Judges 7:1-23 – Do I Have Enough?

Series: Gideon - 4 Questions of Insecurity and Idolatry
Speaker: Rev. Brandon Farquhar
Date Preached: 2026-08-16
Scripture: Judges 7:1-23

In this sermon we examine the third question of insecurity and idolatry from the story of Gideon: Do I have enough? The insecurity of idolatry would ask us to count our resources with the hope of eventually becoming self-sufficient. But God wants to grow our faith not to be self-sufficient, but dependent; replacing fear with wonder.

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So as we find our seats, we can find our way to Judges chapter 6. We're going to be on page 244 if you're using, give us a bit of a reminder of what we're we're reading about in the story of Judges. And so Judges is coming after the Exodus. And so this is after the time where God has rescued his people from Egypt and He has brought them into the Promised Land. And the story of Judges is a story that despite God rescuing his people, they have left him to serve other gods, often driven by fear. And so it's the fear that God was holding out on them in some way and they needed to do it on their own. Or maybe fear that they needed to please the local Canaanite gods and the local people. This is really what the idolatry was that they were struggling with. And so that's a big Bible word, but it's really just centering our lives around anything other than God Himself. And so whenever they would leave their loving God to fear these other things, they would fall into suffering and trouble. And then in those moments, then they would cry out to God, and God, in his generosity and his grace for them, would return, and he would raise up judges to rescue them and to call them back. He would be with them and he would provide a way, but it was often a way that would grow them in their trust for him. And that was what we've seen so far in the story of Gideon. And so Gideon is one of the judges. He's an unexpected hero in the sense that he, just like the people around him, he was insecure and oppressed in the idolatry that the people were struggling with. But we've seen that as Gideon learns to listen and learns to trust God, God has promised to make him strong and to use him to rescue his people. And so last week we left off the story of the famous test of the fleece, where Gideon throws down the fleece and he asks God time after time, will you prove yourself to me that you will indeed save Israel by my hand? And God, he was gracious to assure Gideon, and like ripples in a pond, to gather around him an army that could he could use to then rescue the people. And so this morning we pick up the reading in chapter seven and we have another test. Except this way, it seems to be a test of God for Gideon, where God would take away almost all of Gideon's army. And would that be enough? And so we're going to start reading in Judges chapter seven, beginning in verse one. Let me pray for us before we read together. Heavenly Father, would you help us as we give attention to your word, that by your spirit we would hear you speak? Be with us as we look at it together, that we would understand, and especially that we would be receptive to what you would say to us. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. And so Judges chapter seven, beginning reading in verse one. Then Jerobal, that is Gideon, and all the people who were with him, rose early and encamped beside the spring of Herod, and the camp of Midian was north of them by the hill of Morah in the valley. And the Lord said to Gideon, The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, My own hand has saved me. Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from the Mount Gilead. Then twenty two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained. And the Lord said to Gideon, The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them there for you, and any one of whom I say to you, This one shall go with you, shall go with you, and any one of whom I say to you, This one shall not go with you, shall not go. So he brought the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, Everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise everyone who kneels down to drink. And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths was three hundred men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, With the three hundred men who have lapped, I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others, every man, go to his home. So the people took provisions in their hands and their trumpets, and he sent all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, but retained the three hundred men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. That same night the Lord said to him, Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Pura, your servant, and you shall hear what they say, and afterwards your hand shall be strengthened to go down against the camp. Then he went down with Pura his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp, and the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the east lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number as a sand that is on the seashore in abundance. When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade, and he said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent and struck it, so that it fell and turned itself upside down, so that the tent lay flat. And his comrade answered, This is no other than the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given into his hand Midian in all the camp. As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshipped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand. And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and put trumpets into the hands of all who all of them in empty jars with torches inside the jars. And he said to them, Look at me and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout for the Lord and for Gideon. So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow, and they cried out, A sword for the Lord and for Gideon. Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the three hundred trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Bethshitta toward the Zerah, and as far as Abel Mohol by Tabath. And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian. This is the word of the Lord. I wonder if you caught the danger that is facing the people of Israel in this passage. The surprise is that it is not the army of the Midianites. The army who are described as being like locusts in abundance, whose camels could not be counted. No, the passage we just read, the army doesn't really seem to be to pose any threat against God, a small hurdle. No, the real danger seems to be in the hearts of the people. That God wasn't near as concerned about the physical enemy as he was about the spiritual one. That the condition of the heart of Israel is that such that he could save them, and that they could think, they could be deluded into thinking that they had saved themselves. And so the real danger is how could he provide for them without them becoming self-sufficient? This is one of the repeated stories in this book of Judges. Each time they would get into trouble and they would call out for help, and each time God would be gracious and generous to save them, restore them, to make everything okay, and then they would practically say to God, We got this now. And then they would go off again and do things their own way. I wonder if you see any of that pattern in your own life. Drawing close to rely on God when you're in need, but then growing distant from God when everything seems to be doing okay. Growing self-reliant, self-sufficient. It's one of the great dilemmas of the Christian life. How can God grow our faith, but do it in such a way that our faith doesn't grow self-sufficient? How could he grow strong faith that is also childlike? That's one of the challenges of growing up. And so perhaps you know the story of the runaway bunny. Children, do you know that story? The runaway bunny. It really should be a board book, one of those. I'm afraid our family has moved on from board books. The story about the runaway bunny, it's a story about a little bunny who's growing up, and it goes like this. It says, Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away. So he said to his mother, I'm running away. If you run away, said his mother, I will run after you, for you are my little bunny. If you run after me, said the little bunny, I will become a fish in a trout stream, and I will swim away from you. If you become a fish in a trout stream, said his mother, I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you. And so it goes. The bunny will become a goat climbing up in the Alps, and the mother will become a climber. You know, it's a story that brings out the tension of growing up. You know, for the young, the story is growing up to where they can become what? Independent. And yet it's also this question of whether we can become insecure. You know, growing up in faith, it's not the idea that God doesn't want group growth, weak faith to grow up into self-sufficient faith. And for the Israelites suffering under the hands of the Midianites, really suffering under the oppression and insecurity of the false Midianite god Baal, God didn't want their fear and their insecurity to be replaced then by self-sufficiency. The goal when they're in trouble is not for them to grow up to take care of themselves. But growing up in faith would be about growing in dependence. Not about growing beyond trust, but growing in trust. And I think this difference between self-sufficiency and dependence is what I think God would like to teach us this morning from this passage. That there is a contrast between what it looks like when we center our lives in faith around God versus centering our lives around anything else that would take his place. It changes the question. You see, idolatry would want us to ask the question, do I have enough? With the goal being self-sufficiency. That if we work the system, if we serve whatever idols we have until the point that we have and we get what we need. But ultimately, this type of approach would make us insecure. Never enough. While God, on the other hand, would have us ask this question of, do I have enough? With the goal of learning dependence on Him. The goal of actually finding great security. And so there's our big question for this morning in our series in getting. We're asking these four questions of idolatry. Am I accepted? Am I too much? And then this morning, do we have enough? And so this morning we have a twist: enough to be dependent. That's the goal, is that we would have enough to be dependent. And so we're going to look at two parts of our passage this morning. We're just going to split it up this way. And we're going to look at two changes that go on in Gideon's life. First, the change of the question, and then secondly, the change of the vision. And so the change of the question. And so God wants to change the question from do I have enough? to then is God enough? You see, do I have enough is really that question of the desire to be self-sufficient, to be okay on our own, to do it our way? It's the question behind much of the idolatry that comes into our life. It's a question that would always leave us insecure with no answer, never having enough. If you know me, you may know that one of my favorite movies is The Greatest Showman. As I was thinking about this, it's actually something Helen and I first connected on years ago when we first met. And so if you don't like the movie, don't tell me. It says more about you than it does me, but it's a great story. It's a bit exaggerated. A story of B P. T. Barnum's rise to fame. And there's one song in this movie that kind of gets played over and over again. It's kind of an anthem. And it's a song, it's called Never Enough. And so I'm not going to sing it for you, but let me just read some of the lyrics. I'm trying to hold my breath, let it stay this way, can't let the moment end. You set off a dream in me. It's getting louder now. Can you hear it echoing? Take my hand, will you share this with me? Because, darling, without you, all the shine of a thousand spotlights, all the stars that we steal from the night sky will never be enough. Never be enough. Towers of gold are still too little. These