Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title, ¡°The Work of God and the Three Hundred Warriors of Gideon.¡±
If we look in Judges, the Israelites faced a lot of pain because of the Midianites. The Midianites were the native residents in the land of Canaan. When the Israelites entered the land, led by Moses, the Midianites harassed them along with the Canaanites. In Judges, after the Israelites sowed seeds, the Midianites and the Amalekites came and took away all the food so that the Israelites faced extreme poverty. They came up with their livestock and invaded the land to ravage it wherever the Israelites planted seeds. They exposed everything the Israelites hoarded. During the harvest time, they came up again and demolished all those harvested crops. Therefore, the Israelites became weaker and weaker.

During that time, God appeared to Gideon. Whenever the Israelites suffered difficulties, God always established a prophet or a chosen leader to deliver them. Gideon was chosen at that time. God told him that the Israelites will be saved from the hands of the Midianites through him. However, Gideon was so startled at this. He said, ¡°Oh, God! I can¡¯t make it. It is wrong that You choose me to do something because I am nobody! Please try another!¡±
God said to him, ¡°Are you the boss? Don¡¯t tell me to choose another! You are My servant. I am telling you to do My job. Don¡¯t make excuses!¡± What a huge burden it was! To save Israel was not easy. There was no king, or any well-trained soldiers nor any armament in Israel. On the contrary, the Midianites and the Canaanites had a very strong country and a mighty king and a multitude of great soldiers. If the Israelites had to fight against them, they would have been defeated to the end. However, God told Gideon to obey His command very strictly. So he was determined to follow it.
If God truly had chosen him as a leader to save Israel, He should ask a sign of God to know His will. So Gideon asked God, saying, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised-look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said." So he placed the wool fleece on the ground and slept the night and rose early the next day; he found the wool fleece was wet while the ground was dry around it. He squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew--a bowlful of water. It would have been more than enough as a sign of God, but Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew." He left the fleece on the ground and slept the night and rose early the next morning and found that only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew. In this way, God clearly showed that Gideon was chosen by Him. Gideon asked God to show him His sign of approval and he could believe it after God gave him His sign twice. It is the same with us, so when we work for the Lord, we must ask a sign of God for it. ¡°Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.¡± If we receive the sure proof that Christ tells us, we can have courage and faith! To hear the promise of God is a great privilege. Now Gideon had to fight against the Midianites representing Israel so his next job was to recruit the Israelite soldiers. Could the Israelites respond to Gideon¡¯s call to battle as he had been a total stranger in Israel? However, at that time, the Spirit of God was with him so he sent messengers to the twelve tribes of Israel and told them that God appeared to Gideon to fight against the Midianites and the Canaanites to deliver Israel from them. As the Israelites had been desperately waiting for God¡¯s deliverance, all of them gathered together around Gideon. Totally thirty two thousand soldiers gathered! What a great number they were! They did not receive any command directly from their country, but they risked their lives to protect their precious country and the total number was thirty-two thousand! Then they already had the information of their enemies: one hundred and thirty thousand soldiers! As many soldiers as the sand on the seashore invaded Israel, but Gideon had only thirty-two thousand soldiers. It was far beyond his ability! However, when he told God about his army, He said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. I won¡¯t use a thirty-two thousand army!¡±

Judges 7:2-3 says, ¡°The LORD said to Gideon, ¡®You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.' So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.¡±

What a disaster it was as there were much more people left than those who remained! Only those who know and believe in God can overcome any form of fear, but those who don¡¯t know Him well never defeat fear at all. Fear comes from unbelief in God. If we can¡¯t believe in God, naturally the devil comes to give us fear so we end up being caught in the noose of fear. Therefore, even though thirty-two thousand soldiers volunteered at first, but as God told them, ¡°Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead,¡± So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained. But the Lord wanted to sift again among the ten thousand soldiers. He made them so thirsty and said to Gideon, "Take them down to the water.¡± Gideon told them to drink water. They were so thirsty that they ran to the water and sat down and began to drink water. There were two kinds of people who drank water differently. One group of them lapped the water with their tongues like a dog and even though their clothes became wet, they watched out and were ready to fight anytime. Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink without any caution. When God recruited the army, His second criteria was their attitude when drinking water when at their most thirsty. Those who lapped with their hands to their mouths like a dog were always ready to fight against their enemies. They always thought of their calling as their top priority and were alert.

1 Peter 5:8 says, ¡°Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.¡±

God warns us like this. We must be alert all the time as a spiritual warrior to win at spiritual warfare. The war against the Canaanites and the Midianites was finally ready. Gideon finished everything to fight against the enemies of Israel. Now soldiers were also ready to fight as they all knew what God¡¯s will was. God showed the sign of His approval and said to Gideon during that night, "Get up, go down against the camp. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying.¡±

So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp where one hundred and thirty thousand soldiers gathered. They were so countless that they didn¡¯t know each other. When Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. "I had a strange dream," he was saying.
The other asked, ¡°What kind of dream did you have?¡±
"From the camp of Israel, a round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. While I was watching it coming, it struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed. And we began to fight each other while shouting loudly."
His friend responded, "Oh, I know that! It was a prewarning to us! That loaf of barley bread represents Gideon! This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. That loaf of barley bread struck the tent so that it overturned and collapsed. It shows that we will not even fight against Gideon, but there will be a great massacre among us. Fear will spread among us so greatly that we will fight against each other and kill each other!¡±
When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped God. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, "Get up! It is time for a loaf of barley bread to fight against enemies. Follow my lead!¡± At that time the Israelites had no spears, swords or bows at all. Instead, they placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside. Gideon told them that when he began shouting, ¡°For the Lord and for Gideon,¡± they must break the jars that were in their hands. Then the fire would bright the camp so clearly that their enemies would fight against each other. The Israelites would just stand and watch their slaughter! As Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp, there was no noise at all. Gideon broke the jar in his hand and the fire burst into flames. Then all of them smashed the jars that were in their hands and began shouting, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!" Then all the Midianites were in great panic as they couldn¡¯t identify whether they were the Israelites or the Midianities. The Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The Israelites stood on the edge of the camp and shouted, ¡°"A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!" Their loud cry aroused their enemies¡¯ fear more and more so that they killed each other more fiercely so that countless people were killed through friendly attack. As the Israelites shouted themselves hoarse through the night, they greeted dawn and found that one hundred and thirty thousand soldiers were killed or fled! They found so much gold and silver treasure and livestock that they could not carry it! They didn¡¯t need to fight against them, but just witnessed their enemies¡¯ killing each other and gained a great victory before God. As God was with them, the Israelites finally had a huge victory. Not only did they gain freedom from the Midianites¡¯s oppression, but also acquired vast spoils of war. Nowadays we are waging invisible spiritual warfare. If our hearts are filled with fear, we can never win. Only if we boldly move forward with faith, we can gain victory with the work of God. You know, those who invite Jesus Christ as their Savior have all wisdom, understanding, counsel, and power. It is because Jesus is wisdom, understanding, counsel, and power Himself. When we depend on Jesus, He will make us realize all those treasures within us. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Even today the Lord wants to enter into you through His Word to manifest miracles and signs and wonders in you!