Judges 7:9

Judges 7:9 says, And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand.  That night, after reducing Gideon's army from over thirty thousand down to three hundred, God told Gideon to arise, get down into the host of Midianites.  God then told Gideon that He had delivered the enemy into his hand.  We may be outnumbered as followers of Christ today, but God expects us to engage the enemy everyday, all the sin inspired by Satan, and He has already delivered them into our hand as long as we are faithful to Him.  Verse ten says, But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host:  Then, God told Gideon that if he was afraid to go down with his army, to go with his servant Phurah.  God gave Gideon a choice of acting in faith or gathering more facts, and I believe He still does today, even though ideally we will always act in faith.  Verse eleven continues, And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host.  God told Gideon after he heard what the army of the Midianites were saying, then his hands would be strengthened to go down to fight them.  Gideon, though he might have been afraid, did as God told him to do, and so must we today.  We should never let fear control us, but should live by faith, if we have indeed accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.  Verse twelve states, And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.  What Gideon found was an army of Midianites and Amalekites that were like grasshoppers in their numbers, and not their physical size, and they had camels without number.  This probably didn't encourage Gideon.  We may be outnumbered as Christians today, but I am not sure that we are ever this badly outnumbered.  Still, God expects us to stand tall in our faith and and face whatever enemy comes our way.  Verse thirteen adds, And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.  As Gideon and Phurah were spying, they heard a man of the Midianites tell of a dream he had, where a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, came into a tent and smote it so that it fell and lay alone.  Gideon,  who had threashed corn and made cakes for his friends was represented by the barley cake, and his small army and he, by the power of God, were going to destroy the Midianites and Amalekites gathered against them.  Verse fourteen continues, And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.  One of the other Midianites interpreted the dream as representing them being delivered to fall by the sword of Gideon.  Gideon may not have had total faith in the outcome, but his enemies seemed to believe that he was powerful enough to destroy them.  What we need to realize is that no matter how powerful our enemies may be today, God is infinitely more powerful.  Verse fifteen concludes, And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.  After hearing the dream and its interpretation, Gideon worshipped God and then returned and told his army to arise, that God had delivered the army of the Midianites into their hands.  We need to arise everyday, knowing that God has delivered our enemies into our hands, and then simply live out our day by faith.