On Break your Pitcher (part one), I began to draw a didactic parallel between Gideon’s story and our Christian life. As I proceed, I will bring the analogy to a conclusion in the hope to leave some divine prints on your mind and heart.
The ground rule of Christianity
Without a doubt, the story of Gideon illustrates the fundamental principle upon which the Christian life pivots, namely, our need of divine assistance. Now, as strange as it may appear, that need is by no means obvious to the carnal mind, for it can only be unbosomed through the recognition of our absolute insufficiency. The apostle Paul couldn’t have put it any clearer when he wrote:
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Cor. 3:5).
As I mentioned on my last post, when it comes to the Christian life the power must be of God and not of us. When this is recognized and understood—not through academic prowess but through heartfelt prayers and fellowship with God—then, and only then, the Christian life can manifest itself. The story of Gideon exemplifies accurately this fundamental principle, and we will do well if we pay attention to it and draw practical lessons from its challenges.
The torch
So let’s pick up where we left off.
Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers.” (Judges 7:16)
Gideon put the trumpets and the empty pitchers in the hands of His three hundred men. But notice, inside the pitcher there was a torch, i.e., there was light inside the pitcher. This is precisely what we read in 2 Cor. 4:6,7:
For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”
Therefore nothing has really changed. Inside our pitcher there is a torch, and all genuine Christians have it. Hence, all of us are equipped to execute God’s plan, for we have the necessary tools, viz., the trumpet, the pitcher, and the torch.
“Look at me and do likewise”
When everything was ready, Gideon executed the plan.
“Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers. And he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do.” (Judges 7:16,17)
This “Look at me and do likewise” is vital for any spiritual achievement, at least that is what Jesus affirms in John’s gospel:
Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19).
Now, if Jesus’ ministry was based on observing the Father working, what about us? How can we pretend independence when Jesus expressed dependence? How can we purport to have initiative when Jesus had none of it? The Father was the One initiating everything. Jesus was simply following the Father’s doing.
Spiritual sight & ministry
According to Jesus, spiritual sight is indispensable to minister effectively: “the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do”. It follows that in a state of blindness nothing valuable or eternal can be done. One might dash in and out and work exceedingly, but without sight the result is doomed from the very start.
The tragedy nowadays is that many of our so-called Christian ministers are blind men, or men suffering from myopia. We have come to believe that Bible schools have the ability to produce competent ministers and that diplomas are sufficient to be spiritually productive, ergo, many are with their diplomas, running and sweating, preaching and working, and few have time to contemplate God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ, or to see the Father at work as Jesus saw Him. Let it be forever remembered: Our ministry cannot be greater than what we see from the Father.
The psalmist had come to the same conclusion:
Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He has mercy on us” (Psalm 123:1,2).
So Gideon told his followers: “Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do.” We, as they, must watch the One who leads. Our experience, as amazing as it may appear, is altogether insufficient. The same is true about our human charisma or our clever modernities. We need to watch the One who leads and follow His every move.
Overpowering the Midianites
“So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers—they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing—and they cried, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” (Judges 7: 19,20).
So when Gideon and his men came to the outpost of the enemy’s camp they did three things: They blew the trumpet, broke their pitchers to let the light out, and at last they cried: “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!”
Now, as we have seen, our physical body is like an earthen vessel (2 Cor. 4:7), and as Jesus was broken for us we must also be broken if we want to manifest God’s light. In Psalm 31:12 David refers to himself as a broken vessel, and the person who summits himself to the dealing of God will experience the same end.
Now, it is important to understand the nature of the light hidden in our earthen vessel. We read in John 1:4 “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Therefore, as far as God is concerned, there is no light if there is no life, because the life of God is the light of God. Hence, when the apostle Paul writes about the manifestation of the life of Jesus, he infers the manifestation of the light of God. Pay attention to his words:
… always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.” (2 Cor. 4:10,11)
So here we have it: Our pitcher must be broken to let the light out; there is no other alternative. To have the trumpet, the pitcher, and the light in the pitcher is not sufficient. By themselves these indispensable elements will bring no result. Ultimately, our pitcher must be broken. There resides the problem of the Church. We can pray for revival for years and decades, but if we refuse to be broken nothing will ensue, our Potential will remain enclosed and ineffective.
The cry
At last, Gideon and his men cried, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” Here we have absolute conviction. There is no hesitation or vacillation. The mind is fixed and the heart focused on victory. This sort of assurance doesn’t grow in the infertile ground of disobedience nor on the slopes of a frigid heart, but only in the soul that recognizes its need of assistance and yearns for grace coming from above. Yes! Only amidst struggle and persistence can the shout of conviction be engendered, and believe me, it can shake armies.
(Foto de Jeremy Bishop en Pexels)
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