Getting Assurance

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

GETTING ASSURANCE

Judges 7:8-18

Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. 9 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. 10 If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah 11 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. 12 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. 13 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." 14 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." 15 When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped God. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, "Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands." 16 Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside. 17 "Watch me," he told them. "Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. 18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, 'For the LORD and for Gideon.'"

NIV

Soon the battle, if we can call it a battle, we want to ponder on what God did so that Gideon had the assurance of victory with only three hundred men against an enemy as thick as locust, who had so many camels to ride, God describes them as more than the sand on the seashore. We can imagine the scene in which Gideon, with his three-hundred-foot warriors, was facing thousands upon thousands of Midianites riding toward them with swords on a battlefield. Gideon and his three hundred would be slaughtered. But that is not what God had in mind, so he gave Gideon a taste of his mighty hand at work in the camp of the Midianites and Amalekites. He must have given Gideon the wisdom or explicit instructions about dividing his three hundred men into three groups, all with horns, torches in jars. We recall the angel of the LORD called Gideon, “Mighty warrior,” and now Gideon had become a mighty warrior by the hand of God. However, our story is about the assurance God gave to Gideon of what he had told him would happen. Of course, all this is so the LORD would receive all the praise and glory for the victory and the deliverance of Israel from an oppressive governance, because Israel had cried out to the LORD. Everything is about the LORD, and nothing is about us. We cannot boast about any of our attributes. If we boast about our educational level, our professional skills, our knowledge of the bible, training, or titles in the body of Christ, or anything about our abilities, whatever we think they are, then we might think we should have some credit, after all, that is why we would boast. But if we do that instead of confessing our clan in the smallest, and we are the least in our family, then God will call us a mighty warrior, yet he will get all the credit for any victory in our lives. Let us always know that when we face any situation in life that may seem difficult, we will see victory if we listen, instead of boasting in ourselves, for God will assure us his hand is with us. When we follow God, we will be given assurance.