It happened on the same night that the LORD said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. 10 But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, 11 and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp.
Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.
And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.”
Then his companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.”
And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. —Judges 7:9-15
I love that last line...Gideon worshiped! Judges 6, 7 and 8 tell the story of Gideon and his personal struggle of faith. Gideon had much trouble believing God. I, for one, am thankful for Gideon's story. It encourages me to seek His grace when my own faith fails knowing that my God's compassions fail not. God's responses to Gideon show Him as merciful, gracious and forgiving.
In faith is victory...and here (finally) at the end of chapter 7, we find Gideon. From man's perspective the battle looks impossible to win. Earlier in the story God had trimmed Gideon's army of 32,000 men down to 300. Three hundred men going up against 135,000. Gideon and all of Israel would know as they went into battle and came out victorious that the victory was not theirs but God's. They would not come out with hearts lifted up thinking they had done something. They would go in and out the same way...knowing they were weak and depending on the strength of their God.
My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
When Gideon returns from his spying adventure into the enemy camp, he tells his men with confidence that the Lord would deliver the enemy into their hands. Gideon sees the invisible and then by faith does the impossible...wins the battle with God's 300. Gideon's plan was simple. Each man was given a trumpet, an empty vessel to break, and a torch. The men would encircle the enemies camp with their torches hidden inside their vessels. At Gideon's signal the men would blow the trumpets, break their vessels which would reveal the lights and then shout, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!" God would do the rest.
What spoke to my heart in this story was God's kindness and grace especially in the face of weakness and lack of faith. It filled my heart with love and gratitude. So often I can be like Gideon. How comforting to know that our God knows our frames. He knows that we are dust.
Another was what happened to Gideon when he stopped doubting and truly believed in His heart that victory was in His God. He worshiped His God and He became a leader. He and His men brought their empty vessels to battle where the light of God was seen only after these vessels were broken and rendered useless. When we are weak...that is what God's uses to show Himself strong. The following verse from Corinthians says it all...may each of us remember it when our faith is tested.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
God is our light and our salvation...whom shall we fear. He is the light of our life. ...of whom shall we be afraid. When the enemy comes against us...when they encamp all around us and war rises, may we remember our God and may our entire weight of trust and confidence be in Him.
