Eczema.

 

I first heard this term in television commercials. Those dandruff shampoo commercials lumped eczema with other diseases like seborrhea and psoriasis. I didn’t know what it was, but I did not want it, especially if it made my scalp itch and flake.

 

Now, many years later, I review biopsies from patients with eczema. It is a common problem and can be aggravated by numerous conditions, including scratching. Thus, if somehow one is able to avoid scratching oneself, most of the rash will disappear. Instead of the conventional rash that itches, eczema is the itch that rashes. 

 

Don’t scratch, no rash! The disease seems to be going in reverse. This disease did not read the medical textbooks! We are conditioned to think logically, as a series of causes and effects. If we do A, then B happens, and so on. If there is a rash, it itches.

 

Gideon is about to lead the Israelites into battle. Naturally, he wanted his best warriors present; he had 30,000 ready men. Go to battle; take as many of your strongest fighters; superior force and numbers will win. Simple logic, or so he thought. 

 

And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ “

Judges 7:2 (NKJV)

 

So what did God do? He whittled the army down to a small force of 300 men, a 100-fold decrease! This was just the opposite of what Gideon thought he needed! And God produced a mighty victory over a much larger and stronger enemy. 

 

Like the itch that rashes, God can turn our expectations and logical sensibilities upside down. And He does it for one reason: to reveal His glory and to bring us to realize our utter dependence upon the God of the Universe. 

 

Won’t you trust God to shatter all your usual expectations of life? He will do this because He is God, and He loves you. 

 

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.