Judges 7:9-15

Spend time in prayer and silence with God asking him to meet you and speak to you.

Bible Reading

Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.'” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

But the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” (Judges 7:1-4)

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. 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.

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.”

When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands.”

– Judges 7:9-15

Devotion

Gideon had assembled a 32,000 man army and was preparing for war, but God was still building Gideon’s faith. Gideon needed to clearly understand in a practical and experiential way that God was Israel’s ultimate Deliverer and that he was to be God’s faithful and obedient instrument of deliverance. God instructed him how to decrease the army under his command to a ridiculously small number that was completely outnumbered. This served to build their faith in God by making it impossible for Gideon and his army to take credit for the victory.

Gideon’s faith was still wavering and he was afraid to attack, so God let him overhear two enemy soldiers discussing their fear of Gideon and his God.

The Big Question

You may have heard the axiom, “If you can explain it, then God did not do it.” Gideon experienced that in a dramatic, faith-building way. How about you? What humanly impossible situations or circumstances are you facing where you need God to show up? What would it look like for you to focus on God getting the glory in your story rather than on you worrying, fretting, and trying to figure it out on your own?

Conclude in prayer and silence, reflecting on what you’ve learned.