Wed.’s Devo - The Battle is the Lord’s

Read: Judges 6-7
When the children of Israel did evil, God delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years. Midian means “strife and contention”. The Midianites would wait till their harvest was ready and they would come down and destroy it so Israel had nothing to eat or live by. Isn’t that what strife and contention does? It zaps the life out of you and steals your joy which is your strength. It leaves you impoverished spiritually and physically.
God raised up Gideon to do away with the curse. Gideon means “warrior; feller”. The first thing he was to fell or cut down was the altar of Baal and the grove by it. The grove was the place they met to worship Baal. It was really nothing more than a brothel. Next he was to rebuild the altar to the Lord. He did this at night because he was afraid of the men of the city. When the men of the city found out and came for Gideon, the spirit of God rose up in him and he was no longer afraid. The warrior inside him woke up and he blew a trumpet and Abi-ezer was gathered after him. Abi-ezer means “god of help” and is the Holy Spirit. He called for the help of surrounding tribes and went out against the Midianites and the Amelekites.
Gideon was strengthened by the two fleeces he put out. He would need these confirmations because the next thing God did was to tell him to whittle down his army so it would be obvious to everyone that the victory was the Lord’s. Then God gave Gideon a third confirmation through a dream the enemy had. Gideon and his 300 men went with torches hidden in clay vessels and trumpets. They blew their trumpets, smashed their vessels and shouted their victory. It doesn’t tell us how many they drove out but they slew their two princes Oreb and Zeeb. Their names mean “raven” and “wolf”. What a picture of how to fight spiritually. We are the vessels of clay that have to be broken. The trumpets are the Word of God that has to be proclaimed. When we proclaim God’s Word for the situation and have broken contrite hearts, we can go boldly into any war and defeat the enemy.
Lord, You make our enemies afraid of us when we trust in You. The battle is Yours!