"strict selection"

Judges 7:2-4

The LORD said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.' " So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

But the LORD said to Gideon, "There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go; but if I say, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go."

Reading this passage, I was reminded that God often has a different way selecting people to do his work than we do. I'm sure Gideon would have loved to have a huge army to fight the enemy with, but God wanted to show him and the rest of Israel that important thing wasn't the number of men fighting, but that God was fighting with the men.

For myself, I sometimes get caught up in the numbers game when I think about church and various ministries... I forget that the number of people isn't important, at least, it isn't as important as God being central first to whatever is happening.