Trumpet...jar....God, what else could you need?

Judges 7:16 Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.
17 "Watch me," he told them. "Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do.
22 When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords.

With camels as thick as the sands of the sea…do we know how many thousands of men there were? Regardless, God chose to narrow the men to 300, because he didn’t want Israel to boast of its own power and might.

So God chose the men for Gideon, and apparently instructed Gideon to arm the men with a trumpet and an empty jar…with a torch inside. "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!". With the Midianites already hearing the prophetic dream…this caused such confusion/chaos that the men turn on themselves and the Lord delivered them into the hands of Gideons 300 man army…armed with only a trumpet and jar….

I often think of my own abilities and strengths...and it seems to be when I use them… I struggle with not taking credit. Pride. God knows this. But when I am a part of a larger effort…where I am totally at someone else’s mercy, when they tell me….just do as I do… and I try… I get none of the glory.

So not only had God narrowed the troops from thousands to 300….these fighting men, were reduced again to following the leading of God through Gideon. Can you imagine walking into a fighting situation with only a trumpet and a jar? Yet they were obedient.

Moment of transparency, I gotta be honest with you…. I feel like this all the time. What I knew before coming to ANC…is out the window. All the experience, all the confidence in what I “thought” I knew….about church and ministry…..gone. I wake up everyday, pick up my trumpet and my jar and go to work. God gets any and all glory for what goes on….at least in my little area of ministry, because he is teaching me things about me….I never knew.