THE LORD IS MIGHTY IN BATTLE

THE DAILY FOUNTAIN DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE OF THE CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN COMMUNION)

DATE: WEDNESDAY, 21ST JUNE, 2023 

TOPIC: THE LORD IS MIGHTY IN BATTLE

TEXT: JUDGES 7:1-25

1. Then Jerubbaal (that [is,] Gideon) and all the people who [were] with him rose early and encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.

2. And the LORD said to Gideon, "The people who [are] with you [are] too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'

3. "Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, 'Whoever [is] fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.' " And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.

4. But the LORD said to Gideon, "The people [are] still [too] many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, [that] of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' the same shall not go."

5.  So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, "Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink."

6.  And the number of those who lapped, [putting] their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water.

7.  Then the LORD said to Gideon, "By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the [other] people go, every man to his place."

8.  So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all [the rest of] Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

9.  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.

12.  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.

13.  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."

14.  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."

15.  And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, "Arise, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand."

16.  Then he divided the three hundred men [into] three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers.

17.  And he said to them, "Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do:

18.  "When I blow the trumpet, I and all who [are] with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, '[The sword of] the LORD and of Gideon!' "

19.  So Gideon and the hundred men who [were] with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that [were] in their hands.

20. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers--they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing--and they cried, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!"

21. And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled.

22. When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled to Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.

23. And the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites.

24. Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the mountains of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against the Midianites, and seize from them the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan." Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and seized the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan.

25. And they captured two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.

MESSAGE: 

In today’s text, God demonstrated His might to save without human help. The children of Israel were under great oppression in the hands of the Midianites, who joined forces with the Amalekites and the people of the East to form a vast and intimidating army against Israel (Judg. 6:33; 7:12). God raised Gideon to lead the army of Israel with the assurance of victory, not counting the lesser number of their military men. Recall that in his preparations for the battle, Gideon summoned 32,000 (v.3) soldiers from some tribes of Israel, but God trimmed them down incredibly to 300 men (vs. 6-8) to show that He is ‘the mighty man in battle,’ able to save both with many and with a few (1 Sam. 14:6).

 

Gideon’s attitudes of total obedience to God to trim down his army and his dependence on Him to defeat their adversaries with only 300 soldiers (vs. 3, 5, 7) is a lesson that, in the battles of life, you need not depend on your strength, but to call on God and surrender totally to His dictates. Our God is mighty and indomitable. He is mighty to save. Put your trust in Him and He will fight your battles (Psa. 20:7-8; 1 Sam. 2:9; 14:6). Jehovah is the Man of War (Ex. 15.3).

 

PRAYER: 

Mighty God, fight all my battles for me, in Jesus’ name. Amen.