now OK? ". Then again, God tears another chasm of perplexion in Gideon. The reply is that there is still too many. The commandment is yet to further whittle the number down. This time the order is to take them down to the water, so that those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog were selected, and those who kneel down to drink were turned back home. Gideon obeys the Word of God. His hopes are again dashed by the sight of the manner in which warriors got down to drink water. Those who lapped with their hands to their mouths were only three out of one hundred. After picking through the numbers, the chosen as stood numbered only 300.

3.

By this time Gideon would have given up all hopes. He would have given up hope of retaining that one other departing body. Maybe he might have abandoned his zest for winning the battle. He must have felt completely at the mercy of God bestowing miracle. Gideon was of the thinking "While we could defeat the Midianites with our strength, with God on our side, victory is assured." But now he must have recused his thoughts as such, "If God is not with us, then there is no way to win."

Thinking this way, when God spoke with concern, "Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her Israel,”(verse 2), perhaps the truth is that the concern was with Gideon in mind. It seems God tested Gideon’s faith. This way, Gideon had to rely on God only, and when victory in battle was had, then the glory would only have been to no other than God. If Gideon would have relied on his own strength or that of his army, then he would have suffered defeat. Even if he did win, he would have become riley and would have raced through the path of decadence. In order that Giden receives true victory God chose to reduce the number of warriors.

For me, after having once again read the Word from the synopsis of the readings for the New Year, it has opened my eyes to the Truth in that "In the act of reduction is the answer." How heavy must have been the burden to Gideon to face the prospect of opposing an army of 200,000? As how he was to handle the tremendous job his heart must have been heavy ladened with burden. He must have thought, "How can I increase the number of conscripts?" And so he may have prayed this way. "God, send me some more troops. This will not do." But God gives an entirely opposite answer. The answer as given does not increase the number, but rather reduces the number of troops.

Why does the answer lie in a reduction rather than in an increase? There are at least two reasonings.

First, rather than ragged conscripts of 32,000 people, there is a much greater strength in a strong elite troop of 300. Those conscripts who have not shed their fears of death could only harm the cause. Fear and anxiety can only infect others around them. Such people can likely cause those others driven to unite and battle to trip their feet over their fearful clinging. In addition, those not ready to take on the role as a soldier can stand as obstacles in a war. As to why those who drank water on their knees from the creek were sent back home may lie in this reasoning. It would have been better not to have warriors who showed such carelessness.

Secondly, when our personal assets and material resources diminish, we tend to rely much more on God. Conversely, if our holdings sizably grow, even if what we hold is a loose holding, our hearts are not in God, but we begin to rely on the resources that we hold on to. So sometimes we meet upon a choice afforded by the crossroads we encounter. Should we decide to acquire more at the expense of damaging the faith in God, or shall we reasonably let go of our holdings, that we may keep alive our faith in God? If we were to follow our greed, then we would want both. But, that would not be realistic.

4.

There is one consistent truth we come to encounter in Judges, which we are reading currently, as well as in the Old Testament. It is like the main melody of a symphony or the chorus of a hymn. The blood-spattered ‘history of atrocity in Canaan’ is put on record in both Joshua and Judges. The message intended through all these records is that “War is of God’s domain.”

War is of God’s domain! These words are not only limited to wars. It is a truth that is applicable to our entire life. Life can be compared to a festival but it can also be compared to a war. All wars in life are of God’s dominion. Politics belongs to God. Businesses or economic affairs, all belong to God. The culture of our society belongs to God. Even my family, my marital relationship that agonizes me, and the future of my children that worries me; al these belong to God. There is nothing that does not belong to God’s dominion. From the smallest component of life, an atom, to the entire universe, all belong to God’s dominion.

Therefore, we only have two choices: whether we accept this fact, to obey Him leaving everything up to Him, and follow Him discerning His hand, or deny the fact and fight our way to achieve our goal in accordance with our own wish, our ambition, or our ability and resources. It is one or the other. A person who lives his life quietly according to God’s wish, acknowledging the fact that “War is of God’s domain,” should have nothing but one prayer, “Lord, let me live my life, day after day, following Your wish.” On the other hand, someone who struggles to achieve things with his own ability and power, having difficulty in admitting this fact, will always be under the control of such frustration in his heart as, “Oh, I wish I had a little more!”

Such being the case, there are many people who are wandering between these two choices. So-called believers do that. Gideon did, I did, and I suppose that quite a few among you are doing the same. Although we believe in God, we cannot completely admit the fact that all wars belong to God, therefore, rather than leave the war up to God, we pray that He provide us with resources with which we can win a war.

After all, to mull it over, despite our incessant prayers to God, strictly speaking, we believe in people, in money, and in materials. The reason why we seek God is because we want to gain more money, more people, and more materials. We seek God, believing that we can obtain what we desire more positively, more clearly, and more quickly. It is not serving God, but using God. It is not worshiping God, but worshiping idols. Doing all these, we think that our faith is strong nevertheless.

The story of Gideon we read today gives another shock to people like us. It tells us that what we need to win a war we are faced with is not more materials but stronger faith. Therefore, what we have to do is not ask for more but instead to look back and see if there is anything more for us to give up. It tells that, even if what we have now does not even seem remotely close to what we need to solve the problems we are faced with, we must not be discouraged for that reason. It is because that also belongs to God. We need to entrust our problems to Him, obey Him, and follow Him, so He can work them out in His way. To do so, we must be able to give up what we have, no matter how little.

