A Lesson in God’s Ways
by George H. Warnock
A saviour for Egypt
Consider the man Joseph. Destined of the Lord to preserve life in the earth in the day of famine. But God deliberately allows him to be sold as a captive into Egypt. His brothers make a deliberate attempt to frustrate the dreams that he had. When God speaks, and we know it is God, how assuring to know that anything man might do to hinder what God has declared… God Himself will carefully weave their evil intentions into the pattern of His purpose, and literally use the evil designs of men to fulfill what He has declared.
A deliverer for Israel
Consider Israel in their bondage. The same God who arranged the stage for the preservation of His people in Egypt in the time of famine, must now arrange the stage for their deliverance some four hundred years later. This time the purposes of God were wrapped up in a little baby named Moses. Yet behold the “weakness” and the “foolishness” of God’s ways. He puts it in the heart of Amram and Jochebed to make a little fragile ark out of flimsy reeds, and set the ark adrift on the backwaters of the Nile! What foolishness! And yet what majesty of wisdom For God had it all arranged: Moses, the great Deliverer, was to be reared in the house of Pharaoh; and Moses’ mother, from a very poor and enslaved family, would be paid wages for nursing her very own son. And so the ONE CHILD in all Israel upon whom the special purposes of God rested would be raised with the protection of the power of Egypt… while at the same time all the wrath of Pharaoh was poured upon the little captive nation, and the male children of Israel were being slain.
A crippled army against the Canaanites
Consider the second generation of Israel, after the Exodus. God would take a people, unskilled in the art of war, into a land that was inhabited with powerful enemies, and drive them out. But weak as Israel was, God would weaken the nation still further: not while they were on the Eastern side of Jordan in relative safety, but after they had crossed over and had encamped right opposite Jericho, God commanded that all the young men in the nation were to be circumcised. And all at one time. Thus all the armies of Israel, weak as they were, were for a time completely incapacitated and left totally exposed to the enemies in the land. With what result? The terror of the Lord gripped the inhabitants of Jericho, and they locked and barred the gates in fear of the miracle-working God of Israel.
Again, consider their war tactics. Priests in white robes and carrying a little box covered with gold, and blowing trumpets… marching about Jericho every day… and on the seventh day going about seven times. Foolishness? But God used this kind of foolishness and weakness to terrify the enemy and to cause the walls of Jericho to fall flat.
A barley loaf against the Midianites
Consider the man Gideon. Israel had been oppressed by the Midianites for a long time. Any grain that they were able to grow was snatched away by the enemy as soon as it was harvested. God appeared to Gideon and gave him a charge to wage war against the enemy and deliver his people. And so naturally Gideon began to muster the army… not too many responded, but he had a word from God and Gideon took courage with the handful that came to the battle. He only had 32,000 men compared to the hosts of Midian which numbered about 135,000. But God looked at Gideon’s little army and announced: “You have too many…” Good Christian leaders everywhere are trying to mobilize the forces of Christianity to wage warfare against the forces of evil; but God comes on the scene and begins to demobilize. Twenty-two thousand went home out of fear… they might die in battle and lose all. But once again God looked down and said, “You still have too many…” What would Gideon do now? God Himself would single out the ones that would qualify for His army, and 9,700 more were sent home. God said, “All you need are the 300 I have left with you… this way I will get all the Glory.” God likened Gideon’s little band to a “barley loaf” and with that flimsy, insignificant little army God would destroy all the armed might of the Midianites, 135,000 strong. How we need to learn God’s Way!
First published 1982, Canada. Fifth Printing 2002. Available from: George H. Warnock PO Box 652 Cranbrook BC Canada V1C 4J2