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GETTING A GUN FROM “Q”

In the standout war chronicle, Their Finest Hour, Sir Winston Churchill, prime minister of England during World War II, describes the harrowing years where the dark clouds of Nazism threatened all of Europe. In 1940, it certainly looked like Adolph Hitler might well conquer the entire continent and subjugate millions under his despotic iron rule. And as multiplied German divisions were sweeping across France, General Weygand requested that Great Britain should immediately send every single British Air Force fighter into the fray.

“Here is the decisive point,” he insisted. “Now is the decisive moment. It is therefore wrong to keep any squadrons back in England.”

It would be like the last moments in a hockey game, where the losing team, realizing how desperate things are, “pulls the goalie,” sending him into the forward area, determined to get a buzzer-beating score . . . while leaving your own net unprotected. And I don’t use that illustration lightly, because millions of lives were at stake back home in London. In any case, when Churchill stood before his specially called Cabinet meeting, he gave this interesting little speech:

“This is NOT the decisive point and this is not the decisive moment. That moment will come when Hitler hurls his Luftwaffe against Great Britain. If we can keep command of the air, and if we can keep the seas open, as we certainly shall keep them open, we will win it all back for you.”

And the high command there at Number Ten Downing Street voted to hold back 25 fighter squadrons “for the defense of Britain and the Channel.” Churchill and soldiers were convinced – and history bears this out – that they enjoyed two clear advantages: their unique position as a fortified island empire, and then also their superior Air Force, which could repel the attacks of the Axis powers.

Now here in the book of Judges chapter seven, I guess we have to figure that God and Gideon had some kind of advanced weaponry and technology the Midianite enemy didn’t know about. As we finished up last week, God deliberately sliced Israel’s troops down from 32,000 fighting men to a scant 10,000. More then two-thirds of the entire army simply walked off and began hitchhiking home when Gideon told the scaredy-cats in the group to clear out. All at once, Gideon can fit his entire military inside one big tent instead of at Dodger Stadium.

And then God says to General Gideon: “Still too big. You’ve still got too many troops.” And Gideon goes: “Oh, no! God! Come on! Our satellite photos show that Midian has got 135,000 men. They’re like the sands of the sea. Now we’ve got YOU – the God of heaven – and we’re glad You’re on our side. But let’s get real here. Give us a fighting chance.”

The NIV text notes for this fascinating war chronicle have this to say:

“As supreme commander of Israel, the Lord reduced the army so that Israel would know that the victory was won by His power, not theirs.”

And you know, we find all through Scripture that this is a necessary spiritual discovery: God’s power, not ours. Joseph clearly comprehended this truth, as he said to Pharaoh: “I don’t interpret dreams; God does.” Daniel said the same to Nebuchadnezzar, almost word for word. Peter and John, healing a crippled beggar outside the temple, in Acts chapter 3, use the same terminology. And so God, looking at this gung-ho army of 10,000 troops, the men who are not afraid to fight, knows that their self-confidence might itself be a deadly thing.

So the second weeding-out exercise is very interesting.

“Take [the men] down to the water,” God said to Gideon, “and I will sift them for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

By the way, wouldn’t you and I love for God to help pick our armies for us? On the church board, wouldn’t it be a blessing if God could select all the deacons and elders? But now here’s how God split things up:

“So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, ‘Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink.’ Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.”

Now, why a strange test like that one? The men went down to the spring of Harod, and, of course, the camp of Midian was right on the other side, in a valley near the hill of Moreh. So the enemy might have even been within view, or certainly very near. And essentially – as Bible scholars have dug into it – this was actually a very practical kind of test. Nine thousand seven hundred GIs said to each other, “Cool! Drink time!” And flopped down on their tummies and began to slurp. They took their eyes off the enemy, they dumped their darts and arrows in the dust and got themselves a 7-Eleven “Big Gulp” drink. They put on snorkels and began paddling around and having water fights. Only three hundred warriors kept their eyes on the distant horizon, just lapping up a bit of a drink in their cupped hands, every limb still poised for action. And God pointed this out to Gideon: “Right there are the ones we need. Just those 300 right there. The few, the proud, the Marines against the Midianites.”

So with a total army of 300, our friend Gideon has to go up against 135,000 crack troops with big M’s on their helmets. How is this going to work?

There was a fun Internet article a few years ago describing the book, Q: The Biography of Desmond Llewelyn. This decorated British actor – I guess we’re really living in London today – served as James Bond’s “gadget” man in a total of eighteen 007 films. Whether it was a “BMW with a rocket launching sun roof to lethal umbrellas and toxic fountain pens,” cars that doubled as submarines, wrist watches with lasers to cut through prison bars, it was Q who was always saying to the debonair spy: “Now, pay attention, 007, as I show you how this works.” Interestingly, this actor, Llewelyn knew what it was to go up against superior odds; he served in World War I, and was actually a POW in a German camp for five years. And another tidbit: in real life, Q was all thumbs. He couldn’t even work a new gadget, let alone invent one. On one film set, he couldn’t get the “telly” to work right, until someone else in the movie showed him that it wasn’t plugged in. But all the way through, starting in From Russia With Love, and clear down to Goldeneye, it was Q – which stands for “quartermaster,” by the way – who made sure five different James Bonds had the tools they needed to combat the villain with the white cat in his lap or the megalomaniac with the nuclear warheads to blow up the world. It was Q who handed out the weapons.

And here in the less high-tech but equally lethal battlefields of ancient Israel, God is the quartermaster for Gideon’s troops. And when we read down in verse 16 that all heaven handed out was 300 trumpets and 300 torches and 300 pitchers for the torches, we might think that Gideon needed a Desmond Llewelyn to come along too, and pass out some exploding briefcases, Aston Martin sports cars, and Walther PPK standard-issue handguns. But friend, the good news is this: God outfitted these 300 men with HIMSELF. God Himself was their secret weapon, not some car with an ejector seat.

Back in chapter six, when Gideon is first calling the army together – back in the happier days when he still had 32,000 men on the military rolls – we find this interesting expression in verse 34:

“Then the Spirit of the Lord CAME UPON Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.”

And one Bible commentary for that passage gives us this helpful insight.

“Came upon. Literally, ‘clothed.’ Gideon did not begin the campaign ‘clothed’ only in the armor of soldiers, but ‘clothed’ with God’s power.” And then this great line: “Whom God calls to do His work He also qualifies for it.”

And so we have this wonderful heavenly “quartermaster,” this galactic “Q” who says to Gideon, “Don’t worry. You don’t think ten thousand men are enough? Don’t worry. Are you fretting about your army being down to just 300? Don’t worry. Do you wish you had some super-outfitted BMWs and some spy gadgets to work with, some of those back-bumper gizmos that spray slippery goo on the road in front of the Midianite chariots? Don’t worry, Gideon, you have ME.”

So often in the Bond films – and I don’t speak from huge cinematic experience here – Q would give 007 some toy, and there’d be the usual banter about Bond not paying attention, not taking it seriously. And it would be much later in the story, when you and I have forgotten, that suddenly the needed item would be brought into the story. Just when needed most, Q’s help and support were a lifesaver. And friend, I can tell you that in the life of Gideon, and in the life of Melashenko – and I hope in yours as well – the gifts of our heavenly “Q,” our divine Quartermaster and Provider and Friend, are appreciated and used in the most timely manner.

Just when I need Him, Jesus is near. Just when I falter, just when I fear. Ready to help me, ready to cheer, Just when I need Him most.