Judges 7
Don't be afraid
God told Gideon that Gideon will overthrow Midianites, so Gideon called people to go to war with him (32,000), and they were all ready to go to battle. But God said to Gideon,
"The people with you are too many for me to give Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me saying, 'My own hands has saved me.'" (verse 2)
God wants to show his people just how powerful He is.
So God says that whoever is fearful and trembling, for Gideon to send them home. 22,000 men went home and 10,000 men remained, but that was still too many people. Gideon took these 10,000 men to the river to see how the men would drink water, 300 of men lapped putting their hands to their mouths and the rest knelt down to drink water. And God said,
"With 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home" (verse 7)
There were 300 Israelites and they were going against thousands upon thousands of Midian. Gideon knew that God was with him and that he can win this battle with God on his side, but God knew Gideon better, so he said,
"If you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant. And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp." (verse10-11)
Gideon did sneak into the camp and heard how two men were talking, one man said that he had a dream that a cake of barley bread came into the camp and struck the tent so that it fell flat; and another man responded to him saying that it must be a dream about the sword of Gideon, and God must've given Midian into his hands.
Gideon did feel better after hearing that, so he divided 300 men into three groups, gave them trumpets, and empty jars with torches inside them.
This was their armory, now imagine how much faith they had in God to go through with this!
So Gideon and his people came to the camp and sounded their trumpets and broke the jars and held up their torches and they cried out,
""A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!" Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the [Midian] army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army" (verse 20-22)
Today...
God does marvelous things, against all odds we win with Him on our side.
This story that really DID happen is an encouragement for us, who love God, that God is for us-- and if God is for us then who can stand against us?
Let's not be afraid of what people might think of us, lets not be afraid of losing our job, or losing a friend by telling them about Jesus. If we truly love the people that surround us we would want to share these good news with them, that they don't have to live in sin and go to hell, they can change the location of their eternity to a better place if they choose to.
Gideon was a human just like you and me today, he was scared just like we are scared and doubtful today, but He still trusted God. Sometime when we're scared of stepping up we just ignore the voice that's inside of us, and calm ourselves down, but later on we feel guilty and we cry for forgiveness, it's a terrible feeling of missing out on doing something for God.
Let's not be afraid, if God is for us, then who can be against us?
God told Gideon that Gideon will overthrow Midianites, so Gideon called people to go to war with him (32,000), and they were all ready to go to battle. But God said to Gideon,
"The people with you are too many for me to give Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me saying, 'My own hands has saved me.'" (verse 2)
God wants to show his people just how powerful He is.
So God says that whoever is fearful and trembling, for Gideon to send them home. 22,000 men went home and 10,000 men remained, but that was still too many people. Gideon took these 10,000 men to the river to see how the men would drink water, 300 of men lapped putting their hands to their mouths and the rest knelt down to drink water. And God said,
"With 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home" (verse 7)
There were 300 Israelites and they were going against thousands upon thousands of Midian. Gideon knew that God was with him and that he can win this battle with God on his side, but God knew Gideon better, so he said,
"If you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant. And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp." (verse10-11)
Gideon did sneak into the camp and heard how two men were talking, one man said that he had a dream that a cake of barley bread came into the camp and struck the tent so that it fell flat; and another man responded to him saying that it must be a dream about the sword of Gideon, and God must've given Midian into his hands.
Gideon did feel better after hearing that, so he divided 300 men into three groups, gave them trumpets, and empty jars with torches inside them.
This was their armory, now imagine how much faith they had in God to go through with this!
So Gideon and his people came to the camp and sounded their trumpets and broke the jars and held up their torches and they cried out,
""A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!" Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the [Midian] army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army" (verse 20-22)
Today...
God does marvelous things, against all odds we win with Him on our side.
This story that really DID happen is an encouragement for us, who love God, that God is for us-- and if God is for us then who can stand against us?
Let's not be afraid of what people might think of us, lets not be afraid of losing our job, or losing a friend by telling them about Jesus. If we truly love the people that surround us we would want to share these good news with them, that they don't have to live in sin and go to hell, they can change the location of their eternity to a better place if they choose to.
Gideon was a human just like you and me today, he was scared just like we are scared and doubtful today, but He still trusted God. Sometime when we're scared of stepping up we just ignore the voice that's inside of us, and calm ourselves down, but later on we feel guilty and we cry for forgiveness, it's a terrible feeling of missing out on doing something for God.
Let's not be afraid, if God is for us, then who can be against us?
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