- Lesson 10 in the Connect360 unit “The Conquerors: Heroes of the Faith” focuses on Judges 7:12-22.
Let’s consider together five details of God’s creative and exact sovereignty in this portion of the story. First is direction. There were 135,000 men in this camp, and this would have meant thousands and thousands of tents. Gideon either stumbled upon a conversation being had out in the open or walked by a tent at the guidance of God. He went to the one place in the entire camp, out of tens of thousands of people and many thousand tents, and God directed him to the exact right place.
The second is protection. Gideon and Purah moved past the outposts. The outposts were the most heavily fortified places in a camp. An intelligent general would put his most alert soldiers at the outpost to watch for any movement.
The third detail of God’s sovereignty is right timing. How many conversations would be going on in a camp as soldiers waited for the exact moment to be called into action? Surely thousands of conversations. Gideon and Purah walked up just as the dreamer was sharing his story—not a minute too soon or too late. It wasn’t a long dream. Had Gideon walked up 30 seconds earlier or definitely 30 seconds later, he would have missed the dream.
Fourth the right people displays God’s sovereignty. God supplied the dreamer and the interpreter. God slipped a dream into the mind of a dreamer, brought it to the right people who would talk loudly enough for Gideon and Purah to hear, and even put an interpreter there to rightly interpret it. Well done, God!
Finally God provides the right words. The words of the interpreter were just what was needed. It was the right word that encouraged Gideon.
After those five remarkable events happened, Gideon was filled with both worship and confidence. He returned, I believe quite hastily, to the camp of the 300 Israelites and announced that it was time to go win a battle. And Gideon wisely was quick to share that it was the Lord who had given the many Midianites into their hand (Judges 7:15).
Compiled by Stan Granberry, marketing coordinator for GC2 Press, formerly known as BaptistWay Press.
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