ANGELS, DREAMS, SIGNS, AND
WONDERS
How do you “hear” from the
Lord? Have you ever had an angel come to give you a message? Does the Lord
sometimes give you a message through a dream or an open vision? How about a
wonder? The Lord has many ways to get our attention, and it’s good to remind
ourselves of the different ways He’s communicated with us in the past. But if you
are wishing that He would talk to you more, I have a suggestion.
I’ve found it helpful to
go to the Bible and check out the various ways He’s communicated to others. It
gives us an idea of what we might pray for and believe to receive. Like it says
in Matthew 7:8: “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that
seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
And when I am claiming something from the scripture, I like to follow it with
the words of Mary, the mother of Jesus: “Be it unto me according to thy word”
(Luke 1:38).
Today, I want to take you
to the story of Gideon. God used a combination of ways to communicate with
Gideon, so if we pay attention, we’ll learn a lot about how our Lord is willing
to communicating with us too.
The people of God had
turned away from Him, leaving themselves open to oppression. When their way of
living was demolished, they finally turned back to God and cried out for help.
It’s recorded in Judges 6 - 9. For brevity’s sake, I won’t go over every verse,
but I hope you’ll read it for yourself as soon as you can.
“And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites
came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up
against them” (Judg. 6:3).
“They
came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels
were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel
was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel
cried unto the Lord” (vv. 5-6)
Enter, an
angel from God, to begin the deliverance of His people:
“And
there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak” (v. 11) “And said [to Gideon], ‘Go in this thy might, and
thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites” (v. 14).
This next
verse is important for us to remember for later when God gives Gideon a message
from a dream.
“And he
[Gideon] said unto him, ‘Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my
family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my
father’s house’” (v. 15)
Then Gideon
asks God to give him a sign that all of this about him being a hero is for
real:
“And the
Lord said unto him, ‘Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the
Midianites as one man. And he said unto him, ‘If now I have found grace in
thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. (vv. 16-17).
Up to
this point, Gideon thinks that this person who came to him is actually a flesh
and blood man who is delivering a message from God. Gideon wants to know if the
message is really from God, so he asks for some kind of a sign. He then tells
the “man” to wait while he goes and prepares a meal for him. When he brings the
meal back out to the person he thought was a man, a very interesting thing
happens:
“The
angel of God [who Gideon thought was a man], said unto him, ‘Take the flesh and
the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the
broth.’ And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the
staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened
cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the
unleavened cakes.
“Then the
angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. And Gideon perceived that
he was an angel of the Lord” (vv. 20-22)
So, Gideon got his prayer
answered and God gave him the first sign that he asked for. We need to realize
that God is more than willing to give us whatever it is that we need, to carry
out our missions for Him. We may be the ones who pray the perfect prayer for
our neighborhood, or we may be the perfect person to speak to the
parent/teacher group. Whatever it is that God is urging us to do, we can do it,
but God never expects us to do it alone. He will give us an angel, a sign, a
dream, a wonder, whatever it takes to help us to be the heroes He’s called us
to be.
Then later in the story,
it’s time to actually go into battle. All the Israelites are enthused and ready
to go for it, but God tells Gideon no. God can’t let everyone do the fighting
because He knows they are too egotistical.
“And the Lord said unto Gideon, ‘The
people that are with
thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands,
lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, ‘Mine own hand hath saved me’”
(Judg. 7:2).
God
showed Gideon how to minimize the number of soldiers from the 10,000 he had, down
to only 300!
“And the Midianites and the Amalekites
and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for
multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for
multitude” (7:12).
Gideon must have been
terrified at this point, or at least hesitant about taking only 300 soldiers
against a huge multitude of enemies. And this is where God sends Gideon a
message through another man’s dream.
“And when Gideon was come,
behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said,
‘Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the
host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned
it, that the tent lay along.
When Gideon heard this man
recite his dream, Gideon knew instantly that it was another message from God
for him. Remember how Gideon responded to when the angel first came to him? He
said: “My family is poor in Manasseh,
and I am the least in my father’s house” (Judg. 6:15). Barley
for the Israelites was considered poor men’s bread. So when Gideon heard this
dream, he knew that the cake of barley bread that would take down the
Midianites was none other than he himself and his mere troop of 300 men.
Finally, Gideon was totally convinced.
“And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the
dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into
the host of Israel, and said, ‘Arise; for the Lord hath delivered into your
hand the host of Midian” (7: 13-15).
Gideon and his 300 men
went on to defeat the enemy and there was peace in the land for the next forty
years.
We see with Gideon that
God was willing to communicate in many different supernatural ways. The Lord is
no less compassionate toward us. We’re all heroes like Gideon in His eyes, and
all worthy of angel visits, signs, miracles, wonders, dreams, and visions, all
to the glory of our God and to bless us as individuals.
You’ll really enjoy reading
Judges 6-9 for the whole story.
Love, Carolyn
I have a variety of books and booklets on living
a more spiritual Christian life. I know you can find something great that will
resonate with you. 😊
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=BOOKS+BY+cAROLYN+mOLICA&crid=16D4X7I4BV76Z&sprefix=books+by+carolyn+molic%2Caps%2C450&ref=nb_sb_noss
