“The horse is prepared for the day of the battle, but victory belongs to the Lord” – (Proverbs 21:31).

Hard work pays is something we grow up hearing. Through school we see individual effort, like staying up reading for exams, paying off with good grades. In life we are warned against laziness of which there is a lot of evidence around us how it can cause ruin and poverty.

All good. But just as well it is important never to lose sight of the fact that when it comes to God, its not all a matter of your effort, or might. Once when Gideon was going to battle with a 22,000 battle hardened platoon he had to be reminded by the Lord, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands or Israel would boast against me “My strength has saved me” (Judges 7:2, NIV).

Gideon was told to take his soldiers down the well and, “Separate those who lap water from the water with their tongue as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink from the well” (verse 5). They were three hundred who passed this test. “The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home” (vv 7).

What happened is the Lord caused confusion among the Midianites: “the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords” (verse 22). It was a swift and decisive battle that came not through might but of the Lord’s will.

As we face challenges, some which might seem insurmountable, or take on those ugly battles, where we find ourselves far outnumbered, let us rely more on the Lord to bring victory to us. Yes we should prepare and use all the resources we have at hand but as it iswritten, “if God is for us who can be against us” (Romans 8:31).

Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I pray that as I face any challenges, some of which may appear beyond my ability, you come to my deliverance for it is not by might but by your power, this I pray in Jesus’s name!