The Lord will get more glory if you rely on Him

The LORD said to Gideon, 'The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, "My own power has delivered me."'" The Lord will get more glory if you rely on Him to open doors; depend on the Lord for more of what you cannot see. This would be the Gideon Venture. Judges 7:1–22

So the Lord pared down the 32,000 troops to 10,000 by sending all who were fainthearted home (verse 3). And he pared down the 10,000 by choosing only those who lapped water by putting their hands to their mouths without kneeling. That left three hundred men. So in verse 7, "The LORD said to Gideon, 'I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands; so let all the other people go, each man to his home.'" The Lord seems to be interested in a kind of person, not just a quantity of persons. God is looking to build with the kind of person who would catch this vision and believe God for it. Is God is telling you to be this kind of person, as a channel for God's extraordinary work?

The Lord is merciful to work with a less-than-ideal people - people who need extra signs or encouragement and do not have the courage to attack immediately. Look at verses 9-11: "Now the same night it came about that the LORD said to him, 'Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hands. But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp, and you will hear what they say; and afterward your hands will be strengthened that you may go down against the camp.'"

Well, Gideon took option two. And God was merciful to him. In his mercy, God is not an all-or-nothing God. So take this to heart that your fears and misgivings will not disqualify you from God's great work that He has for you. "When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend [not a coincidence, but a divine appointment]. And he said, 'Behold, I had a dream; a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat.' His friend replied, 'This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp into his hand. '"

What an amazing timing and an even more amazing interpretation for Gideon to hear. "What has God been saying to you, has he been saying: Stretch, beyond your dreams? Try me. Put me to the test." This is God's way of saying: You had the right vision from the beginning, but you didn't realize how right it was - how radical it is. God will get more glory if you rely on Him.