His Glory

Winstona D. Cole

GOD WILL NOT SHARE HIS GLORY WITH ANY MAN (INSIGHT ON JUDGES 7: 1-7)

When God wants to provide a miracle for you, He will position you so that no one not even yourself will take credit for what He is about to do. In this passage about Gideon, men had been chosen by Gideon to fight against the Midianites. In Chapter 6, we see how the Midianites had laid waste the Israelites and their possession. God appeared to Gideon, the least in the weakest clan in Israel. God told Gideon that through him (Gideon), He will defeat the Midianites and when others look at the situation and assess it, it would seem as if Gideon had done it all alone. God positioned Gideon for His glory.

Think about it! Gideon was the least in the weakest clan in the whole of Israel. A lot of negative things may have been said about his clan because Gideon obviously had no self-esteem or self worth. He may have been told he will amount to nothing, no good will come out of his life and Gideon believed all what was said to him as a result of where he found himself. I can just see Gideon now when the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and called him “Mighty Man of Valor.” Gideon looked around to see if someone from one of the other clans was standing behind him. When he realized that the Angel was talking to him, the first thing out of his mouth was “Oh no, you don’t understand, I am nothing! Don’t you know that around here I am the least in the weakest clan? I am the no-good son of Joash and I cannot do anything? I have never done anything of value and I will never amount to anything. You need someone from one of the strong and mighty clans. I have been beneath all my life and will continue to be. Above has never been my lot and it will never be.”

Gideon had definitely heard about the miracles of old but he reckoned they were outdated. That is how it is with some of us. When God tells us to do one thing, we find ten reasons why we can’t do forgetting that God assessed us before approaching us. Imagine telling God who created you what you can or can’t do. If God wasn’t so patient, He will leave us to our “can’ts”)

God of course let Gideon talk until he ran out of steam. When he was done talking, the Angel told him that he did not have to do anything except walk over to the battleground with his sword in his hand. That was all God wanted him to do. “Hold your sword in your hand and walk over there Gideon, that’s all I ask of you.” The Lord was the one going to fight the battle not Gideon. Like Gideon, most of the time we do not give God a chance. A chance to give us instructions, a chance to lead us or guide us (I heard Bishop T.D. Jakes say once “we should be guidable.”). That is right but most of the time we are not. God calls and immediately we start giving Him useless information. Useless Information! Why tell God what He already knows? The Bible says God knows our frame, He understands that we are dust. Why tell God you are not qualified when He knows you are not qualified. Why not see it as an opportunity to get out of the rut you are in. Why not see it as an opportunity to ask God to fix what you don’t like or give you qualities which you think you lack. Realize that this is your opinion of yourself because if you take time and search the scriptures, you will see that God has put in you all that He intended for you to be. God said He has created you in His image and likeness and the Bible also tells us that God is perfect. READ THE BOOK! God says “Blessed is the man … who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on His Word day and night.” You will learn some things if you read the BOOK.

God said to Gideon that He was going to fight the battle. He told him that he, Gideon was just the channel, the hand holding the sword, the vessel He was going to work through to bring victory to Israel and glory to His name. The Angel said to him, “Gideon, listen, you are not the one bringing victory to Israel, God is!”

Understand this! Before God asks us to do anything, He has already taken care of “the who”, “the how”, “the when” and the “the where”. God comes to you with a packaged deal. He doesn’t come expecting that you and He will brainstorm until the two of you stumble on the solution or the know-how. Look at Judges 6: 11-40. For every who, how, when and where question that Gideon had, God had the answer. He came to Gideon prepared with a settled plan. God knew all what Gideon was going to say and He had the answer to all of his questions. He tried to boost Gideon’s confidence by calling him “Mighty Man of Valor” from the outset. Unfortunately Gideon’s answer was, “You’re talking to me?”

Listen my friends, God has it covered! He has to because He is a jealous God. He has never and He will never share His glory. If you can attribute anything in your life to anyone else but God then do a detailed recap, retrace your steps maybe many years back and you will come to the place where you missed it and got off track. Somewhere along the journey, you will realize it was all God to begin with and it was God who made it all happen. If you woke you this morning, it was God. If you are reading this, it is God. If you are breathing right now, it sure is God.

God positions you to bring glory and honor to His name and blessings to you. That’s all there is to it.

Never forget that God will share His glory with no man!

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