The secret to success in life is revealed in this bible study at Gideon Springs, Israel.
Now, the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. It happened on the same night that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah, his servant, to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp.
Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts, and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude. And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.” Then his companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.”
Listen, this is cool because Gideon was still scared. He was probably really scared now that he only had 300 guys. But you know what God says? He goes, Gideon, I’ll tell you what. Here’s what I want you to do. Go down to the camp and go up to one of the tents and listen into the tent. And he hears a guy going, Man, I had a dream.
What was it? He goes, a barley loaf rolled into camp and smashed the tent. What was that? The guy goes, It’s none other than the sword of the Lord and Gideon. Gideon heard that, and it gave him the faith to fulfill what God had told him to do. Once God tells you to do something, you’re going to know as you take the steps of faith.
God’s going to send things to encourage you where you’re going. You’ll know, this is the Lord! It’s going to build you up. He wants you to do it. He knows how to encourage you. Gideon was encouraged after this.
Okay, here we go. And then his companion answered, This is none other than the sword of the Lord and Gideon and the son of Joash, the man of Israel, into his hand. God has delivered Midian and the whole camp. And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.” Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man’s hand, with empty pitchers and torches inside the pitchers.
And he said to them, Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp, you shall do as I do: When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!”
So Gideon and the hundred men with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing and cried, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!”
“And every man stood in his place all around the camp, and the whole army ran and cried out and fled. When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his companion throughout the camp; and the army fled to Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.
And the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites. Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the mountains of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites, and seize from them the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan.” Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and seized the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan. And they captured two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.
When someone’s obedient, and they make sure this is the Lord, Listen, if it’s going to be the Lord, then you didn’t begin it or finish it. The victory is not because of you. It’s because you’re trusting in the Lord. Gideon was a mighty man of valor because he had faith in the Ancient of Days, the King of Kings. It’s not going to be you. It’s not your great plan.
I love this. When you look at these battles in the Bible like Joshua, God said, “I want you to go to Jericho, this great city, and I want you to walk around it six times and then on the seventh day, walk around it seven times and shout and I’ll blow the walls down.”
When that happens, you can’t say, Well, that was Pastor Steve’s plan, right? That ain’t our plan. My plan would be: Okay, you get down, you ambush. We will throw some smoke in there and then throw some grenades over the wall.
But God’s plan is often so ridiculous that when the victory comes, you go; that was the Lord!
Gideon, what I want you to do is go out here, and I want you to get a pitcher, okay? You’re going to put a little light in it. What? What am I doing? Put a light in there. Then, you’re going to blow the trumpet with one hand. You break the pitcher, and then you’re going to blow the trumpet. And all three companies are going to do the same thing.
And then God brings about a victory. It’s like, Gideon can’t go back and go, Yeah, that was my plan. No, it wasn’t. A light in a pitcher? Then, you break it? No, that was the Lord.
The bible says your obedience has been come known to all. Therefore, I’m glad on your behalf, the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. Gideon obeyed exactly what he was supposed to do. Joshua obeyed exactly what he was supposed to do. Do you think walking around in circles had anything to do with it? No. The Lord’s just like, Are you going to obey me? Because listen, in the garden, it said Adam walked with God in the cool of the garden. We were created for His good pleasure. Revelation 4:11
When your son says, Hi, Dad, how are you? What do you want me to do? You’re like, aw buddy, don’t worry about all this stuff. I could just speak the word and smash all that. I’ll show you how we’re going to do it. By showing that you’re listening, it’s showing that you love Him and you care about Him and you want to do what He does. I always do those things to please my Father.
It’s like when you’re talking to your kid, and he’s on the phone or computer. He says, “not right now, Dad. Not right now.” You want him to say, “Hi, Dad. How are you?” You’ll be like, Let’s get some ice cream. Come on. What’s your problem? Anna’s picking on me. All right, I’ll put her on restriction. Thanks Dad.
It’s just back to the simple thing that when you’re obeying, God knows you’re listening to Him in your fellowship with Him, and you want to know His will, and then all the other stuff is taken care of. Amen.
