Their own strength is their god.
—Habakkuk 1:11
God showed up out of the blue and commissioned Gideon to save Israel from their seven-year Midianite oppression. Talk about a lopsided fight—the Midianites had 135,000 soldiers; Gideon was able to round up 32,000: four to one odds. God told Gideon he had too many—said if Gideon’s ragtag troops won, they would boast that their own strength had saved them (Jgs 7:2).
A series of God-directed reductions brought Gideon’s fighting men down to 300, bringing Gideon’s odds to 450 to one. Armed with nothing but trumpets, torches, empty jars—and God—they trounced the Midianites.
God once said of the Babylonians, “Their own strength is their god.”
If we’re not alert and self-aware, our God-given gifts become our gods:
His money is his god.
Her beauty is her god.
His position is his god.
Her talent is her god.
We are finite. God is infinite.
Go with infinite.