300

Posted by Jeffrey Smith November 5th, 2015 2,102 Views 0 Comments

Judges 7:2- The Lord said to Gideon, You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her

Judges 7:13-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 collapsed.

I love the movie 300. This is a story about an elite fighting force from Sparta. The movie shows this massive amount of training, and psychological, physical, and skill development it took to become part of the Sparta fighting force. The whole premise of becoming a warrior was for the pride of oneself and for the country as a whole. These guys were more than willing to die for their cause, but it was not going to be given away for free, someone would have to take it. They had all these tactical formations, and because they had such a deep pride, and each had the same training, they were like a machine. I cannot overstate the devotion, skill, and pride these fighters possessed.
This massive army comes to take the island of Greece where they live, and this army is not a couple thousand, but hundreds of thousands of elite fighters. Some of the images in the movie show the size from a view that looks like they are like sand on the seashore, they couldnt be counted.
The Spartans take 300 men to defeat this army, and through their tactical advantage, the first few days, the Spartans just destroy all that comes their way. It is not even close. They are so strong, knowing exactly what to do and when. The bodies are stacking up all over the beach.
Eventually the 300 were defeated, but it was not because of their ability, but because they failed to take seriously the weakest among them. A shepherd who was deformed and was of no use in any fight. He felt unimportant to the Spartans and turned over a route for the Persian army to take to outflank the 300.
Conversely, we know from scripture that Gideon is heralded as a great warrior. He too led 300 men into a battle, but it was almost the opposite of the movie I watched. Gideon had over thirty thousand troops, but was afraid. He consulted the Lord, and the Lord reassured Gideon. The Lord told Gideon to widdle down the army to the eventual number of 300. The way the Lord chose the army, the ones who lapped water like dogs from the river. That does not sound like a promising crew. He referred to them as "like dogs".
So the Lord gave instruction on how this is going to go. He arms them with trumpets and glass jars! Not swords, no archers, not horses, or armor. They had trumpets...
There is a dream a man has of a loaf of bread rolling into the camp and collapsing the tent.
You see, Jesus is the bread of life, and if He is in the middle of your fight, you will never lose. This is a picture of what Jesus does outside of what man can do on our own. The men in Gideons camp never had to swing a sword at all! They had to blow the trumpet, and shout, smashing their jars on the ground! The Midianites were so confused and scared, that they turned on each other, and routing themselves!
When we allow God to take over our battles, all we have to do is Praise Him, and give Him the glory. We dont have to fight our own battles. We never have to take on cancer, fear, poverty on our own. The fight is won with Him and Him alone, so that we "may not boast that our own strength saves us." The world is filled with ideas of glorifying ourselves in battle. It is our own pride that gets us killed, and allows us to fall to our advesary, but with Jesus, the victory is won, and it belongs to Him. We only get to share in the spoils of the enemy and watch while we are increased with health, life, prosperity, success. Give Jesus the glory, and whatever you have, is 299 more than you need.