And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,
The thing about people is that we have always followed the Lord imperfectly, if at all.
I find in this text the roots of our tradition of military chaplaincy, and evidence of our failure to completely trust and obey the Lord.
My observation as a believer is that we are always in some stage of this conflict.
- We trust
- We obey but
- We only do it to a point
God help us get past the point.
Before a battle, they were to call upon a priest to encourage the troops. They were to remind the soldiers that God was with them and that they could expect him to fight against their enemies. The soldiers needed to believe that their enemy was God’s enemy.
They were to expect sacrifice
The passage speaks of those excused from combat lest they die. Though God was with them, and He would fight for them, there would still be loss. Even loss of life.
The faint hearted were to be sent home
I have never heard of an army doing this. At one time, they would have been branded cowards and executed. In our day, they would be court-martialed and imprisoned. It’s a point people don’t seem to trust God with. It seems impractical, impossible to believe that we can send home the fearful without losing needed resources. On the contrary, as Gideon learned, we can be merciful to those afraid to fight.
This principle applies to all the Word of God. We can trust God even with those areas of Scripture that seem impractical and impossible to comply. Perhaps if we trusted God in those places we could not possibly see how we can trust God, we would experience more Gideon-like blessings.
To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.
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