Mighty Soldiers

"Mighty Soldiers" - Judges 7:7-15 That the victory against Midian might be distinctly divine, the Lord first reduced Gideon's army from 32,000 to ten thousand, sending anyone who fears and shudders" to his home, as the law required.

I. (Deuteronomy 20:8) Those who are afraid in battle.

A. Those who have a bad disposition.

1. If the unwillingness to fight was motivated by "fear" and "weakness" of spirit, they were not only allowed to return to their homes, but it was imposed on them as an obligation.

2. It was a measure of kindness to the rest of the army, for they were thus freed from the hindrance (person who delays, detains, holds up, hinders, causes difficulty) that the company of "cowardly soldiers" supposed, useless and harmful (destructive), "since fear is usually more contagious than bravery."

3. (4) To reduce the army even further, God tested the soldiers by the river.

4. The army of the Lord is valiant.

5. Anyone who bowed his knees "to drink was cut off."

6. Whoever, however, licked the water "as a dog licks" and kept walking, would remain in the army.

7. These were three hundred men.

8. "And he that cannot be valiant, let him remain in a hidden, let the mighty go forth to war," and if he perishes, let him perish (Esther 4:16).

9. "If I perish, I perish."

10. He who thinks like this is brave, but...

11. (3) Whoever fears and shudders, let him rise early and turn back, and twenty-two thousand of the people were returned, and ten thousand remained, and the mighty men were reduced to three hundred when they took the water.

12. The army belonged to the enemy, and now there were fifteen thousand men, for one hundred and twenty thousand men had fallen.

13. Gideon's army was now an expert and alert to what was going on around them.

14. They didn't dwell on unimportant things.

15. Gideon's 300 mighty men "paid attention."

16. God expects you to heed His directions.

17. Don't get distracted by minor things.

18. The Lord wants you to be one of His mighty ones, of those who gain victory. Don't get distracted!

19. You live sad, troubled, only complaints, laments and cries of despair and failure, watch as you drink the water.

20. As Gideon's army was diminished to the extent we have seen, "it remained for them only to fight by faith" or not to fight at all.

21. Hence, God provides them with "resources for their faith" instead of providing them with resources for their strength.

22. It is not the same resource for your faith, faith does more necessary things than strength.

23. It provides you with a good foundation for your faith.

24. Only God's Word provides a solid foundation for faith.

25. A word of command to guarantee action: "Arise (9) and descend to the camp."

26. A word of promise to guarantee success: "For I have delivered it into your hands."

27. This word of God came to Gideon that very night, when he was in turmoil, pondering how he would get out of this perilous enterprise.

28. In every battle to work for God it is a dangerous undertaking (action or task that involves effort and work).

29. It also provides him with a good test with which to sustain his faith.

a. Within oneself.

30. If he is afraid to start the battle, He commands him to go down with his servant "to spy, in the dark of the night in the camp of Midian, and you will see what you learn by this:

(11) You will hear what they say, insinuating to him that what he is going to hear will give him great courage and strengthen his faith."

31. After encouraging him, he shows him something that in itself would have been discouraging, for it was enough to frighten anyone to see, perhaps in the moonlight, "the numerous armies of the enemy" (12).

32. They were like locusts in multitudes, like a plague of locusts struck down on a field, but in strength and courage they were to prove themselves to be nothing but locusts, and their camels were as innumerable as the sand that is on the seashore.

33. They were to hear something that was to cheer them up greatly.

34. He overheard two enemy soldiers having an interesting conversation: (a) One of them was telling the other a dream he had had: He saw a barley loaf roll up to the camp of Midian and struck a tent with such violence that it completely upset it, falling on those within. (13)

35. The camp immediately understood the meaning of the dream and gave their interpretation: "This is nothing but Gideon's sword."

36. But the dream, and its interpretation, were a sign that the people of Midian were in short spirits, for the name of Gideon alone was now so fearful as to disturb their sleep.

37. Finally, Gideon took extraordinary courage from this.

38. A movement of the chosen of faith gives him the victory of a people who are oppressed.

39. He gave God the glory for it and "worshipped"; that is, in a short and fervent prayer, he gave the Lord praise and gratitude for the victory of which he was now so sure.

40. So, he shared with his friends the courage he had gained. (15): "Arise, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hands." Amen.