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

†..Old becoming New..†

Some may choose to ignore the Old Testament of the bible,

for many reasons, after all the New Testament is

so much easier to read and understand(for the most part).

But the Old Testament is very important to understand,

for through the Old Testament you truly come to understand

the establishment of the "New Covenant", you understand

the cost and the price that had to be paid.

Not only that, but you come to understand just what sin is

and how God expects us to live. For just because

Christ in blood paid the price for every sin we would

ever commit does not mean the law doesn't matter,

It was Paul who said in Romans:

"I would not have known what sin was except

through the law. For I would not have known what coveting

really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."

Romans 7:7

In the Old Testament God gave Moses orders,

and he told Moses the people would have to

give "offerings" for the forgiveness of sins...

I.E sacrificing animals or giving grain offerings.

Anytime a person sinned they would have to not

only confess their sins but also give, more often

then not, a blood offering by sacrificing an animal

and the priests would sprinkle the blood on the altar.

God said he would then forgive the persons sin, and he did,

But the overwhelming truth is NOW through Jesus Christ

he paid the price to wash away our sins for GOOD!

If God forgave people who sinned by accepting the blood of an

animal, how much more are we sanctified by the

blood of CHRIST?!

"But only the high priest entered the inner room,

and that only once a year, and never without blood,

which he offered for himself and for the sins the people

had committed in ignorance.

The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the

way into the Most Holy Place had not yet

been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle

was still standing. This is an illustration for

the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices

being offered were not able to clear the conscience

of the worshipper. They are only a matter of food

and drink and various ceremonial washings-

external regulations applying until the time of

the new order.

When Christ came as high priest of the

good things that are already here, he went

through the greater and more perfect tabernacle

that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part

of this creation. He did not enter by means of

the blood of goats and calves; but he

entered the Most Holy Place once for all

by his own blood, having obtained eternal

redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and

the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who

are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so

that they are outwardly clean.

How much more then, will the blood of Christ,

who through eternal Spirit offered himself

unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts

that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God.

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant,

that those who are called may receive the promised

eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom

to set them free from the sins committed under the

first covenant."

Hebrews 9:7-15

I've said it before and I'll say it again,

the more we come to understand Gods love the

more we come to understand just how much we are not

deserving of it. We are all sinners, and we all fall down

but a price has already been paid for each and everyone

of us, I do not say this to give you an excuse to keep sinning...

I say this so you don't take the price that Christ paid

for granted. I say it for myself also, so that we may

strive to live as we should live, with Faith

that will not falter and with the love of Christ

that will never die.

Don't say God can't possibly forgive you,

because he already has...Christ paid the price

and instead of saying He was not enough...

it should make you rise up with the

fire of his all consuming love and strive

to not live for yourself but to live for HIM.