As is the pattern throughout the Book of Judges, the Israelites again turned away from God after 40 years of peace brought by Deborah’s victory. God chose Gideon to free the people of Israel and to condemn their idolatry. Among other things, the Angel of the Lord came to Gideon to recruit him to defeat the Midianities. In Judges 7, Gideon sent out messengers to gather together men from the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, as well as his own tribe of Manasseh, and God informed him that the men he had gathered were too many. He didn’t want the Israelites to claim the victory as their own instead of acknowledging that God had saved them. God first instructed Gideon to send home those men who were afraid. 10,000 remained. God told Gideon they were still too many and instructed him to bring them to the water—they either laid down to lap like a dog or knelt down to drink putting their hands to their mouth. The number of those who knelt was 300. God would use them to defeat the Midianites. I’m using this as an example of God’s calling of His saints. Not everyone makes it through—only those who believe in Jesus Christ, which is a vast minority. You really do have to believe, which is not something akin to intellectual assent. It involves the will. Believing in Him means He has charge of you. You know what that looks like. Faith is commitment. That’s how it reads in the New Testament. God’s people are committed people. They follow Him and they want to do it. They love God with their heart, their soul, and their might.