1 Corinthians 1:25
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

As a young 5 year old, little Denise was often told by her dad to watch out for dogs. Denise and dad would take evening walks at the park and there always were dogs around. So her dad warned her, “When you see a dog looking at you and bark, do not run. Never ever run away from a barking dog. Instead, walk away carefully. If you run, the dog will chase you and bite you.”
Little Denise was puzzled. She thought to herself, “Is daddy silly? How could I not run when doggies are barking at me, I am scared.”

Denise was always watching her dad exercising with the heavy dumb-bells. She was often in awe of how her dad was able to lift up heavy blocks of “dumb dumbs” up and down with one hand.
Once her dad lifted a dumb-bell and THUMP! the dumb-bell fell on the floor and her dad was groaning in pain, he had a muscle cramp. So Denise thought that her dad has become weak all of a sudden. She ran to her dad and put her arms around him, “Daddy, you are getting tired and weak, you should rest. Let me help you move the dumb dumb.” She tried to lift it up but couldn’t even move it an inch off the floor.

Let us go to one famous Bible story from the Old Testament – the Fall of Jericho.
God told Joshua and the Israelites army to march around the city of Jericho once everyday for six days. On the seventh day, seven priests are to carry a trumpet made out of ram’s horn each and they have to march around the walls of the city of Jericho seven times on the seventh day. After that, the priests are to blow a long blast on the trumpets, then when the sound of the trumpets are heard, all the Israelite armies are to give a loud shout and the walls will collapse. (Joshua 6:1-27)

Wow?! Far-fetch isn’t it? What would your reaction be if God told you to march around the Great Wall of China once? And after doing so, blow a whistle, then give a loud high pitch scream and then the Great Wall will collapse?
Won’t you shout at God, “God! Are you out of your mind?!”
Well, that is exactly what the Israelites must be thinking when God gave them those weird and out-of-this-world instructions. They must be thinking they are serving a crazy god. But no! God is god and you are not! He knows exactly what He is doing.

God wanted the Israelites know that even though His commands did not make any sense, they were to obey it. And out of their obedience they saw God’s power and tasted victory.

Let us now look at the story of Gideon and his army. Gideon had 32, 000 men in his army and they thought they were ready to take on the Midianites’ army. But God had something different and radical in mind, He reduced the army of 32, 000 to just 300 men! Sounds familiar? Remember the movie 300? By the way, the movie was based on true story, except for the um weird Persian creature-like armies. What’s more amazing is that in the Bible itself there’s a true battle of 300 people against thousands! And with the 300 men, Gideon defeated the armies of the Midianites which were many times more than Gideon’s army! (Judges 7:1-25)

God was not weak! The Midianites must be laughing if they were to know that God reduced Gideon’s army from 32, 000 to just mere 300, anyway they were defeated, Gideon had the last laugh. God wanted Gideon and his army and also the Midianites to know that the victory was given by God Himself, that it wasn’t by the strength of humans that Gideon won, no! It was God!

Even though Denise’s dad’s instructions may seem silly to her, her dad was way wiser. Even though her dad had a muscle cramp, he was way stronger than Denise.

Even though God’s instructions to Joshua and the Israelite army seem somewhat crazy, and foolish was what the Israelites would say about God’s instruction, God knew what He was doing. Even though God’s army that was lead by Gideon seem weak with only 300 men, they defeated the Midianites’ army of thousands.

1 Corinthians 1:25
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

After all...
GOD IS GOD AND YOU ARE NOT...

Smile, =)
Zlwin Chew