Remote Places

“The Lord said to Gideon, ‘You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength’” (Judges 7.2 NLT).

Before God poured His power mightily through Gideon’s leadership, He took great care to ensure that Gideon would be the underdog. Gideon obediently handed over his authority to God’s hand and watched as God stacked the cards against him. By the world’s standard, Gideon would not accomplish the task for which God anointed him. It is interesting that the very same God who called Gideon to victory also put Gideon in a losing position. Gideon would need a miracle to win his God-ordained battle. Many times God leads us into ”remote places” in order to perform a miracle. God plants promises in our horizon, but the Holy Spirit seems to lead us into a desert land of obedience. We willingly walk into a wilderness void of our dreams, only to watch God saturate the dry land with His abundance. When we hold onto our hope in Christ even against impossible odds, God will fulfill His promises. And we will give Him all the glory because only He can achieve the impossible–only He can make something out of nothing.

“Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to him and said, ‘Send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place.’ But Jesus said, ‘You feed them’” (Luke 9.12-13a NLT).