seem to us to have been too few, for
literally a multitude of Midianites stood against him. But we go wrong
so often by applying human arithmetic to divine decrees. It is said
that when Napoleon marched with his soldiers he was counted as being
equal to 40,000 of his men, and so, after all, it is not a question of
numbers with God, but of the few men whom he can use.

The test by means of which Gideon's army was decreased was remarkable.
In Judges, the seventh chapter and the second to seventh verses, we
read, "And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are
too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel
vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now
therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever
is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount
Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and
there remained ten thousand. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people
are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them
for thee there; and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This
shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I
say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So
he brought down the people unto the water; and the Lord said unto
Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog
lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth
down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped,
putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men; but all the
rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. 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." This test is going on now among
men; by the way we walk and talk, by the way we listen and work, men
form their judgment of us, and so does God. We may measure our
spiritual state by the way we spend our leisure moments, by the way we
spend our Saturday afternoons, by our rest days, and by the books we
read. There is flowing past us the stream of literature and the stream
of pleasure, and the question is whether we are going to fall down
before these streams to drink or whether we are just going to dip up as
we hurry along to fulfill our mission; or, in other words, whether w