Word of Encouragement (02/08/2023)

I would have said, "I will cut them to pieces; I will wipe them from human memory," ²⁷ had I not feared provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should misunderstand, lest they should say, "Our hand is triumphant, it was not the LORD who did all this."' ²⁸ "For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them. ²⁹ If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern their latter end! ³⁰ How could one have chased a thousand, and two have put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had given them up? ³¹ For their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves. ³² For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison; their clusters are bitter; ³³ their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of asps. (Deut. 32:26-33)

Here, the LORD shows what it would be like for Israel—or any nation of the world, for that matter—if God should oppose them. God can expose the frailty and uselessness of our self-confidence in the blind of an eye. Think about what happened at the time of the exodus. The ten plagues were designed to show that the God of Israel was the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, not the pagan gods that the Egyptians worshipped. There was no sun god, Ra, who controlled the sun; it was the LORD who created it and controlled it. There was no god of the Nile or the gods of boils and other pestilences; the sovereign God was in control of these natural phenomena. When God chose to use them against the Egyptians, all their sacrifices and offerings to these pagan idols (who were no gods, v. 21) availed them nothing.

The same is true of our abilities and whatever control we think we have over our lives. Underneath them all are God's providential care of this world, including our lives. His providential care is the foundation upon which all our activities stand and succeed. Should God choose to remove His hand of providence, everything will collapse immediately. What we thought was our indestructible fortress will crumble like a house of cards. What we thought was our invincible forces will dissipate like morning mist.

That is precisely what is being described in vv. 30-31—a thousand Israelite soldiers repelled by one foreign soldier; ten thousand Israelite soldiers put to flight by two Gentile soldiers. Is this an exaggeration? It certainly sounds like it. But have we forgotten what Gideon's three hundred did against the 120,000 of the Midianites (Judg. 8:10)? Even though the number of the Midianites might have been inflated, there can be no doubt that this was an unlikely, miraculous victory for Gideon and his three hundred. The message is clear: if the omnipotent God fights for you, it doesn't matter who or how many your enemies are; your victory is more certain than the sun rising tomorrow morning. And it works the other way around, too: if God is against you, it doesn't matter how much advantage you may have against your enemy; your defeat is guaranteed. As history has shown, strange things have happened to turn the table on those who were favored to win with overwhelming odds.

For Israel to lose any battle was unthinkable. After all, as God's covenant people, Israel had the omnipotent God on her side. So, whenever Israel was defeated, she was shocked and bewildered. Was this because God grew weak and helpless to fight off pagan idols? Of course not. Israel should have known that it was because she had sinned against the LORD. How badly must she have sinned that God should fight against His own, especially when God stroke them with the kind of humiliating defeat that is described in v. 31? Israel's defeat was so humiliating that it could only be attributed to God and God alone! Nothing about her enemies would matter. They worshipped idols that were no gods: “their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves.” What were they before God without a real god to help them?

There are times when things go horribly wrong, one after another, from bad to worse—so bad that we instinctively know that God is behind them. This may be due to our persistent sins and impenitent posture. Or, it may be because God is drawing us into a deeper fellowship with us. Even if our sin is the cause, if we belong to Christ, God's purpose is to restore us to Himself. We may often not know why. But one thing is clear: regardless of the reason, the course of action we should take is to turn toward God in greater urgency and earnestness and (if the Spirit convicts us of our sin) repent of it. This will restore our communion with God and bring healing and deliverance. If this is the case, let us not delay. Since God cannot be against those, for whom Christ died, since He is now and forever for us, He will work all things for our good unto His glory.

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