Who Is Praised Determines Success Or Failure

Judges 7:2
The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’

We all want to succeed. We all want excellent results. Even where we have not put the best efforts, we still wish and desire for good results. We were created with a desire for success and excellence because our God is good and excellent. We identify with anything and everyone that is successful. We fear failure. We avoid failure. We get embarrassed by failure. All of us want to know the secret to success and avoiding failure. This is the great question of human minds.

Our Bible text today gives an answer to this great question in human minds. God had chosen Gideon to lead an army against the enemies of Israel. Gideon prepared a large army for the attack and even developed strategies on how to attack and win this war. Gideon desired success and prayed that he doesn’t fail. Then God told Gideon the words in our text today. God tells Gideon that with the size of the army you have and the strategies you have in place, I God will not be praised if you win. It is clear that Israelites will see that their army and strategies delivered the victory. Since God will not be praised if you win, I will not allow this victory or war to take place. For you to succeed, God tells Gideon, you must have a situation where it is obvious that only God can deliver this kind of success. Whoever is praised determines success or failure.

God tells Gideon that with the size of the army you have if I give you victory, you will never notice the victory is from Me. It obviously seems that the size of the army and not God brought victory. God will not be praised. Gideon will be praised. Military generals will be praised. Israel as a nation will be praised. God will not be praised because the source of victory seems to obviously be the size of the army. Therefore God tells Gideon that He will not allow this situation. Whoever is praised determines success or failure.

It is God who brings victory. It is God who ensures we succeed. Without God, no one can succeed. Yet there are situations where it obviously seems to be a victory from God and there are situations where, while the success is from God, it more looks like human efforts brought success. God tells Gideon that if He will not be praised then He will not allow the victory. Whoever is praised determines success or failure.

When things are easy and straightforward, we forget to praise God. We explain how good we are. We explain how we were strategic. We explain how we prepared to ensure success. We never explain God and if we do, we do it in passing as standard remarks and not as we mean it. This is what God hates. He gives us success, but because it seemed so easy, we do not notice Him, we ignore Him and praise ourselves and others. Therefore in many easy and straightforward situations, God allows a new complication or failure until we turn to Him and get a victory that will be credited to God. If God will not be praised, that success will not happen or if it happens it is a curse. Whoever is praised determines success or failure.

To ensure God is praised when He delivers the victory, God told Gideon to reduce the army to 300 soldiers. With 300 soldiers it was completely impossible humanly speaking to gain any victory in this war. In fact, with 300 soldiers it was a suicidal attempt. How can 300 soldiers plan to go to war against thousands of soldiers? If failure happened it would be obvious because of the size of the army. If success happened, it would be a miracle to be told for many generations to come. If success happened this would be the miraculous hand of God. If success happened with 300 soldiers against thousands, then only God will be praised. Not Gideon, not generals and not Israel, only God will be praised. Whoever is praised determines success or failure.

After reducing the size of the army to a number that can only win by God’s intervention, God told them to go to this war without weapons. They went to war with empty water jars and trumpets. Not to a music festival but to war. Now this was madness and straightforward a suicidal mission. Humanly speaking there was no remote chance of success. Humanly speaking they were staring at their own bloody death and epic failure. If any success occurred here, only God could do it and only God would be praised. Whoever is praised determines success or failure.

Under these circumstances where only God is praised, God gave Gideon and Israel a resounding success and only God was praised. God had told Gideon that success comes from Me, but under these circumstances, you and your people will never notice it is from me. God delivered success only under circumstances where He is praised. Whoever is praised determines success or failure.

All success comes from God. Even when we think it is obvious we were to succeed, it is God who gives success. Even when we can explain how we succeeded, our explanation remains totally false, until we credit all success to God. If you credit God routinely but you do not really mean it, you will have stolen the praise from God. Praising God has become cliche yet it should be more than that. All success comes from God and we should always praise Him genuinely and totally even where success was easy and explainable. Or else in the future, God will let us fail in a very obvious situation, until in shock we discover that even easy success is totally from God. Learn to praise God even where success was easy. Whoever is praised determines success or failure.

God gave Gideon success under circumstances where it was obvious they would fail. God was totally praised and credited with the success. Whoever is praised determines success or failure.

God gives success where it is not obvious so that He can be praised. Joseph a slave to be a leader of Egypt was not obvious, and for His glory God made it happen. David a small untrained boy to fight and win against an experienced soldier by the name of Goliath was not obvious, God made it happen and He was praised. The Hebrew boys in Babylon succeeded where they were least expected to succeed and God was praised. Whoever is praised determines success or failure.

With the great strides and progress at your workplace and in your business, who will be praised? Your work ethic? Your intelligence? Your luck? With the academic excellence you are showing and the high grades you are attaining, who will be praised? With the enviable leadership that has achieved a lot, who will be praised? With the great relationship you have or even marriage, will we praise God or just exclaim that you were meant for each other and you guys are mature, etc.? You have a great body vis a vis your age, will we praise your vegetarianism, use of concoctions, exercise regime, or will we praise God? Whoever is praised determines success or failure.

Some crises will come where victory should have been obvious so that God will get the credit you were about to steal from Him. That crisis at the workplace or in business is to restore praise to God. That sudden academic drop in grades is to restore praise to God. That sudden relationship sharp disagreement is to restore praise to God. The painful embarrassing situation is to restore praise to God. That sickness and death will restore praise to God. May God be praised!

May God alone be praised in all situations. Even where it is explainable how success came, may God alone be praised. May God save me from cliche praises. May God teach me to always give Him all the credit. Forgive me for not praising You dear God. Save me from the current crisis and may You always in everything be praised, in Jesus’ name, Amen!