Synergy

Lev. 26:8 And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.

Consider the math in this verse. If five can chase a hundred, that would a ratio of 20:1, i.e. one person chasing 20. Based on that equation, how many should a hundred chase. Mathematically, it should be 2000. However, God says “an hundred shall put ten thousand to flight!” Why is that? It is the principle of “synergy.”

The principle of “synergy” teaches when two or more energies are combined their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects. Syn­ergy is having two horses—One horse by himself can pull a load of 1,000 pounds. The second horse can pull a load of 1,000 pounds. But when harnessed together as a team they can pull 3,000 pounds!

In one Peanuts cartoon Linus and Lucy are watching TV. Lucy turned to Linus and demanded that he change TV channel, while shaking her fist. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asks Linus. “These five fingers,” says Lucy. “Individually these fingers are weak, but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.” “Which channel do you want?” asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, “Why can't you guys get together like that?”

Think of what a church could accomplish if everyone would “get together” as a TEAM in reaching lost souls with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As Lucy said about her fingers, “Individually they're nothing, but when I curl them together a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.” Satan seeks to divide the church and prevent church unity. He knows a unified church is a force to behold! (cf. Dt. 32:30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?)

A devotional thought by Pastor Al Hughes