“And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.” (Judges 7:20)
For seven years the Midianites troubled Israel. They destroyed their crops and took their sheep, oxen and asses. (Judges 6:3) The LORD calls Gideon to deliver the Israelites of the Midianites. (Judges 6:11-23) The Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he began to gather men to fight with him. Gideon gathered 22,000 men, but the LORD told Gideon that he had too many men. If God delivered them, they’d boast that they’d done it by their own strength. He sent more than half back because they were fearful and was left with 10,000 men. But God again told Gideon that they were still too many. And Gideon eliminated more until he had only 300 men to go against the Midianites which the Bible says were so many, they looked like grasshoppers covering the land and their camels were without number as the sand by the sea. (Judges 7:2-7, 12)
When the Israelites attacked, they broke the pitchers that covered the lamps they held in their hands, blew their trumpets and shouted, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.” They understood that it was God using Gideon, the spiritual and the natural. And so, it is today. What is the battle that the Lord has called us to fight? It’s the one against the kingdom of darkness that oppresses and enslaves people in sin. Yes, Jesus defeated the enemy, satan, but he still roams the earth, spreading lies and deceiving people. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” (1Peter 5:8) He still has people enslaved in sin and darkness. “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.” (2Corinthians 5:19-20) God has commissioned us. (Matthew 28:19-20) He has given us all that we need for the battle. (Ephesians 6:11-18)
We need to break the pitchers that hide our light and proclaim the Goodness of God through our good works that the world may glorify God. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) We must blow our trumpets and attack the kingdom of darkness, shouting and proclaiming the Good News of Jesus, the Gospel. And most importantly shout like Gideon’s men shouted, “The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon,” shout “the sword of the Lord and me.” The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, but the Holy Spirit lives in us. “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) We are more than conquerors through Jesus. (Romans 8:37)
We must not ever think that we are going it alone. It’s the Lord’s battle. It’s the spiritual and the natural that was needed then and it’s the same today. It’s God’s fight, but that doesn’t mean that we have nothing to do in it. Like Gideon, we don’t allow any to escape. We broadcast the Gospel to all that need to hear the Good News. Both the spiritual and the natural are important. If we think that since it’s God’s battle, we should stay out of it, we can be in danger of making a sinful assumption. The Israelites assumed after they refused to take the land because of the bad report of the ten spies and received the reprimand of God, they rushed into battle without the Lord, assuming that it was the right thing to do after they had disobeyed. We need to simply obey. Doing what we assume is right is dangerous. It’s doing something without the Lord’s permission. It’s doing it alone. It’s not proceeding with “the sword of the Lord” and the natural sword but going forward only with the natural sword. David prayed: “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.” (Psalms 19:13)
What would cause us to be presumptuous and make assumptions about what God wants? It’s a careless relationship with God. It’s not doing things because God has told us, but doing it because we think that’s what God wants from us. The cure is relationship with Him, true communication, genuine conversation with the Lord. Jesus drew Himself apart with the Father, so He’d say and do exactly what the Father wanted. We should not do less.
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