A Loaf of Barley Bread

Read‍

Judges 7:13-15 "Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. 'I had a dream,' he was saying. 'A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.' His friend responded, 'This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.' When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, 'Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands.'"

Think

Right before the biggest night of his life, Gideon was scared again.

He had heard God speak directly. He had watched God answer him twice with a piece of wool. He had already obeyed something terrifying in his own front yard. And he was still afraid, which is worth knowing if you have quietly assumed that real faith eventually stops feeling like this.

So God tells him to sneak down to the edge of the enemy camp in the dark and listen. And what Gideon overhears is a guy describing a dream about bread.

You have to understand what a loaf of barley bread meant to hear this correctly. Barley was the cheap grain. Wheat was what you ate if you could afford it. Barley was what you ate if you could not, and it was mostly what you fed animals. A round loaf of barley bread was the least impressive food item in that entire part of the world.

And in this man's dream, that is what comes rolling into the camp of the strongest army in the region and knocks a tent flat.

Then his friend interprets it without hesitating. This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon.

Sit with that for a second. The Midianites did not picture Gideon as a sword. They pictured him as a piece of cheap bread. That was the enemy's own assessment of him, and they were terrified of it anyway, because they could tell that something bigger than the bread was behind it.

So Gideon, who called himself the least in his family, crouches in the dark and hears his enemies describe him as the least impressive thing they could think of. And instead of being crushed by that, verse 15 says he bowed down and worshiped.

He worshiped because he finally understood the point. The barley loaf was never supposed to be impressive. If it had been a sword in the dream, the story would be about a weapon. Because it was bread, the story could only be about God.

Read that again if you have ever felt like the least impressive person in your friend group, your family, or your school. That is not a disqualification. In this story it is the whole design.

And notice what changes in Gideon the instant he worships. Verse 15 says he went back and called out, "Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands." That is the same man who was arguing with an angel a chapter earlier. The fear did not vanish. His posture did.

Something else worth catching. God did not encourage Gideon with a vision or a voice from heaven. He encouraged him by letting him overhear two ordinary men having a conversation neither of them knew he was listening to. God was already at work in the enemy camp before Gideon ever got there.

He is usually further ahead of you than you think. The conversation you are dreading has often already been prepared by God on the other end.

So what would change today if you actually believed God had already gone ahead of you into the thing you are afraid of?

Apply

Go listen before you decide – Name the thing you are most afraid to do for God right now. Before you talk yourself out of it, spend five minutes asking him to show you where he is already at work in it. Then take the first small step toward it today instead of waiting to feel ready.

Pray

God, I feel like the least impressive person in almost every room I walk into. Thank you that you have never once needed me to be impressive. Help me believe you have already gone ahead of me. Give me enough courage for the next step and nothing more. In Jesus' name. Amen.