-July 28, 2023-
Good morning, happy Friday,
“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!’”
(Judges 7:20).
Gideon was a farmer in the days of the Judges. At that time the Midianites were oppressing Israel with a very hand, terrorizing them. He was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. The Angel of the Lord came to him, calling him a mighty man of valor, and raising him up to save Israel from their enemies. The Lord promised to be with him.
Gideon’s father was an idolater who had built an altar to Baal. Gideon first built and altar to the Lord and named it, “The-Lord-Is-Peace.” Gideon then tore down his father’s idolatrous altar. God would bring great victory and peace through Gideon and his army of three hundred men. God reduced his army from 32,000 down to 10,000 and then to 300. Of these 300, none fought. They carried torches inside pitchers and blew trumpets. God brought about a great victory. They cried out, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon,” just as Gideon told them to do. From a military perspective, it made no absolutely no sense, but from a spiritual perspective it made perfect sense.
So many times God works in ways we don’t understand, that don’t make sense to us, that are impossible to man. In this case, the Lord set the Midianites against each other and they killed each other with their own swords. Truly it was the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. God fights for us and brings about the victories. He gets all the glory through our weakness.
There are many such victories in the Bible and they are still happening today. An angel spoke to Zechariah, “So he answered and said to him, ‘This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts’” (Zechariah 4:6). We just need to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.
Are you in need? Are you afraid? Are all the odds and circumstances against you? You are right where God wants you to be to see the victory! The answer is on its way and it may be today! The Lord’s sword will prevail. He will turn the tide. John wrote, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4). The word ‘our’ can be rendered ‘your.’ It is a very personal faith for a very personal victory.
Have a blessed day following the Lord, doing what He says to do, how, when, and where He says to do it. We will see the victory. Stay safe and healthy.
Trusting in the Lord’s sword to win the Lord’s battles,
Dean
Dean Allen's Daily Devotional 