Midnight Showing

32,000 men sure looked like a lot. He could hardly believe everyone showed up like this. Staring out across the sea of bearded faces, Gideon aka Baal-fighter felt renewed hope. Sure, they were up against more than four times that many. But even if they were at a disadvantage, things could be worse. It could be five-to-one odds.

“It’s too many,” a familiar Voice said in his ear.

“What? Now you think we’re outnumbered?”

“I’m talking about your army, not theirs. You’ve got to cut it down to size.”

Gideon felt his shoulders sag. “You’ve got to be kidding. If I cut it down any further, it’s gonna look more like a family reunion than a militia.” He looked over at the stoic face of the Stranger. Tell me again why you trusted this Guy? he silently accused himself.

“Because I’m the answer to your prayers,” the Man interjected.

“Geez, would you quit doing that?” Gideon snapped. “Eavesdropping is probably a sin, you know.” He picked up a stone and threw it into the cool waters of the spring where the two men stood.

“Like spying?”

Gideon stared beyond his troops to the campfires of their waiting aggressors. He hated it when people shoved logic in his face. “So, how many do you want me to get rid of?” he asked.

“As many as are afraid.”

That made sense. Gideon didn’t need anyone throwing him under a camel when it was go-time. What was gonna be embarrassing was that he’d probably lose his whole family with the offer. They were the poorest and needed every man just to keep from starving to death. Fine. He could let a couple of hundred off the hook. Especially if it meant he’d still have a home to go back to.

An hour later, he sat slumped in the dirt with his head in his hands. He couldn’t believe what he’d just witnessed. Twenty-two thousand men had run back up into the hills. Now only ten thousand remained. The odds against Gideon’s beleaguered band of men had risen to more than 13-1. Naturally. Thirteen had never been his lucky number.

“Great idea,” he muttered over his shoulder as he heard footsteps behind him.

“Thanks,” the Stranger said, sounding pleased. “There are still too many, though. Tomorrow morning you’ll have to winnow them out some more.”

Gideon’s head popped up and he jumped to his feet. “Like chaff? Just throw caution to the wind and settle for whatever I’m left with?” Pointing a bony finger in the face of the Stranger, he scowled as he stalked toward him. “Do you have any idea how much wheat it takes to get one lousy cup of flour?” he asked in a low growl.

“Pretty sure I do,” came the reply. “You’d better get some sleep. Big day ahead tomorrow.”

The sun rose early, but not as early as Gideon. As he stood watching the remaining ten thousand in his volunteer army wash their faces and take a drink from Harod’s Spring the next morning, he heard that Voice in his ear again.

“Every man who laps up the water with his tongue the way a dog does, move to one side of the stream.”

“And the rest?” Gideon asked.

“If they bow down on their knees to take a drink, they go on the other side.”

Walking back and forth alongside the spring, Gideon sorted the men into two bands the way he’d been told and stood back to survey his work. All in all, it didn’t look too bad. A few hundred stood across the stream, facing another fifteen hundred or so. It wasn’t the 32,000 he’d started out with, but if he was looking at another cut, he wasn’t losing as many as he had yesterday.

“Now what?” he asked as the Stranger surveyed the lopsided groups.

“You can tell the men on this side to go home,” he answered, gesturing.

“You mean the men on that side,” Gideon said with a nervous laugh.

“No, the group on this side stuck their faces in the water to take a drink.”

“Which was multi-tasking,” Gideon said, his voice rising in panic. “Time management is important when you’re . . . camping. They washed their faces and took a drink, all in one motion.”

The Stranger eyed him, head cocked to the side. “They knelt in submission,” he said firmly. “With their environment hidden from view, they had no idea where their enemies might be located. The other group drank from their cupped hands, fully alert to their surroundings.” He waited for a moment before adding, “Which warriors do you want to take into battle with you?”

Gideon felt like he'd been sucker punched. “You can’t be serious! There can’t be more than five hundred of them over there!”

“Three hundred, to be exact,” the Stranger said.

Three hundred against one hundred thirty-five thousand blood-thirsty Midianites. They might as well go drown themselves in the spring—there was no way under the sun Gideon and a measly three hundred men were going to even make a dent in an army that size.

“You’ll attack them at night.”

Gideon’s face flushed in anger. “You hate us, don’t you? All this time, I thought you were here because God is on our side but it’s a lie!”

For the first time since he’d met the Stranger, he saw a flash of something in the other Man’s eyes that looked like lightning. It was confidence—and something more. “Gideon Jerubbaal,” the Stranger began, “listen to me. The Lord will fight for you. Be strong—right now, you’re your own worst enemy. You’ve got to let your heart take courage.”

“But what you’re asking us to do is suicide!” Gideon argued. “Once I tell all those head-soakers to go home, we’ll be outnumbered 450-1!”

The Stranger looked impressed. “Your math skills are really amazing,” he said.

Gideon brushed aside the compliment. “Don’t you get it? Those men down there won’t even have to work hard at taking us out. We’re about to ambush ourselves!”

“Don’t you get it?” the Stranger asked. “What you see is not what’s real. It’s what you can’t see that is the reality. God doesn’t even need you in this battle. He’s the God of Angel Armies. If I were you, I’d roast some popcorn and enjoy the show. It’s going to be epic.”

Gideon breathed hard as he listened to the other Man’s words and struggled to understand. What the heck was popcorn?

“Forget the popcorn,” the Stranger said. “Here’s a little math for you. All it would take to wipe out the Midianites down there is one Angel with an arm tied behind his back. You and those valiant men who are watching and wondering right now are going to go in first and wake them all up. After that, it’s all over but the shouting. And, believe Me, you’ll be shouting after you see what God’s about to do.” The Stranger grabbed Gideon by the shoulders and locked eyes with him. “It has to be this way. When the odds are against you and still you win, the only explanation will be that God did it. It’s the only way you’ll learn to trust Him.”

Gideon tried to absorb everything the Visitor was telling him but it was hard to believe Someone he barely knew in the face of the oppression he woke up to every day.

“What other choice do you have?” the kind Voice asked him.

Gideon nodded. It was the best offer he and his countrymen had been given in seven years. Frankly, it was the only offer they’d received in seven years.

Time to trust God. And figure out what popcorn was.

With thanks to Tonya Staab for the mouthwatering photo seen above. The original can be viewed by following this link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tjstaab/