hands could hold the world, but it'll never be enough. Never be enough. And so as the movie goes on, the song it kind of spins out and takes on this darker meaning about dissatisfaction and loneliness that comes when you quest of always wanting more and finding that it's never enough. Never enough. And so this is really the dark melody of idolatry. This is the sentimental song that our idols would teach us that would eventually spin out and spin down into a life that never has enough. Promising that if you just buy in enough, if you give enough, if you work enough, if you have enough, and then the deeper and deeper you go, you realize it's never enough. You see, in this way, idolatry, it doesn't satisfy the deepest longings of our heart. And so even though God is raising up Gideon to rescue his people from the Midianites, his real task is to try to rescue them from the Midianite gods, from the idolatry that they bring. So look down with me in verse 1. We see it there at the very beginning. Notice chapter 7, verse 1. Then Jirabbal, that is the one who contends with Baal. That is Gideon. Remember, Gideon had had his name changed at the end of chapter 6, and the name was changed to bring about the spiritual battle going on. And so Gideon and all these people, they rise up early, they're ready to meet the day, and the author he wants us to know what's really going on. This is about Jirabbal, who will contend against Baal? There's going to be a fight, and it may not be the one we expect. The battle against Midian is really a battle against Baal. And so will Gideon be the one to fight? Well, notice when we get down in verse 2, the military generals they might be asking the question: do we have enough, right? That's a fair question to ask when you're going out into battle. Do we have enough soldiers? Do we have enough resources? But notice that the question that God asks: Do you have too many? Look down in verse 2. The Lord said to Gideon, The people with you are too many. They're too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel boast over me, saying, My own hand has saved me. And so here's that problem from the book of Judges. How could God be gracious to his people? How could he consistently extend his hand to save them when they consistently turn away? You see, he had to turn their questions around. Instead of that insecure question of idolatry, do I have enough? Self-sufficient? Ultimately separated from God. Here's the better question: Is God enough? Who would contend with Baal? See, at the end of chapter 6, Gideon had tested God, and now God would have some testing of his own. And so he begins to reveal the insecurity of the people. And so how does God whittle down the army? Look down in verse 3. Now therefore, proclaim in the ears of the people whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home. Hurry away from Mount Gilead. And just like that, two-thirds of the army returns home. That's kind of an interesting question, as we've seen Gideon kind of acting on a fear or mus of this chapter. You see, God, he has a way of nurturing weak faith, but it's much harder to deal with self-sufficient faith. And so he exposes the reality of the Israelites who would think that they could do it on their own. And really, the word there for hurry away, it's kind of a rare one. It seems to be something like the twittering of a bird, fly away. That God is testing to reveal what's really there, that in the face of battle, depending on themselves, they would run away, they would fly away. And so God makes it obvious. And then in verse 4, well, it's still too many. Notice the question again, not do you have enough, but do you have too many? Still too many, and so God will continue to test. And it becomes more obvious here. The word for test is really the word refine. It's to burn down and to see what's really there, to expose the impurities, the imperfections, not to ruin, but to purify. And so I want to note, I don't think we're really meant to discover anything about why some drink one way and some drink another. And so you could try to speculate whether it's like being battle ready, do you still have your sword ready, things like that. The passage really gives us no indication of any of that. Because notice that this is not a Spartan 300 thing we're going for here. This is not choosing the 300 of the best and the bravest. No, this is choosing the least, the 300, the number, the smallest number that the people could handle and not be self-sufficient. This was God testing the men for Gideon, refining the artemy down for Gideon. They were still too many. It's almost as if Israel couldn't handle being rescued by an army of 10,000. As we'll see later, this army that they're up against, from what we can tell, is probably 130,000 Midianites facing them. This is the security, the self-sufficiency of the Israelites, that even if they had 10,000 against 130,000, that would be too many for them to handle. Surely they would boast and think they did it by themselves. And so if Israel is going to grow in dependence on God, he would need to free them from themselves. One pastor said it this way that we need to be freed from the insufficiency of self-sufficiency. That we need to be freed from the insufficiency of self-sufficiency. I wonder if you've ever experienced that type of test from God in your life. A process of refinement where God would change the question from do I have enough to is God enough? And no doubt, God would test us, not to ruin us, but to refine us, to purify us. Think back from our first reading with Peter's interaction with Jesus on the water. In his weak faith, Peter, Jesus, he reaches out to Peter and Jesus doesn't leave him there. Why did you doubt? It's not a question of shame, but one of investigation. You see, God, he tests our faith not to poke holes, but to change our perspective. Not about if we have enough, not even about having enough faith, but who we're looking at. You see, for Peter, he wasn't suddenly rejecting Jesus. Instead, the other things around him just seemed to have gotten bigger. Outside of the boat, the winds and the waves, that's what it says. He looked and he saw them. And that