I’ve never been in a fight, but from what I understand, the biggest group with the toughest guys normally wins.

Except in the case of Gideon. He is the self-proclaimed weakest person in his family, and he comes from the scrawniest family around. But God promises to win a battle with him and his 32,000 men. That is, until God decides that’s too big of an army.

Judges 7:3
Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight.

God decided to use 10,00 men instead of 32,000. That’s a pretty substantial decrease.

It doesn’t stop there.

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God says something along the lines of, “Gideon, that’s still too many! Go to the river and only take the crazy ones with you, the real Neanderthals who drink the water like a dog and lap it up with their tongues—the ones likely missing large parts of their brains. All I need is 300 scrubs.”

Let’s take a timeout here. God has effectively asked Gideon to fight with a Swiss Army Knife instead of a convoy of tanks–and Gideon obeys.

Then, in typical God fashion, Gideon’s army goes to battle and defeats the Midianites with less than 1% of the original army and no weapons but trumpets and torches.

How do you win a battle with 1% of your army using only trumpets and torches? With faith in God.

No military leader in their right mind would ever send 99% of their army home before a battle and only take instruments and flaming sticks. Unless God is the one leading the army.

God gets more glory when things are unexplainable apart from Him.

When things are so tight financially that only a miracle can fix it, when things are so wrecked only His hand can rescue it, when things are totally and completely beyond human repair, God gets all the glory when things are redeemed.

• When a marriage is on the brink of divorce, don’t think God can’t turn it all around.
• If the doctors have only given you months to live, don’t think God isn’t bigger than a timeline.
• When money is so short you don’t know how you’ll eat tomorrow, don’t think God isn’t bigger than your next day.

God can do far more with 1% and a grain of faith than we could ever do with all the resources in the world trying to make things happen on our own.

God works best when time is short, when resources are scarce, and when things are overwhelming. In those moments, He only requires faith.