Volume 45: God Wants All The Glory

Day 149 Devotional

GOD WANTS ALL THE GLORY

The story of Gideon is not ultimately about a courageous man. It is about a holy God who refuses to share His glory with anyone else.

GOD SEES WHO YOU CAN BECOME

Israel sinned, so God allowed the Midianites to oppress them for seven years (Judges 6:1–6). They hid in caves, lost their harvests, and cried out to the Lord.

An angel appeared to Gideon while he was secretly threshing wheat in a winepress, hiding from the enemy. Yet God called him, “Thou mighty man of valour” (Judges 6:12). God did not speak to Gideon according to where he was. He spoke according to who He created him to become.

Afterward, Gideon built an altar and called it Jehovah Shalom—“The Lord Is Peace” (Judges 6:24). Nothing around him had changed, yet everything within him had. God’s presence gave him peace before it gave him victory.

REVIVAL BEGINS WITH TEARING DOWN IDOLS

Then God commanded Gideon to destroy his father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole (Judges 6:25–32). Revival always begins with tearing down idols before building new altars.

Even now, modern Baals still exist. Churches often worship personalities instead of Christ, entertainment instead of holiness, prosperity instead of repentance, emotional experiences instead of biblical truth, and cultural acceptance instead of obedience.

GOD REDUCES OUR STRENGTH TO REVEAL HIS

Next came the army. Thirty-two thousand men gathered to fight 135,000 Midianites. God said there were too many Israelites because Israel would claim the victory for themselves. Twenty-two thousand fearful men went home, leaving ten thousand.

Then God tested them at the water. Three hundred men brought the water to their mouths with their hands, while the rest knelt to drink. God chose the three hundred—not because they were stronger or more skilled, but because He had already determined that the victory would belong to Him alone (Judges 7:1–8).

Why? Because God wanted everyone to know that victory belonged to Him.

Those three hundred carried no swords into the opening attack. They carried trumpets, empty clay pitchers, and torches hidden inside the pitchers. Divided into three companies, they surrounded the enemy camp. At Gideon’s command, they blew the trumpets, shattered the pitchers, and lifted the light.

The trumpet proclaimed God’s victory. The broken pitcher revealed the hidden light. The light could not shine until the vessel was broken. Paul later reminds believers that “we have this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:7). God’s glory is often seen most clearly when our pride is shattered and our weakness reveals His strength.

So it is with us. We are earthen vessels carrying the light of Christ. Until our pride, self-reliance, and flesh are broken, His light remains concealed.

God threw Midian into confusion, and the enemy destroyed itself (Judges 7:23–8:21).

VICTORY IS NOT THE END OF THE BATTLE

Afterward, Israel asked Gideon to become their king. He answered correctly: “The Lord shall rule over you” (Judges 8:23). But Gideon’s life ended with a warning.

He made an ephod from the gold taken in battle. What may have begun as a memorial became an idol, and all Israel prostituted themselves after it (Judges 8:24–27). Even spiritual victories can become spiritual traps when they receive the devotion that belongs only to God.

Gideon fathered seventy sons. One son, born through a concubine, was named Abimelech, meaning “my father is king.” Although Gideon refused Israel’s crown with his lips, his household revealed that pride had quietly taken root in his heart.

Abimelech later murdered sixty-nine of his brothers in his pursuit of power, proving that sins tolerated in one generation often become tragedies in the next (Judges 9).

ALL THE GLORY BELONGS TO GOD

Gideon’s life reminds us that God does not need impressive people. He delights in using surrendered people so that when the victory comes, no one can mistake who deserves the glory. The battle has always belonged to the Lord—and so does all the glory.