The Bread of Victory

UV 3569/10000 The Bread of Victory When Gideon arrived, there was a man telling a dream to his friend. And he said, “Listen carefully, I had a dream: there was a loaf of barley bread tumbling into the camp of the Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat. Judges 7 v 13 The loaf of barley bread that rolled into the camp of the Midianite army is a metaphor for the Word of God. Once God has spoken a thing, it will surely happen. Gideon was given a sign to confirm that he and Israel would be victorious in their attack on the Midianite camp. Likewise, we may be surrounded and overwhelmed by enemies and rivals but the Lord promises to send His word to guarantee our victory against all odds. The tents of the enemy will be flattened. Gideon overheard not only the dream but the interpretation by one of the Midianite sentries. When he heard the interpretation, Gideon bowed in worship. He became confident of victory over the Midianites. He was greatly strengthened for leadership. He was assured of victory. Jesus was crucified after a mock trial, a mob trial. The situation seemed like the end of the road for the ministry of His disciples. There was no possibility of a dead man even if He was a great leader like Jesus coming back from the dead. But the word and the vision was already rolling through history in the words of the prophets and the word of Jesus Himself. That word flattened the camp of the enemy, death and sin, once and for all. His resurrection gives us hope in hopeless situations. His resurrection and His word that He spoke in advance of His death on the cross, “ I am the Life and the Resurrection,” is the bread that will strengthen us internally and give us external victory. However strongly the enemy’s tent is tightened and tied to stakes in the ground, the Word of God to which we hold onto in faith can uproot it and turn it upside down. The Lord can turn the tables on defeat and the enemy. We only need to eat the Bread for Jesus said, “ I am the Bread of Life.” The Word of God is the whole bread out of which we consume specific slices or promises of the Lord that give us deliverance from the enemy in specific situations. Gideon’s enemies, the Midianites were encamped in great number in the valley. The Lord gave him a battle plan that was unique, unheard of and unlikely to succeed except He be in it. Gideon went with just 300 soldiers who lapped up the word of God, the water being the symbol of the word. Jesus is the word that is same as God. He also gives us the water of eternal life, the hope of eternal victory not just temporal or temporary victory. When God anoints a man even as hesitant, diffident, unprepared as Gideon, He gives the courage, the vision, the plan, the strategy and the victory.