Would You Rather Be Right or Successful?

Synopsis     Judges 8:1-11     6/20/2018

After the route of the Midianites army, the Ephraimites complained to Gideon that he should have called them to fight sooner. But Gideon reminded them that Manasseh and the northernmost tribes had borne the worst of the Midianite oppression and felt an urgency to fight that the tribe of Ephraim did not.

So, Gideon and his men continued their pursuit of the fleeing Midianite kings. Along the way, Gideon asked the people of Succoth and Penuel for bread to feed his men. But, fearing reprisal from the Midianites if they helped Gideon, the leaders of both cities refused. Gideon swore to return and punish both cities once his victory was complete.

The Difference Between Victory and Success

The Ephraimites complained that Gideon did not include them in the battle sooner. Gideon rebuked them because the Ephraimites had not suffered as greatly under the Midianite oppression.

Gideon complained that the cities of Succoth and Penuel refused to give him food. The elders were afraid to take a chance on Gideon. So Gideon vowed to get vengeance.

What’s going on here?

Gideon seems to have forgotten God. In the midst of his extraordinary, God-given victory, he obsessed over a city too frightened of reprisals to give him food. And so the vow to “pay them back”. Somehow this is justice?

It’s wasn’t justice.

It was force. It was the signal that Gideon had lost track of God’s will. Only a few short hours from the height of success with God, Gideon was relying on his own fierce interpretation of justice. His behavior betrayed evidence of an attitude of entitlement. He felt entitled.

When he was hiding in the winepress, he blamed God for his problems. He communicated an entitlement expectation. When he was pursuing the kings of Midian he threatened cities that were afraid to help him. He was still entitled.

Would You Rather Be Right or Successful?

A man once asked me, “Would you rather be right or successful?” I was perplexed. “Well”, I said, “if they’re not the same thing, then I’d rather be right.”

He replied, “Then it will always be hard for you to find lasting success. You will win many arguments but few souls”

“All your ways may be straight in your own eyes, but it is the LORD who weighs hearts.” Prov 21:2