you have too much

Today we read from Judges 7:1-8:17 in the One Year Bible. Gideon is going out to fight the enemy, and God says, "You have too many people. Send a bunch of them home."

This doesn't make much sense to us from a practical standpoint. But God wanted it to be clear to Gideon, and to us the readers, that it was God who defeated the enemy and not Gideon's big army.

A rich man once came to Jesus and said he felt like he'd done a pretty good job his whole life of being a good person. Jesus said, "You're right! In fact, you only need to do one more thing to be perfect!" And the rich young man was excited, because he only needed to do one more thing.

But then he went away sadly, because Jesus told him the same thing that God told Gideon. The same thing that God is telling us wealthy Americans today: you've got too much.

It's not that stuff is bad. God made stuff. He likes it. But it's possible for us to make the same mistake as the Narrator (played by Ed Norton) in Fight Club. We become so obsessed with things, that they end up owning US.

During this corona time, it's a good opportunity for us to reassess our relationship to things. You KNOW you have too much. What are you going to get rid of? No reason to go all Marie Kondo and get rid of everything (especially books, which are perhaps the ONE THING you can't have too many of). But simplifying is definitely good for the soul.

God, thanks for letting us know that we have too much. Help us simplify.