Judges 8

Gideon and 300 men witnessed a miracle, in this chapter we see that only about 15,000 men were left out of 135,000 men of Midian's army with swords, and these 15,000 men fled and Gideon and his army of 300 men were following them.
As they crossed Jordan, Gideon asked the officials of Succoth to feed his army because they were all exhausted but Succoth said that Gideon haven't fully won the battle why would them help him? To that Gideon said that when God gives him the full victory then he will come back and kill them with the thorns of wilderness and with briers.

Gideon and his army went along and went up to Penuel and asked them the same thing and they answered the same way the Succoth officials answered, and Gideon said that after the Lord will give him the full victory he will come back and break down the towel in the city.

Gideon attacked the Midian army and only two kings Zebah and Zalmunna fled but Gideon chased them down and brought them with him to Succoth and Penuel and did what he said he would do to those cities and their officials and then killed the two kings.

People of Israel then asked Gideon to be their leader but he answered,
"I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you." (verse 23)

Although Gideon said that he will not be king, he named one of his sons Abimelech, which means ' my father is king'. He also made an ephod, a garment only a high priest could have and he put it in his city, and it became snare to him, and people whored after it. Gideon died of old age and there was peace for forty years after he overthrew Midian.

So there again we see the downfall of Israel people.

Today...
We see the sad ending to Gideon's biography, but we still can take lot of good away from him. He was faithful to God and led an army of 300 men against 135,000 men with swords, and many other men who were with arrows and on horses and so on.
Sometimes I find myself being empty and having no faith, but reading about Gideon reminds me how good I have it. I can call out to Jesus at any second and He will hear me and help me with anything that is bothering me, He will give me peace and understanding of what to do next in my life.

The kingship got to Gideon and although he said that he will not rule over these people and only the Lord will, he still acted as a king. Today leadership can get to some people, or good paying jobs, or a high calling position...it can all mess with our minds and we are then in danger of forgetting who really got us to this point of our lives.

God is the one who is giving us breath, keeping our hearts beating, keeping this earth on rotation, giving us rain and sun light, without Him we physically cannot survive, let's not forget where we come from and lets praise our Lord for his patience and never-ending love.

There will always be a lot of people asking where was God when this terrible thing happened, where was God when these people died? Well we all sow something, weather it's good or bad and we all have to reap what we sow, so it's not our place to blame God for our mistakes and our sins. Even God's people suffered the consequences for their choices and actions, so do we. If a child or a baby dies we should be happy for him/her because we will see them in Heaven, but once it's not a child there is no way knowing where he/she will spend their everlasting life.