Gideon - Part 7

Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands

Judges 7v8b-15

21^st August 2015

Gideon knew God had called him to lead the resistance movement against the Midianites. He remembered his first test - when God told him to destroy his father's idols and restore worship of the true God - and how God had preserved his life, and brought his father back to the true faith. He remembered how he had summoned the men of four tribes to follow him and attack the Midianites, and they flocked to him. But he also remembered how God had deliberately reduced the size of his army from 32,000 men to just 300. He was feeling nervous.

Even when God graciously tells us of part of His divine plans, even when God performs signs and wonders to confirm His words to us, we still doubt Him. And those doubts increase when God doesn't do things the way we would do them. God had explained why He wanted the army so much smaller, but Gideon still needed encouragement.

Are we any different? When our local or national church seems to be declining in numbers, do we doubt that God can bring a mighty revival to our town or to our land? God can do anything He likes, but He wants the glory. Before revival comes, the church must be weak.

Judges 7v8b-11
Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. During that night the Lord said to Gideon, "Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp." So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp.

God knew Gideon's weaknesses, as He knows ours. Even if we think we - or others - shouldn't need extra encouragement from God before we act, God can be so very gracious, and give us what we need, even if we should be strong enough to do without it.

God told Gideon to go and spy on the enemy. It's good to understand our enemy, and to know his weaknesses. We can be greatly encouraged when we understand how little power or wisdom Satan has. And God let Gideon take his servant for moral support. Jesus sent the disciples out two by two for the same reason. When he arrived, Gideon must surely have been afraid; there were a lot of Midianites there:

Judges 7v12
The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.

God had known that Gideon would need the company of his servant. But God had also known that Gideon would hear a very interesting conversation:

Judges 7v13-14
Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. "I had a dream," he was saying. "A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed."
His friend responded, "This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands."

God is not only at work in us; He's at work in our enemies, too. God sent a dream to the first Midianite that Gideon would hear speaking after he arrived at their camp. He caused the man to share the dream with his friend, and he caused his friend to interpret the dream in the most negative way possible for the Midianites. And he caused Gideon to overhear them.

Gideon received the encouragement he needed. But it wouldn't have happened if he'd refused God's instruction to leave the safety of his own camp and venture into the Midianite camp. Sometimes, we have to walk in the faith we have before we receive more confidence in our God.

Judges 7v15
When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshipped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, "Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands."

Now Gideon really believed God would use him to defeat the Midianites. Now he was ready. He called out to his followers, "Get up!" There is a moment when we need to take courage and make a difference. For the 300 men remaining in the Lord's army, this was that moment.

Such a moment comes to every Christian at least once in his life. How many times have you and I refused God's call? May he grant us another chance. Next time, when God calls, may we find the courage and obedience to stand up for Jesus Christ.