TRUMPETS & PITCHERS
Judges 7:19-21, "So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands. And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon. And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled."
The question I have for each of us is this, “what are we doing with our trumpet and our pitcher?” Every one of us has a “trumpet” and a “pitcher” that God has given to us to use in fighting our spiritual warfare against the enemy of our souls.
In the 6th chapter of Judges we find one of the greatest heroes of faith in the history of Israel. The story of Gideon is one of the most remarkable in the entirety of the Bible. The first glimpse we see of Gideon is when he is working in a threshing floor separating the wheat from the chaff in the act of “winnowing”. He is hiding what he is doing because the people of Israel had, once again, fallen in bondage to the Midianites because they had not listened to the voice of God.
Now had come time for the harvest and Israel was preparing to gather the grain and store it up for the coming year but the Midianites would not allow Israel to enjoy their harvest or to gain strength for their labor.
How many of you know that it’s easier to kick a man when he’s down than to let him up and then try to knock him back down?
In this story I want to draw you an analogy of the life that each of us lives through the events in the story of Gideon.
Let me begin by saying that if you love the Lord and you have surrendered your life to Him then God has a word for you this morning and here is the word – “The Lord is With You, You Mighty Man or Woman of Valor! God will be with you! God agrees with you! God approves of you! God looks upon you for what you will become! God knows that when He is with you, there is “nothing impossible to him that will believe and trust in God”
Matthew 17:20, "… If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."
Luke 1:37, "For with God nothing shall be impossible."
I know that many of us cannot see ourselves as “mighty men and women of valor”. We don’t look at ourselves as heroes of the faith. Why, I’m just a common ordinary preacher, a lowly Sunday School Teacher, or any other position we may hold. Some of us may even say, “Look, I’m just a doormat in God’s House, and I’m just glad to be a part of the Kingdom. I don’t see myself as anyone or anything special.”
But again I say to you, “The Lord is with you mighty man or woman of valor!”
Do you begin to see the picture this morning? Can you see where God is taking Gideon? Can you see where God is taking you?
God wants us to lift up our heads, quit thinking like a chicken, and fly like an eagle for a change. God sees greatness in each of us! We may not see ourselves as anything more than a mechanic, a farmer, a secretary, a janitor, or ditch digger, but, even if we think of our selves as an educated and successful person, we are still thinking on the wrong plane.
God says, “Look up! Get your eyes off of your own abilities and set your gaze upon ME for I am the great “I AM” and nothing is impossible with ME!” God wants to lift us above our own thoughts and get us to see this morning that He has great plans for each of us if we will only listen to His voice.
We have a choice to make. We can listen to voice of God and obey His Word or we can find ourselves hiding from the enemy of our soul like Israel, scratching and clawing out our very spiritual survival because we failed to listen to God! I don’t know about you but I’m tired of being in a hiding place. I’m ready to come out into the light of God and get out of the shadows of sin. I’m ready to do some great and mighty things of valor with God!
Zechariah 4:6, "… Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts."
Gideon was not really a great man of faith when he began his journey to becoming a great hero of faith! He was afraid, doubtful, questioning and extremely cautious! He laid out a test for God to prove to him that it was really God talking.
Have you ever had God speak to you, and you know it was God, and yet you became uncertain after the message was over and you had time to think about it? You see; there is part of our problem. We stop to reason and figure out God’s command instead of simply walking by faith and obedience! You can’t figure God out!
Isaiah 55:8-9, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Sometimes God just wants us to listen and obey without trying to figure it out! Take a step of faith and see where god wants to take us.
The problem is that when we begin to try to figure out God, we open the door to doubts and fear! Thank God that he understands our nature because He created us. He has patience with our ignorance. He understands our caution! He knows our hearts and He will allow us to test Him.
1 John 4:1, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God…."
Gideon laid out his test before God in the form of a fleece of wool or lambskin upon the ground. He didn’t test God once; he did it twice to just make sure that it was God speaking. I don’t see where God once got angry with Gideon for “trying the Spirit”. God even went so far as to answer Gideon’s request for proof.
I believe that we can hear the voice of God, know that it is God and still let doubt and fear arise because we can see the consequences of losing the battle ahead. Call it a lack of faith, a lack of understanding, a lack of obedience or whatever you will, but we all will tend to lose heart when we know the seriousness of winning or losing this battle against sin and the devil. The battle is hard! Our enemy is strong! Our ability seems so inadequate for waging war against Satan! The real problem is that we get our eyes off of God, who is with us, and get our eyes on the enemy around us instead!
God knows our weakness and He is longsuffering in allowing us to prove His words.
Gideon, the mighty man of valor, was afraid. It’s not that he didn’t trust God; it’s just that he wasn’t convinced that this was God speaking and not his own desire to see Israel delivered from the Midianites.
Have you ever been there? God, is that your voice I hear, or is that my own voice I hear? Sometimes we are so caught up in the cares of life and striving to earn our livelihood that we get confused. We are close enough to hear the still, small voice of God as He speaks but there are so many other voices in our ears that we lose bits and pieces of God’s message. Maybe we just aren’t as close as we should be to Jesus but we still have a desire within to serve Him and to be surrendered to His will. Thank God, Jesus can get your attention when He wants it!
Gideon’s tests for God went like this. In the first test he asked God to let the fleece be wet and the ground be dry in the morning. Then the second time he asked that the ground be wet and the fleece to be dry. God answered both of those tests and Gideon was convinced.
Now Gideon was convinced that God had really spoken so he gathered his army of 32,000 soldiers and went out after the army of the Midianites. You see, he knew it was God and now he took matters into his own hand and started out for the fight!
