Victory already won

[Bible verses]

Judges 7:9-15

During that night the LORD said to Gideon, "Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp." So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.

Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. "I had a dream," he was saying. "A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed."

His friend responded, "This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands."

When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped God. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, "Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands."

Jeremiah 1:19

"They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.

John 16:33

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

I John 4:4

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

[My reflections]

In a movie or a drama, there is often a fight scene between the good guy and the bad guy. The good guy is supposed to win and I know the outcome. I have no doubt on whether the good guy will win; the only suspense is in how the good guy is going to win. To win a fight that has been scripted for you to win is such an easy task indeed.

It appears that Gideon, a judge of Israel, was a very careful man, not easily convinced, but full of doubts. Even after God commanded him to attack Midian and promised him a victory, Gideon tested God several times. Even after Gideon took the chosen 300 men to the battlefield, he seems not to have been fully convinced. So God reaffirmed the victory through the mouth of an enemy soldier, telling the story of his dream of a loaf of barley bread. Only then, Gideon was emboldened and went out to fight and gain victory.

All of us have our own battlefields. God, who promised victory to Gideon, is also promising the same to us. We will encounter those who attack us. We will go through troublesome times. But such things cannot sever us from the love of God (Romans 8:37-39) and, through the One who loves us, we will triumph ultimately. In a way, we are scripted to win. The outcome is already a certainty.

"Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing.
Were not the right Man on our side, The Man of God's own choosing,
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He, Lord Sabaoth His Name,
From age to age the same, and He must win the battle." (Martin Luther)

On account of the loaf of barley bread of Israel, the bread of life that Jesus Christ is (John 6:35), we will assuredly triumph. That is certainly a reason to celebrate and to raise our voices in praise of Christ.