1 Corinthians 1:27 and Gideon

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world

to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak

things of the world to confound the things which

are mighty.

1 Corinthians 1:27

There's many things one could say about that verse

in Corinthians. One main factor is obviously

'through God all things are possible'

you could study years and years

study books upon books, know everything

in the world there is to know, and

you can still be absolutely clueless in Gods eyes.

You could understand anything and everything

and still be completely dumbfounded when it comes

to God.You could quote scripture after scripture,

memorize verse after verse and still

not understand.

In the bible God always seemed to choose the people

to work through, that in the worlds eyes,

just seemed completely ridiculous.

God chooses people to work through

that may not seem like the logical choice

because he wants it known that it is HIM working

and not the person themselves.

Moses wasn't exactly the most eloquent of speakers,

and yet God chose him to lead his people out of Egypt.

And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord,

I [am] not eloquent, neither heretofore,

nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant:

but I [am] slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth?

or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind?

have not I the LORD? Now therefore go,

and I will be with thy mouth,

and teach thee what thou shalt say.

Exodus 4:10-12

Jeremiah claimed he was just a child..

Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak:

for I [am] a child. But the LORD said unto me, Say not,

I [am] a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee,

and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak

Jeremiah 1:6-7

and the same can be said about Paul in the

New Testament.

Or how about David... the youngest of the family..

the least of his brothers, and God chose him to lead

his people. David wasn't some mighty warrior who God

looked upon and said:

"Well obviously I'll choose David to be King"

God chose David because of his heart and then

made him into a mighty warrior.

The Lord told Samuel when he looked

upon Davids older brother (who Samuel figured

would be Gods choice. )

But the LORD said unto Samuel,

Look not on his countenance,

or on the height of his stature;

because I have refused him:

for [the LORD seeth] not as man seeth;

for man looketh on the outward appearance,

but the LORD looketh on the heart

1 Samuel 16:7

The same could be said for Gideon,

who was the least in his fathers house..

yet God chose him to save Israel from

the Midianites. Gideon himself couldn't

believe it...God had to show him a couple

signs, for Gideon to actually believe

God chose him.

And the LORD looked upon him, and said,

Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel

from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?

And he said unto him, Oh my Lord,

wherewith shall I save Israel?

behold, my family [is] poor in Manasseh,

and I [am] the least in my father's house.

And the LORD said unto him,

Surely I will be with thee,

and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.

Judges 6:14-16

Gideon was like...me God? save Israel?

are you crazy? I'm poor..I'm no warrior...

hell, I'm not even the best choice in my

own family...and yet you choose me

of all people.

Gideon had God give him a couple signs,

and of course God came through, and Gideon

realized that God truly would work through him

to save Israel. So Gideon gathers the Israelites

together, and gets as many as he can find to

fight for God and Israel and they number up to 32,000

men. Then God says to Gideon...

"Hmm..you have to many men, Israel

would just boast and say they

saved themselves,

so tell anyone who is afraid to turn back"

and what happens? 22 thousand men leave..

First of all, lets establish the fact that 32,000

men wasn't "logically" to many men, as the Israelites

were facing a vast army of uncountable men...

So Gideon must of been like:

"Seriously God? too many? we don't have enough!"

but he did what God told him to do, and he is

now left with only 10 thousand men to fight up

against a huge force of well trained armored

soldiers. God then says..

"Uh...you know what? there is still

to many of you"

Gideon must of been besides himself when

once again God tells him he has to many men,

and he sends more home until there is only Gideon

and 300 men.

And the LORD said unto Gideon,

By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you,

and deliver the Midianites into thine hand:

and let all the [other] people go every man unto his place.

Judges 7:7

I'm sure Gideon was completely freaking out,

I mean 300 men against thousands upon thousands

is insane. Thats probably why God gave Gideon some

comfort when he told Gideon to follow his

servant Phurah and go just outside of the Midianites

camp and listen to them talking.

Gideon overhears a man telling another man

his dream, and the other man interprets

the dream to mean that God has given their

whole camp into the hands of Gideon and

the Israelites.

Gideon was put at ease after hearing that.

It obviously comes to pass that God through Gideon does

take out the Midianites, and

God did what he said he was going to do and he

saved Israel by the hands of Gideon. God made

sure by cutting down the israelite numbers that he

would be glorified. He also chose a man that

wasn't a big bad warrior, in fact he chose

a man that was unsure of himself and

was in fear right up until the last minute

Which brings us full circle back to the

verse...

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world

to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak

things of the world to confound the things which

are mighty.

1 Corinthians 1:27

I love the story of Gideon in the bible...

it's Judges 6-8