childlike faith of looking to Jesus and that's all that mattered, it got clouded out by self-sufficiency. Can I really do this? And so chapter 7, it began with this question of dubbable. Would Baal contend? But more important, would God contend? Would he fight for his people so that they would come back in faith and in trust? Could he do it even as he has fought for Gideon? Could he do it in such a way that not only would he rescue them from the physical situation of the Midianites, but would he even rescue their hearts from the idolatry of Baal? What a balance God has to work with here. You know, on the one hand, insecure, weak faith from Gideon that needs continued assurance, and yet self-sufficient faith that needs refinement. And God does this balance so well. It's almost as even as God is testing and refining, taking Gideon's army away with one hand, he is, as it were, then reassuring and rescuing with the other. You see, even as he has changed the question, do I have enough? He's also going to change Gideon's vision so that he could see the answer. So let's move on to our second point: a change in vision. And so a change of the question has led to a change in the vision, that God he wants to change our vision from trusting only what we can see and understand to then sharing God's vision for what he can and will do. And so, God, he had refined Gideon's army down, and now he needs to deal with Gideon himself. Look down, verse 9. That same night the Lord said to him, Arise and go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. I just want you to realize at this point that God has been abundantly gracious and clear with Gideon over and over again, speaking amazing words of reassurance. Gideon, you strong and mighty warrior. Gideon, I have given them into your hands. Gideon, I have gathered your army for you. And look what God still knows about Gideon, verse 10. But if you're afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Perra, your servant. If you're afraid. Yep. It kind of brings out the question why is Gideon still here? Maybe he should have gone home with the rest. You see, there's still a flaw in the courage of the army, and it starts at the top. And it's kind of funny, I think, that if this one servant going down is going to make all the difference. Can you imagine? Talk to some of our friends who have been in the military, ask them if this is how it's done. You're gonna go out on this patrol, and if you're afraid, take some servants with you. You see, getting a very Unexpected hero. But here he is, the night scouting mission, they go and in verse 12, Gideon and Perrh, they find the enemy army. Notice the description, they're along the valley like locusts in abundance, their camels were without number as the sand that is on the seashore. And so this is similar to the vision that we had at the beginning of chapter 6, where they describe the repeated situation year after year after year. This is what happened. The Midianites would come down in abundance like locusts, and they would take over and terrorize the land. And so that's what Gideon is seeing. And yet, against this backdrop of this overwhelming vision, Gideon, he just happens. Notice we're told again, again, behold, behold, notice what happens. He just happens to overhear a different vision. Verse 13. We have some random Midianite soldier. He's telling a dream where a cake of bread tumbles down into the camp and destroys a tent. It's ridiculous. And then in verse 14, it's interpreted by another Midianite soldier to mean obviously, it's so clear. Obviously, it means that God has given Midian into the hands of Gideon. And finally, Gideon gets it. Verse 15, as soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And so he returns to the camp of Israel and says, Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand. And I think if you're anything like me, you just kind of have to do like the face palm. Really? This is it? The angel of the Lord visited you? That wasn't enough. You tested the fleece wet dry? That wasn't enough. God said, with 300 you'll be victorious? Nope, not enough. Midi night vision about the battle of the barley loaf, time to go. But he does get it. And how we know is that he worships God because the promise has for him become the reality. Notice what he says, verse 15, end of verse 15, arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand. It hasn't happened yet, but for Midian, for Gideon, as his faith begins to grow, the promise becomes as good as reality. His vision has changed, and so his response has changed. And so we're getting to the action now. Remember, this is the classic Gideon story that we know and love. And so Gideon, he comes up with a plan and a chant. It's a wise plan. There's some deception and confusion. They're going to surround the Midianite army. They're going to use lights and noise. They're going to throw them off. Verse 20. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hand the torches and in their right hands the trumpets to blow, and they cried out, a sword for the Lord and for Gideon. And you want to pay special attention here because here comes the charge. Verse 21. Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. And just like that, it's over. The hero Gideon, this seems to be the extent of his courageous moment. It's almost like all Gideon had to do was show up. Maybe another story of when Michael Jordan scored 69 points, a career high for him. This was in 1990 against uh the Cleveland Cavaliers, overtime victory. Jordan 69 points, 23 of 27 from the field, 18 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, and a block. That's why he's the GOAT. Anyway, after the game, they were talking to one of the rookies, Stacey King, who played in the game, and they asked Stacy how what was the game like playing, and he'll say, he says, I'll always remember this is the night when Michael and I scored 70 points. It seems as though that's what it was like for Gideon. All he had to do was show up. And so I wonder if the question might be for us, whether we're open to God refining our faith to transform our question of, do I have enough? The question of insecurity, to then, is God