Today’s Reading: Judges 8
God allowed Gideon only three hundred
men to launch the attack against the Midianites, so that Israel might know that
victory was not by military power or man’s ingenuity but by God’s intervention
and power.
This great victory was God’s doing, but the people of Israel wanted to give credit elsewhere - to Gideon. They wrongly attribute the work to the man, rather than the God who used the man. They saw the man God used and begin to ascribe to him a degree of greatness and prestige. So much so, that they wanted to make Gideon the King over Israel. Verse 22 tells us that “the men of Israel said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.’” Notice who is getting the credit here – not Yahweh, but Yahweh’s instrument.
There is a natural human tendency to credit the people God uses rather than to credit God. Years ago, I attended a church in which a mighty revival was taking place. People were coming to Christ by the hundreds and lives were being changed by God’s Spirit. It was a sovereign move of God that came upon that church, but oftentimes people wanted to credit the Pastor for the work that was taking place. The revival was so phenomenal that even the secular press had to send reporters to the scene to find out what was going on. What was this “man” doing that was causing such a great explosion in church membership? On one occasion, a Christian seminary sent a contingent of students thousands of miles to inquire about the situation. They wanted to know what “formula” our Pastor was using to accomplish such a great work. They wanted to discover his “secret sauce” and teach their students to “reproduce” it. When they were told that there is no secret formula but what they were seeing was an unexplainable work of the Holy Spirit, they couldn’t process it.
During this great revival, our Pastor was faced with a huge temptation – to accept the praises of people and take credit for God’s work -or- to remain humble and give glory to God, where it belonged. When asked about this temptation, our Pastor’s reply was, “I never believe my own press clippings.” In other words, no matter how much others tried to credit him for this revival, he knew it was God’s doing and the credit belonged to no one except God, Himself. Our Pastor applied the truth of Psalm 115:1, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, But to Your name give glory, Because of Your mercy, Because of Your truth.”
Fortunately, Gideon humbly refused their invitation, pointing out that Yahweh was their King. Gideon knew in his heart-of-hearts that God was the only one who deserved glory for this work and that God was the only one who was rightly their King. Gideon didn’t “believe his own press clippings.” If God is using your life – if you’re seeing Him do great things through you – be very careful. Never believe your own press clippings, and never – NEVER! – take credit for the work God has done.
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