Bread, Breath, and Light
Written on September 26, 2014.
We have one more stop on our journey with Gideon’s army, the camp of the Midians. Upon the mighty armies arrival, a few things became very clear. They were outnumbered. This wasn’t a surprise. They knew going in. But seeing it makes it real. Before them was choice. The covenant of what Pappa said or the condition of what he enemy put in place.
With the condition before him, Gideon did what we are invited to do every day. He asked for his daily bread. And it was a bakery! First the Lord revealed to Gideon that there was a tinge of fear encircling his awe. He invited Gideon to be rid of it by entering into the very thing he was afraid of. The Lord told him that his portion was to know what was going on in the enemy camp. What a powerful part of our inheritance that is! We were never meant to be unaware of what the enemies plans against us are. All we have to do is ask.
So Gideon took his servant Purah with him to the fringes of the camp. There he learned a very valuable lesson. The Lord gives our enemies daily bread too. They ask for it in a different way, lol. When a people are faithful to the to Him, he prepares not only that people for victory, but their enemies for defeat.
While clinging to the outskirts of the camp and the cord of his God, Gideon overheard a conversation. A man in the camp was sharing with a friend the dream he had. In the dream, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp and flattened a tent. His friend replied that it surely meant Gideon’s army would be victorious. There is a strategy we need in this day. Ours is the knowledge that the enemy has been prepared to lose!
Gideon worships and then goes back to his mighty warriors with a plan. God’s plan. He gives each man a shofar and an empty pitcher with a torch placed inside. The army divided into three sections. Do you wonder if this could get any more prophetic? Three is the number of justice. And yes it can! The three groups approached the camp from different directions. When signaled, they all broke their pitchers and light came bursting forth. Everything that had kept the light back was shattered. And then they began to blow the shofars. I want to hear that sound. The sound of God’s ruah (spirit) colliding with his armies!
Pappa had a big surprise in store for band of fiery ones. An army fortified with daily bread, light and His spirit doesn’t actually have to fight. For Gideon and his men never had to enter the battle. The light they released revealed that though greater in number, strength and artillery, the Midian army had something else in greater measure. Fear. The very thing the Lord relentlessly made sure Gideon’s army did not have. Armed with awe, the men watched as their enemy fought themselves until not one remained. Pappa’s faithful never had to draw swords, much less use them.
I just got filled with awe! How about you?