Judges 7:13-15
13 When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.” 14 And his comrade answered, “This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.”
15 As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.”
When Israel was under the harsh domination of the Midianites, God raised up Gideon to deliver the people. But Gideon was afraid, lacking confidence that he was truly being sent by God. Just before the major battle, God allowed Gideon to overhear at Midianite soldier describe a horrifying dream that he had dreamt, a dream that showed Gideon that God was most certainly going to give Israel the victory.
The thought that catches my attention here is the sovereignty of God over an insurmountable circumstance. There is no way that a band of 300 soldiers should have been able to have an impact on the massive Midianite force. There is no way, unless God was working behind the scenes. What happened? God moved to strike fear into the Midianite army. All Gideon and his men had to do that night was to make a lot of noise and shine their torches; the Midianites and their God-given fear would take care of the fighting. When Gideon and his men woke up the Midianite army, they fought amongst themselves and God gave the victory.
God moves in ways we cannot imagine. God is sovereign, even over the fears and dreams of enemy armies. Though we often look at circumstances believing that we must be able to understand how they will work out, God shows us here that he is at work behind the scenes accomplishing his will in ways that we could not imagine.
Where might this come to bear? Perhaps there is a friend who seems unreachable with the gospel. God works behind the scenes and beyond our vision to accomplish what only he can do. Perhaps our government seems beyond hope. But God is bigger than Washington. Perhaps our families seem unsalvageable. God is able to move in hearts in ways that we could never predict,.
God, in this passage, wants for us to praise him for his amazing sovereign power. We should see that he is mighty to accomplish his plan, even if the world around us would call that plan impossible. This should give us courage to pray boldly and to live faithfully in the midst of a very dark-looking world.
Pastor Travis Peterson 