Doesn’t that sound like us? How many times have I heard someone say, “Well, I don’t care what anybody says about how I am doing what I am doing for God because I know that I am doing God’s Will. I heard His voice. I prayed about it. I tested the spirits and I am convinced that God is with me!”
Friend, I want to let you know that you can be doing exactly what God called you to do. You can be walking in obedience to God’s command, but are you doing what God called you to do according to your knowledge or according to God’s perfect plan? Have you taken the time to listen to the voice of God to see if He is saying to you, “I’m glad you are moving in obedience but I have a different plan of action that you need to follow if you want to be really victorious"!
Gideon soon found out that it wasn’t God’s plan for him to move under Gideon’s power and understanding to defeat the Midianites. I want you to know that your best plans and schemes are useless in the face of the Devil. He is too powerful and too intelligent for you to defeat him in your own power. Your victory will not be because of yourself. Your victory will be because of your God that is with you!
Gideon’s 32,000-strong army was reduced to 300 men by the time that he reached the Midianite camp. I want you to know that the battle had been won long before Gideon had ever reached the Midianite camp. Little by little, once step at a time; God had transformed Gideon from a frightened farmer into a mighty man of valor.
God had begun by removing the doubts and fear of Gideon in the miracles of the dew and fleece. Then God removed Gideon’s reliance upon the arm of the flesh by reducing his army. First God removed all those who were fearful because they could not have the trust in God that was necessary and still be fearful of losing the battle. God only wanted men of faith to be with Gideon! Then God removed all of those who were not constantly on guard against attacks of the enemy! God knows that the work that He has called you to do will require great commitment and constant diligence lest we allow Satan to enter unawares and sow discord among those who are fighting with you!
So what about the trumpets and the pitchers? What is their significance in the war that you are waging against the powers of darkness?
When Gideon came to the camp of the Midianites he was commanded by God, the Lord of Hosts, to do something that no military commander would ever do in the face of overwhelming odds. Gideon divided his army of 300 men into 3 groups of 100 men each and sent them off in 3 different directions.
Now I don’t know about you, but its about this time, when I know that my enemy is a thousand times stronger than I am, and that my ability to overcome is so overpowered that I am glad that the Lord is one who fights my battles!
As Gideon’s little army stood on the hillsides in total darkness, down in the valley below them was the Midianite army of thousands upon thousands of men of war. Have you ever felt outnumbered by the powers of darkness?
I can just imagine what may have gone through Gideon’s mind just about then. We boys, we’ve come this far and there is no turning back. God has assured me that we will win. Let’s surround them and attack and remember that God is with you. How many of us would suddenly question God, “Are you sure about this God? Let me try that fleece one more time”?
God’s battle plan was strange but very effective. After all, God is the commander of the Army of the Lord and in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 Paul says that, "… the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"
Isn’t it great to know that you are in the army that can never lose! No matter how hot the battle may get and no matter how tired we are; we cannot lose!
God’s battle plan:
Surround the enemy on three sides. Give every man a clay pitcher with a lamp in it. Then give every man a trumpet! When I give the signal, break the pitcher and let the light show forth in the darkness, then blow that trumpet as long and as loud as you can! WOW, what a plan!
Don’t get down there and mix with the enemy. Just stand in place and do what I tell you do and then watch your enemy run in fear!
Now, do you begin to see how God fights His battles? Can you see how God wants us to fight our battles? That was, has always been and will always be God’s battle plan!
Lest you lose the point allow me to explain it to you.
The Lamp in the picture relates to the scripture in Matthew 5:14-16, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
God is saying to each of us this morning, “break the clay pot and let your light shine.” Give your heart to me! Break the will of the flesh! Get past the reliance upon your own understanding! Get past your own thoughts and surrender your life, totally and completely, to the will of Almighty God.
Once you have broken the flesh, let your light shine brightly in the darkness around you. God out and witness for me. God out and tell everyone you see that Jesus is alive and well. Live holy, righteous and above the things of this world. Don’t get caught up in the things of this life. Get caught up in Jesus! Stay away from the enemy’s camp. Don’t go down to their level to reach them. Just break the pitcher of flesh and let your light shine. Keep yourself separated from sin and don’t get in the middle of it or you will be destroyed. Stay close to God and let Him fight the battle.
Then, blow your trumpet loud and hard!
Joel 2:1, "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;"
1 Corinthians 1:18, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."
Had those Midianites knew what Gideon was doing, they would probably had laughed loudly at his battle plan. How foolish to think that you can defeat a powerful enemy with only pitchers, lamps and trumpets. Where are your real weapons of war?
1 Corinthians 1:21, "For after that in the wisdom of God… it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."
Blow your trumpet! God gives every one of us a trumpet to blow! He has instructed us to break the flesh, let the power of the Holy Spirit to shine through the darkness!
I believe that you have to be filled the Holy Ghost before your light can shine very brightly. What would have happened if their lamps would have been dim or the oil was gone when they broke those pitchers? They would have died on that very day.
It was the brightness of the Light and the sound of the Trumpet that won the battle! The only part that Gideon and his army played was to be obedient and God did the rest.
Stay out of the enemy’s camp. Get close enough to let them hear your trumpet and see your light but don’t walk among them lest you wind up destroyed. Let them think that you are different because you are.
Break your pitcher! Get your heart right and surrender your life without reservation, to the Lord Jesus Christ!
Let your light shine! Let those around you see the Love of Jesus Christ within you. Let your faith be proven by the works that you do.
Sound out your trumpet! Let the world know about Jesus and His love! Your duty is to sound the trumpet and preach the Word. Jesus is coming soon! Let the world know about Him!
If you will only do those things, then God will make you into a might man or woman of valor!
