The Army Of Gideon
One of the great biblical lessons on cooperation is found in Judges 7:1-25. Please take the time to read the entire account. I want to focus in this paragraph on verses 19-21, “So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.20: And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon. 21: And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.”
Here are some very important points about cooperation that are seen in these events.
- Gideon trusted God and cooperated with him. This is the most important point about any human cooperation – we must cooperate with God. We must do things His way (obedience). We must trust his knowledge, wisdom and providence. Many who are great team players on earth never learn or believe in the importance of cooperating with God. What a waste for humans to follow principles of the Creator, but leave the Creator out of their life.
- Every man did his part. No one can be in every place to do everything that needs to be done. But everyone can choose to do his part in the place that he occupies. The very idea of cooperation implies that one person cannot do it all. I can and must do my part or the whole project will be flawed, perhaps fail. Consider how far apart each man was from the next in this strategy as only three hundred men surrounded a camp in which “Midianites and Amalekites…lay along like grasshoppers for multitude: and their camels…as the sand by the seaside for multitude” (Judges 7:12). It would be very doubtful the men of Gideon could see one another in the dark. They knew only to do their job. A gap in the line might have caused the Midianites to rush to that spot thinking it was a way of escape. Cooperation made this battle a success.
- Every man counted on the other men to do their part. That is the essence of cooperation – trusting the others to do their part. Each of these soldiers was depending on each other soldier to blow his trumpet and reveal his light. God, our Commander, is counting on each Christian soldier to do his part in the battle. It is when the church works together, each part of the body providing its strength and cooperation to every other part, that God’s work is accomplished.
- The results of the few, working together, was greater than even the many would have expected. Cooperation always brings results that go beyond the original goals. If nothing else, we develop camaraderie, a true feeling of brotherhood.
Please remember or slogan: “Cooperation gets the job done.”