Now the camp of Midian lay below him
in the valley. During that night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up, go down
against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. If you are
afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to
what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So
he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. The Midianites,
the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley,
thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the
seashore.

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.” – Judges 7:8b-15

It is no great secret that the
Israelites were successful whenever they put their trust in God.  However, God is not one to allow His children
to fall into a lazy unexercised trust.
He asks us to live out an active, expanding trust.  In paring down the number of fighting men to
attack the Midianites, God is upping the trust factor, exercising Gideon’s
trust and the trust of those who were following him.

Sometimes we have to up the ante to
get our kids to understand that they can trust us. We need to fulfill a silly
request or meet some unreasonable request.
Our ability to provide safety and security will be tested and we will make
sacrifices and investments to pass the test.
On the other side of the coin, we need to instill in our children the
desire to be trusted.  While the Israelites
had to trust in God to be victorious, they needed to be trustworthy to carry
out God’s plan.

Trust is a beautiful thing.  It overcomes our fears, helps us see without
our eyes and takes us directions we would never pick left to our own devices.
Trust is the spark that lights the fire of revival, it is the seed planted in
the ground out of site with the promise of a harvest.  Trust is taking 300 men against
thousands.  It is raising children in the
way they should go and then letting them go.

I want my children to trust me and I
want them to be trustworthy in increasing measure.  Lord, help me to be trustworthy for Your
kingdom and my children. Amen.