Judges 7:9-11 “That same night the Lord said to him, “Get up, attack the camp; for I have given it into your hand. But if you fear to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah; and you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to attack the camp.” Then he went down with his servant Purah to the outposts of the armed men that were in the camp." Today's episode talks about the fact that often times we won't believe what God is saying about us unless we hear it from someone else. It also talks about the face that the enemy wouldn't be messing with us if we weren't a threat. He wouldn't even bother to mess with us if we weren't the amazing sons or daughters of Christ that God keeps saying we are. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
What Is The Enemy Saying?
Judges 7:9-11 “That same night the Lord said to him, “Get up, attack the camp; for I have given it into your hand. But if you fear to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah; and you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to attack the camp.” Then he went down with his servant Purah to the outposts of the armed men that were in the camp."
This is one of the verses that Pastor Steven Furtick touched on in his sermon a few weeks ago. The entire sermon was good and I will probably touch on something else he said in a different podcast because it had to do with worry and I know a lot of us struggle with worry. I will put a link for the whole sermon in the show notes. (Click Here) However, today’s message is a bit different than you might have heard before and yet when I heard it I knew I could relate to it and I bet you will too. The verse above comes after an interesting part in the Bible. In this verse God is talking to Gideon. He has been talking to him for awhile now.
An angel first appeared to Gideon and told him he was a mighty warrior that was leading his people to victory over their oppressors. Gideon did not believe this as he really couldn’t see himself as a mighty warrior because he was the least in his family. Gideon asked the Lord to do several things to prove he really was God and then he finally accepted this information. Then Gideon gathered troops and went to fight the Midianites army. God told Gideon he had too many soldiers. If they went to war with 32,000 soldiers then the Israelites would take the credit for the win instead of knowing that it was God who delivered them. God told Gideon to send anyone home that was fearful and trembling. Gideon did this and 22,000 people left. He was now down to 10,000.
I am sure he was scared and thinking he was crazy for sending home all these people. However, God told him that was not enough. He told him to take those that were left down to the water and watch how they drank the water. Split them into two groups, those who put there face to the water and drink and those who use there hands to cup the water and then drink. There were 300 soldiers who cupped their hands to drink and 9,700 who put their face to the water. God told Gideon to keep the 300 and send the rest home. Can you even imagine this? In Judges 7:12 it says, “The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the east lay along the valley as thick as locusts; and their camels were without number, countless as the sand on the seashore.” There troops are thick as locusts and Gideon now has 300 men.
This is where the verse above fits into this story. God is telling Gideon that he has given the enemy into his hand and he should go and attack in the night. However, God said if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp and hear what they are saying about you. That right there is the part I find interesting. Sometimes we won’t listen to God about what he says about us, we need to hear it from someone else. Why is that? God is the almighty one? He is the maker of the whole universe. Why do we take someone else’s word for it? Why do we need someone else to tell us the same thing? I thought this part of the sermon was different than most other sermons because usually we are telling you not to listen to the enemy. However, in this verse God is telling Gideon to go down and listen to what the enemy is saying about him.
In Judges 7:13-14 it says, “ When Gideon arrived, there was a man telling a dream to his comrade; and he said, “I had a dream, and in it a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell; it turned upside down, and the tent collapsed.” And his comrade answered, “This is no other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel; into his hand God has given Midian and all the army.” When Gideon heard this he worshiped the Lord and he believed what the Lord had said. Gideon went back and got his army and did as the Lord had commanded.” Gideon needed to hear it from the enemy that he was powerful. God told Gideon that He had already delivered the Midianites into the hands of Gideon’s army and yet He was still afraid. He was afraid until he heard the Midianite, the enemy, talking about how powerful he was.
Is this you too? Has God been telling you He has great plans for you? Has He been telling you that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you? Has He been telling you that you will make it through this hard storm? Have you been listening to Him? Have you been worrying instead of believing? Are you scared? If so, you are in great company. However, I want you to consider this, if you weren’t powerful, why would the enemy bother with you? The enemy has limited resources, you better believe the enemy is focusing on those who are going somewhere, doing something. If you are lukewarm in your faith, the enemy is not going to bother with you. He’s not worried as he knows that God is not interested in us being lukewarm in our faith. If you have been under attack lately. If you have noticed the enemy attacking your family, attacking you, attacking your marriage, attacking your friendships or your job, it is because the things God is saying about you are true. You are the amazing, wonderful son or daughter of God that He keeps telling you about.
This is the one time where I would say it is ok to look at what the enemy is saying. Maybe not what he is saying with his words as the words may still be unkind. However, look at what his actions are saying. When you look at the spiritual attacks that are coming in your life, picture yourself as Gideon in this story. You are facing an army as many as the locusts and you only have 300. However, you have the 300 that God picked for you and you have the promise from God that He has already delivered them into your hands. You’ve got this! Whatever it is that you are going through right now, God will help you through it. He has already made a way and now all you have to do is ask Him to help lead you to it.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing and I don’t know why we don’t always listen to you. Lord, we ask that you help open our ears to hear you more clearly and to be able to believe what you say about us. Help us to see that we are worthy and we are amazing in your eyes. Help us to see that the enemy wouldn’t even bother messing with us if weren’t a threat to him, if we weren’t growing closer to you. Thank you so much Lord for believing in us even when we don’t believe in ourselves. Thank you for saving us even when we doubt. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow with a witness. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Elevation Podcast Episode Instruments of Victory (CLICK HERE)