With God, you have a reason to be courageous. (Judges 7:20)

Welcome to the Odd Verse of the Day series.

All three companies of men blew their horns and shattered the jars at about the same time. They held the torches in their left hands and had the trumpets in their right, and together, they shouted. Men: A sword for the Eternal and for Gideon! - Judges 7:20 (VOICE)

Now, this is a verse that has something to teach us.

First, some context.

From the beginning of his story in Judges, Gideon is essentially a coward whom God calls to deliver Israel from the Midianites (their #1 enemy at the time). This is a bully on the playground, David and Goliath type of moment. The Midianites are a massive force that the nation of Israel has no business going against in battle.

Yet, despite all odds and with God on his side, Gideon finds the courage to face them as Israel's militaristic leader. 

What does Gideon do?

In chapter 7, Gideon does something reasonably remarkable. While the size of the enemy is formidable, Gideon knows something essential about them: they are humans. And with humans, reality is not king. Perception is king. 

In the middle of the night, Gideon divides his army into three smaller chunks and surrounds the sleeping giant. 

Gideon strategically divided army attacks in our odd and random verse.

You will notice in our verse above that they hold newly lit torches in one hand and trumpets in the other. Imagine waking up to torches on all three sides, the blaring horns of trumpets and screaming. You'd think Hell itself was swallowing you. 

And with this battle cry, "A sword for the Eternal and for Gideon!" they secure their victory over their enemy. 

Why does this matter to you?

• With God, you have a reason to be courageous. 
• With God, you will be bigger than you would be on your own. 

The army of Gideon is still tiny. Reality has not shifted. But with the cry of God, they are more formidable than they appear. 

In the same way, you might feel small. Many of us are small. Let's not sugarcoat this point. 

You might be at the bottom of the ladder in your work, struggle in your social relationships, or be a coward. 

The promise is not that you will magically become bigger. The promise is that you will become big enough to defeat your enemies with God on your side. 

Humility. Strength.

Let's pray about that.

Father, we are thankful that you make us more significant than our fears, problems, and sins. Thank you for being with us in the dark with our enemies. Amen.  

Today's verse comes from my video series, Roll For Verse. In this series, I roll dice to pick a random Bible verse each day. Then, I spent a few minutes sharing devotional thoughts on the verse. If you'd like to join the fun and explore the Bible differently, come check us out on TikTok or YouTube.

@pastor.payton Episode 3 of Roll for Verse takes us to torches and divided armies! Let’s go! This video is based on the fun format of Roll for Sandwich by @Adventures In Aardia Come back for more just like this. #rollforsandwich #rollforinitiative #d20 #d20games #biblestudy #verseoftheday #christiantiktok #rollforverse #rollforseries #boardgamegeek #dndtiktok #fyp ♬ Game of Trone - Dhyazraditya