Judges
chapter 7 is filled with encouragement for everyone facing
overwhelming challenges. Remember the scenario, Gideon, just days
before was threshing wheat in hiding. He had just pulled down an
altar to Baal and built an altar to God in its place. The massive
armies of the Midianites and other eastern peoples were camped in the
valley poised to attack in retaliation. They were “as
thick as locusts”
and too numerous to count. God had earlier made a promise to Gideon
that He would save Israel through him. Gideon sent messages
throughout Israel and they responded by sending 32,000 men to battle.
The chapter begins with God telling Gideon, “You
have too many men for Me to deliver Midian into your hands“.
I would have said, “Too many men? They outnumber us 4 to 1”,
but Gideon does not hesitate. God explained, “In
order that Israel may not boast… that her own strength saved her,
announce… anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave“.
God knows our nature is to rationalize things when God creates a
divine appointment. We often attribute things to fate, or luck, or
our own brilliance. Not this time. “Twenty
two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained“.
But the Lord said, “There
are still too many men. Take them down to the water and I will sift
them for you“.
Again, I would have protested, but Gideon simply obeyed. Finally
God instructed, “Separate
those who lap the water with their tongues like dogs from those who
kneel down and drink“.
God declared, “With
the three hundred men that lapped I will save you… Let all the
others go“.
Gideon and the men of Israel are forced to trust God because they
cannot trust in their own strength.
During
the night, God comforts Gideon, “If
you are afraid… go down to the camp… and listen to what they are
saying… you will be encouraged“.
He allows Gideon to hear the interpretation of a dream, “This
can only be the sword of Gideon… God has given the Midianites into
his hands“.
When Gideon heard this, first “He
worshipped God“,
then he rallied the troops. According to 2 Timothy 3:16, one of the
purposes of reading God’s word is to encourage and exhort us to
action. James 2:20 reminds us that faith ALWAYS produces action.
“Do
you not know that faith without works is dead?” Is
there any evidence of faith in your life?
Gideon
woke the 300 men. “Get
up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.”
He divided the men into three groups and “He
placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of each one of them with
torches inside“.
Gideon instructed them, “Watch
me… do exactly as I do“.
“At
the beginning of the middle watch… they blew the trumpets and broke
the jars… grasping the torches in the left hands and holding the
trumpets in the right… they shouted, ‘A sword for the Lord and
for Gideon!’ While each man held his position around the camp, all
the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled… the Lord caused the
men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords.”
Notice, Gideon’s men simply needed to maintain their position,
trusting that God’s plan would succeed. Sometimes we must resist
the desire to jump in and ‘fix’ things when God is working out
His plan in someone’s life.
According
to Ephesians 2:10, salvation is a free gift; one that we do not
deserve and cannot earn through our own efforts. Like Gideon, we are
forces to trust God for our salvation. Will you also trust God with
the challenge ahead of you?