Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘ “I will never leave you nor forsake you” ‘ ” (Hebrews 13:5, emphasis supplied).
My Father and my God, I come before You to say thank You for another day of life! I thank you for providing for my needs; for loving me in spite of my unworthiness, and for the promise of everlasting life, after this life is over. I love You Lord because You first loved me! And I give You thanks in the precious Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior, and our Friend! Amen.
We have finally arrived at the place for which God has been preparing Gideon, ever since they met under the oak tree! God had been encouraging Gideon, by providing Him with sufficient evidence, that He would be with Him, to face and defeat the nations who had made him and his fellow Israelites fugitives and captives in their own land!
God had provided him with sign after sign and watched his faith grow until he no longer needed to see to believe. He had finally come to the place where he could say, by his actions, “If God says it, I believe it, and that settles it!” He had learned to walk by faith, and not by sight!
Once the battle within had been won, he could expect victory without! The victory Gideon obtained in this battle was second only to the victory obtained by Joshua in the battle of Jericho, or, the battle between David and Goliath!
The army led by Gideon was beyond fledgling, “And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men.
. The armies he would be facing, beyond gigantic,
“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” (Judges 7:12).
This battle was for the glory of God and the Lord would be with him! Let us take a look at their weapons: “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” (16).
Their war strategy, ” ‘ “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” ‘ ” (17)!
The results? “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 they 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 whole 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” (20-25).
The word of God encourages us to “be content with such things as [we] have.” The reason? Because God has promised never to leave us or forsake us! With Gideon it was not easy for him to be content with the oppression that he and his fellow Israelites were experiencing, but as Gideon grew in faith – he also grew in endurance – and the results were an astounding victory!
Gideon’s God is our God! He does not change! He is the same yesterday, today, and will forever be the same! He has a plan for every life. Sometimes the preparation period may be longer than we would like it to be, but, as with Gideon, it will be well worth the wait! He was with Gideon and Israel of old through it all! He has been with us, in our individual situations, and will continue to be with us through it all, for He who has promised, is faithful. Therefore, let us take God at His word, and be content!