Bigger

Jonathan said to his young armor bearer, “Come, let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised men; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For there is nothing to prevent the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.” I Samuel 14:6 (Amplified Bible, AMP)

God likes to use that which is small to defeat the large and seemingly more powerful. One reason that He chose to work through Israel was because they were a small nation. He gets a kick out of taking those we would consider the underdog and making them the champions. It’s a recurring theme all through Scripture.

Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.” And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there. For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!” Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives. And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it. II Kings 7:3-8 (NKJV)

God sent just four lepers, hardly great warriors, to the camp of the enemy, and the sound of them coming scared away a mighty army. In another instance, Gideon led a tiny group of just 300 soldiers to win against a foe much bigger and stronger than they. And in the name of the Lord, a small teenager named David slaughtered a big, tyrant of a giant named Goliath.

God always gives his people the advantage, but He does it in a way that makes it very clear that the victory came by Him. That’s why He loves to use those in low places, those small in number, basically those who look like they could not win. When an impossible battle is won, then God gets the glory. It’s a set-up.

And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. II Kings 6:15-17 (NKJV)

The Prophet Elisha and his servant looked to be in the minority, but they were with a much larger army than anyone knew. The same is true for us.

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. I John 4:4 (NKJV)

The word greater in this verse is the Greek word meizon, which means to be larger in comparison to another. The Spirit of God in us is bigger and more powerful than anything that can come against us. Therefore, we may appear to be smaller than the enemy, but with God we are always bigger.