enough? To change our vision so that as we step out, we're not counting the resources, but considering, as the words of Paul says, if God is for us, who can be against us? And notice how will you know the result of this change of vision? Well, here it is a question of worship. What do we center our lives around? That there will no doubt be times in our life when God rescues us from a situation and circumstances that are oppressing us, that are causing us insecurity, but actually his larger and more beautiful goal is to rescue us from the oppression and insecurity of idolatry. The inner pangs of the question Am I accepted? Am I too much? Do I have enough? And God would change those questions from the vision of self-sufficiency, being enough on our own, to then wonder, worship, being amazed at what God has done. Notice the difference there. It's the question from having enough, an issue of worth, do I have enough? To then a question of faith, an issue of worship. Is he enough? Recently there was an article titled Happiness is a Trap. It describes it like this it says, throughout modern history and with little contesting, happiness has been seen as the end goal and just reward for a life of laudable toil. And it goes on to describe how companies have added CHOs, chief happiness officer. And you can look up a world happiness report and see where you rank. The article goes on, it says, now the positive thinking movement, abundance theory, and any number of self-help genres see some form of happiness as the primary objective and something we can achieve if we just try hard enough. Sound familiar? If you just try hard enough. As the writer goes on at the end, he suggests a better goal. The better goal, he says, is wonder. But he describes wonder in this way. Wonder is what they describe as a dually balanced emotion, and so two sides. It's an emotion that can hold together complex and sometimes opposite emotions, that actually seeking after happiness isn't robust enough for real life. You need one that is able to deal with the complexity of real life. And so the author suggests that wonder is one of the ones you need. That sounds a whole lot like what we get in worship. It sounds a whole lot like the refinement that God brings into our life as we understand the word of the gospel through the cross, where the questions get changed. And so remember that when we look at the cross as we come together on a Sunday morning, what do we admit? Do you have enough? No. Are you enough? No. Remember what Paul says? All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Falling short, there's an extreme emotion. And yet on the cross, Paul also says that we are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. See, justified, declared right, enough. Redeemed, restored of value, have enough. You see, the goal of God in growing our faith is not to grow our faith to be self-sufficient or independent, like a child growing up to move away. No, the goal of our faith is to be growing in dependence, to love and to value the vision and the wonder of being at home within God's care. That's generally how the story of the greatest showman ends. That at the end of it, P. T. Barnum, he kind of ends realizing that chasing worldly success has never been enough. Never enough. And so at the end he reflects and he's come home and he's kind of learning his lesson, and this is what he says. Once again in song, but I'll spare you. He says, I drank champagne with kings and queens, the politicians praise my name. But those are someone else's dreams, the pitfalls of the man I became. For years and years I chased their cheers, the crazy speed of always needing more. But when I stop and I see you here, I remember who all this was for. He's basically describing the insecurity of chasing dreams, and he says it was someone else's dreams. Well, let me tell you the truth. Those dreams are the dreams of the devil. Do it my way apart from God. And instead, God wants us to come home and to find our fulfillment, our confidence with him. Not am I enough? Have I grown up enough? But is he enough? And the movie ends with the scene of P.T. Barnum sitting home with his wife and his family, sitting at the theater actually watching ballet. It's a picture of wonder. Everything you want, everything you need, is here right in front of you. You see, this is what Gideon learned. That with God, the victory was right there. So a question for us as we come to an end. Will you trust God to keep you at home? You're not meant to grow up and to grow out. Not meant to seek your fortune in the world, so to speak. Could it be that God has carefully given you not enough to be self-sufficient, but just enough to be dependent? With Gideon and the Israelites, it's almost as if 301 soldiers would have been too much. And so could it be true for us as well? That God would give just enough resources, just enough success, just enough satisfaction, just enough so that it would raise our vision to see God who is enough and who is in wonder worthy of our worship. I think this might be a helpful message for us as we end this year and prepare for our next ministry year. That our goal as a church plant is not to grow to have enough resources. We will plan wisely, we will look at what God has given us, but perhaps our vision needs to be one of dependence. A life of dependence on God is not one of insecurity, but one of wonder. Of wondering what God will do. Of wondering how his sufficiency would find its mark and carry out his mission here and among us in Norwalk. And so let's pray that God will do that as we continue on together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the story of Gideon and how, in some ways, it really meets us in our need and in our humanity. But we thank you, Lord, that we don't have to go to Gideon, but we can go to the Lord Jesus, who in our humanity actually went to the cross and was enough. And so we pray that as we continue on in our service, as we come to your table, that we will come and receive your continued grace for us. That even as we would confess, it would not be our resources, but our dependence on you. And so be with us, we pray, through your word and spirit. Amen.