Judges 7:16 – God Has a Plan

¹⁶ And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.

Now the soldiers are probably starting to think the Gideon really has a screw loose or something! The Bible doesn’t say if God directly told Gideon this plan or if Gideon had a moment of brilliance, but however Gideon found out this idea, it is clearly orchestrated by God. As if God hadn’t been going about this battle oddly enough, anyways, now He adds another twist into His plan. He doesn’t even give the army any weapons! Gideon gives all of his men a trumpet, a clay pot, and a lamp. Not only has God cut down Israel’s army to almost no one (remember, these are only 300 people), but now they don’t even have swords to fight back with! Just imagine if our military sent soldiers to go fight, but did not give them a gun, knife, or grenades; they would be defenseless!

These men, were defenseless on their own. However, they were not alone, they had God fighting on their side! Although for us, and probably for these soldiers, this seems like a crazy plan, God knew what He was doing. The important thing is, they obeyed. If they would have stuck with the kind of plan that would be common sense (get the biggest army you can and fight), the Israelites didn’t really stand a chance. God’s plan, however, is very different from our plans.

When things really don’t make sense, the best thing to do is just to trust Him anyways! It’s important to remember that God always has a plan and that He always know what’s going on, even when we don’t and that we still obey Him even when we are not sure what He’s doing.

Life Step: Think about it…

What are some things that happen in life that cause use to be unsure about God’s plan?

How does it affect us that God is always there and in control?