5.

Our lives in 2008 are in God’s hands. Our dreams are in God’s hands and our plans are also in God’s hands. All things that we work and strive for are in God’s hands. Let us accept this truth. Every morning, let us proclaim, “Every war is in God’s hands”. Every morning, let us proclaim, “My life this day is in God’s hands”. Every morning, as we enter our workplace let us proclaim, “My work is in God’s hands”. Let us proclaim and proclaim again, so that this truth that is so easily forgotten, become clearly etched in our minds.
And let us strive to live a life that humbly depend on God and obeys His will. Let us look for anything that we need to trim down, cast away, or let go of in order to truly have faith and obey God. A troop of 300 soldiers was stronger than 32,000. A disorderly 29,000 only clouded Gideon’s judgment. It was a flab of flesh that needed to be removed. Excess fat not only slows one down but also is the root of many diseases. We need to think whether we have such excess in our daily lives.

Just as trimming down physically is healthy, it is the same for our lives. Among our traditional adages, there is the expression, ‘the more the better’. We think, more money the better, the more cars the better, the more knowledge the better, the more wealth the better. However, excess that exceeds some limit is far from good. At times the opposite is closer to the truth. This means that ‘the more the worse’ is more often right. Excessive amount of money is harmful because it can corrupt us or take away our faith. Excessive material possessions can similarly be harmful. Being excessively occupied with too many things is also harmful. As the author of “Walden”, Henry David Thoreau said, the only thing we should dream about is to “”Simplify, simplify, simplify!”

When we do this our faith heads toward God. When the army of 32,000 shrunk to 300, Gideon had no choice but to rely on God 100 percent. Only when we downscale our lives and eliminate excess, can we see the sky. The lesser we hold in our hands, the bigger our faith in God becomes. And the more our faith in God grows, the more we can cut, throw away, and let go. Consequently, as we lay down a portion of our limited resources, we become connected to God, who is the unlimited resource. If we believe that all wars are truly in God’s hands, it becomes clear what resource we should be pursuing.

The problem is our faith. Because we lack faith that believes in something that cannot be seen, we calculate how much we have many times daily, and according to the result we become reassured or anxious. When we are reassured, feeling we have enough, we turn our backs to God. When we become anxious, feeling we don’t have enough, we use God to get more. Hence we get into the situation where we go back and forth from the boundary of unfaithfulness and idolatry. That may be why God at times makes us lay down the very things we have so that we may have true faith. It is for us to have complete faith in Him.

6.

Last year, the biggest selling book within the Korean Christian community was “Laying Down”, a book written by a missionary to Mongolia, Dr. Lee Yong Gyu. He is someone who, after graduating from Seoul National University and receiving a Ph.D. from Harvard, laid down a guaranteed future and even the safety of his family, to serve a Mongolian church in Ulan Bator and teach at Mongolia International University. This book records stories on what he has experienced through his studies abroad and through missionary work. He testifies that as humans we clutch onto even the smallest things, but God can make us lay down these things, and once we obey God and lay these down, He fills us with amazing blessings.

I thought about why this book became a mega best seller among Christians in Korea. The title of the book “Laying Down” is not at all a title that could attract popular interest. In a society where everyone dreams to become rich, where everyone dreams to succeed regardless of the means, how did a book with such a title become a super best seller?

The reason above all is probably because of the vividly recorded stories on the works of God. For ordinary people it is difficult to imagine completely laying things down, and thus these stories are truly moving. And God’s grace that comes upon us once we lay things down is even more mysterious. On the other hand, I wondered, “by any chance, could this book have given many Christians substitute contentment?” In the minds of believers there is a hope that we, too, could completely obey and lay things down. It’s just that we cannot do it. When somebody does something that we cannot do, we feel substitute contentment when reading about it.

Substitute contentment is useless. Laying down needs to be practiced even with very small things. The ‘me’ that I hold as my ego needs to be laid down, and the plans and tactics that I hold in my mind to solve my problems also need to be laid down. Worries about the future and pride also need to be laid down. The moment I find anything I have that I count on other than God, I need to lay that down. At times we have to give up our reliance on wealth, and at times we have to let go of our trust on our knowledge and experience. When this happens, God will make things happen.

Therefore let us remember this as we live each day of this year. Everyday let us proclaim this. “Every war is in God’s hands!” Let us simply follow Him each day, having trust that God will work at His time and in His way. Let us prepare our minds to lay down anything that hinders this faith, whatever it may be. For the most important thing in our lives is not what we have in our hands but rather whether we are held in God’s hand.

I pray that God will give you victory in the war that each of you face. To achieve victory I earnestly pray that we will all the more trust only in God, and obey and follow Him this new year.

Lord,
Let us believe in your true presence in battle
As to us
We have believed in battling our battles
We have believed in battling with what we have
Lord,
Let us truly believe in the Lord of our lives and of all times
In that faith
Let us lead our daily lives
In order that we rise in true faith
Give us strength to lay down all things
By leading our hearts
Amen