4 “You know the way to the place where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Isn’t it true that so often despondency leads us to doubt? Truth seems to evade us when we are disillusioned with despair. In our verses for today, Thomas in his deep distress over our Lord’s news reverts to a panic mode speaking for the eleven far too abruptly and foolishly. When passions and affections enter into the equation, the tongue has a tendency to wag unadvisedly. One can certainly sense the frustration and lack of hope in Thomas’ words. Prior to this time, Jesus had been preparing His guys by repeatedly giving them a heads up regarding His imminent departure. They knew and believed that their Master was the promised Messiah – the Son of the living God. They also believed that knowing Him was the first step towards heaven. He had been teaching and preparing them for three years. He wanted them to stir up their memories, to reflect on His past Words. Yet, when the rug was pulled out from underneath them so to speak, they quickly forgot it all. We find earlier in John these Words of our Lord:
33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.” John 13:33 (NIV)
It was and is our Lord’s desire for His followers to be dynamic channels of the Holy Spirit’s power dedicated and equipped to lead souls to Christ. The Holy Spirit supplies us with clear views of God’s power, wisdom and grace and stirs up confidence in His Truth which excludes our wavering. I am reminded of the Old Testament story of Gideon – weenie turned warrior. He was God’s chosen instrument to free Israel from the Midianites. Seemingly an unfit choice as he describes himself in the following way:
15 “But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” Judges 6:15 (NIV)
You certainly have to admit his description of himself is full of doubt and rightly so as the Midianites were described as both oppressive and numerous causing the Israelites great distress:
4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help. Judges 6:4-6 (NIV)
The Lord tells Gideon that he will strike them all down. What could Gideon possibly be thinking except “No way!”? He was scared to death of the Midianites. In fact, Scripture tells us he was threshing his wheat in a winepress to keep it from his oppressors! Yet the Lord, through His power, tells him he is going to slay them all:
16 The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together." Judges 6:16 (NIV)
Through a series of events Gideon was faithful and God sweetly restored his confidence in the God of all creation’s omnipotence. God shrunk Gideon’s army size down to a mere 300 men to attack their adversary who, Scripture says, were as thick as locusts. God wanted no flesh to possibly think they had accomplished this great feat in and of themselves. The battle was God’s and the battle was won by God. Indeed, prior to the conflict, Gideon once again succumbs to doubt and fear. The night before the attack God kindly tells Gideon:
9 During that night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. 10 If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah 11 and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. Judges 7:9-11 (NIV)
“If you can’t see what lies dimly in the distance, do what lies clearly at hand.” Robert J. Morgan
What Gideon heard so encouraged him that he was able to rouse his troops and become the great leader God had planned in advance for him to be – all through His achieving power. We find his words to his troops filled with confidence in God’s ability:
17 “Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do.” Judges 7:17 (NIV)
“We mustn’t doubt in the darkness what God has shown us in the light.” Robert J. Morgan
“If faith never encounters doubt, if truth never struggles with error, if good never battles with evil, how can faith know its own power? In my own pilgrimage, if I have to choose between a faith that has stared doubt in the eye and made it blink, or a naïve faith that has never known the firing line of doubt, I will choose the former every time.” Gary Parker
The end result? God caused the Midianites to turn on each other with the sword at the sound of Gideon’s trumpet:
20 The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!" 21 While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled. 22 When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. Judges 7:20-22 (NIV)