For many of us, our lives are marked with inconsistency. This makes us ordinary. We may feel we have little or nothing to contribute to Christ’s cause. We think God could never use someone who has failed as badly as we have. The reality is that God always looks for the ordinary. He relishes the opportunity to use the ordinary person.
In Ordinarily Faithful, author Dr. Chad Keck surveys Gideon, whose story is told in the Old Testament book of Judges, to show how God used this ordinary Israelite farmer in mighty ways. Though Gideon was a man with many faults and doubts, he was ordinarily faithful—he moved forward one step at a time each day, never taking his eyes off the promise of God.
Filled with modern-day life examples and applications, Ordinarily Faithful challenges, teaches, and encourages all believers. It helps us understand how God worked not only in Gideon’s life but in the lives of other ordinary people in the Scriptures who walked in faith, believing that God would do what He promised. It provides the spiritual encouragement to know that God uses ordinary and faithful men and women to do amazing things.
4 And the LORD said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.” 5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.” 6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. 7 And the LORD said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.” 8 So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.” God told Gideon that 10,000 was too many. I love the way God thinned the army this time. Many scholars spend countless pages discussing why God wanted to keep the men who lapped up the water. They say that those are the men who are true warriors because even as they drank, they kept their eyes out for their enemies and their weapons in their hands. While this makes some logical sense and certainly has some human logic to it, I keep going back to verse 2. The text makes no mention at all about why God selected the men who lapped the water. While we can certainly speculate as to why God did things this way, the main point is still that God was going to do what He said He was going to do. I think we may err in our understanding of this text if we venture too far off into the types of men God used. The point was never about understanding and discussing the types of men. It was always about discussing an amazing God who is able to bring the victory. Let verse 2 sink into your heart and remember it as you watch God deliver you from challenges and difficulties you face in your life. “The LORD said to Gideon, ‘“The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, “’My own hand has saved me.” The point was not for God to take the courageous men and the men who were better warriors because they kept on the lookout for the enemy. The point was that God was proving to the people that it was by His power that they would achieve the victory. God could have chosen to use the men who were afraid and the men who put down their weapons to drink. The point from the beginning is that it was never about what the men could do. It was and is always about what God can do. Forgive us, God, when we somehow think that You are better off with us on Your team. The reality is that we are nothing without You. When we are added to Your team, it does not increase Your ability to accomplish anything. Likewise if we were taken off Your team, it does not decrease Your ability to do anything. Nothing can increase You or decrease You for You are God. You can do whatever You want, whenever You want, and with whomever You want. The times in my life when I have seen God do the most are the times when I have been able to do the least. God is not concerned with our abilities. He is interested in our faith. Do we believe that He is able? Do we believe that God will do what He says He will do? Do we believe the Scripture? God will not share His glory with anyone! He loves to show Himself strong when all around lies impossibility.
Dr. Chad Keck is a committed husband, father, and pastor. He loves to study and preach the Bible and currently does so as the senior pastor of First Baptist Church Kettering, Ohio.