Contemplative Bible Reading

Deuteronomy 20:8 (New International Version)

⁸ Then the officers shall add, “Is any man afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his brothers will not become disheartened too.”

In this and the surrounding verses, God is instructing His people on how to build an army when they need one. There are several situations in which God tells them to have someone go home instead of staying in the army. This is one of those exceptions to military service:

Is any man afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home…

What? How can you build an army with that policy? Let those who say they are afraid go home? Will anyone be left to fight?

Once again, God doesn’t seem to make any sense. Nevertheless, God is God, so there must be a point here somewhere, right? Yes, there is. I read at least one lesson into this. The lesson I find today is:

Know your limitations.

I have limitations. Everyone I know has limitations. The trick is to recognize those limitations with respect to any given situation. If something is beyond my ability, I should ask another person to come with me to meet the situation. That is a sign of weakness, and admitting my weaknesses will keep me and others out of trouble.

Of course, one of the persons I should ask to come with me to meet a situation is God. He strengthens me in many ways and allows me to do things that I usually cannot do alone.

God sends me into situations that are beyond my ability. He, however, doesn’t send me in to fail as He provides help for the afraid and fainthearted.