Judges 7:19-25: a reflection

19So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch. Then they blew the trumpets and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands. 20The three companies blew the trumpets, broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they shouted, “The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!” 21They each stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran; and they shouted, and put them to flight. 22They blew the three hundred trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath. 23The men of Israel were gathered together out of Naphtali, out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued Midian. 24Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against Midian and take the waters before them as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan!” So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together and took the waters as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan. 25They took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at Oreb’s rock, and Zeeb they killed at Zeeb’s wine press, as they pursued Midian. Then they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

Gideon's three hundred men surround the vast enemy camp at night, and at his signal they do a strange thing: they blow trumpets, and they break the clay jars that had been hiding their torches, so that suddenly the night blazes with light and echoes with the sound of trumpets and the shout, The sword of the LORD and of Gideon! In the confusion, God turns the enemy's swords against one another, and the great army flees. The victory comes not by conventional weapons, but through trumpets, torches, and broken jars, and by the hand of God.

Notice that the light blazed out only when the jars were broken. The torches had been hidden inside clay jars; it was the breaking of the jars that let the light shine out into the darkness and threw the enemy into panic. Had the jars stayed whole, the light would have stayed hidden. The victory came through the breaking, through what was fragile giving way so that the light could shine.

That is a picture worth pondering. God's light often shines out of us most brightly not when we are whole and protecting ourselves, but when we are broken, when the clay jar of our own strength and self-sufficiency gives way. It is often through our weakness and brokenness, not our strength, that God's light shines out to others. Do not despise your brokenness or cling to being whole and self-protected. Let the clay jar be broken, that the light within may shine out; let God use even your weakness and your broken places to shine his light into the darkness. And remember that the victory was God's, won through unlikely means; he can win through your weakness what strength could never accomplish.

Lord, Gideon's men won the battle not by conventional weapons but by breaking the clay jars that hid their torches, so that the light blazed out into the darkness; the light shone only when the jars were broken, and the victory was yours. Help me ponder that. Your light often shines out of me most brightly not when I am whole and protecting myself, but when I am broken, when the clay jar of my own strength and self-sufficiency gives way. It is often through my weakness and brokenness, not my strength, that your light shines to others. Keep me from despising my brokenness or clinging to being whole and self-protected. Let the clay jar be broken, that the light within may shine out; use even my weakness and my broken places to shine your light into the darkness. And thank you that the victory is yours, won through unlikely means; you can win through my weakness what my strength could never accomplish. Shine through me, Lord.