Morning, September 20, edited from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

“The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.” — Judges 7:20

Gideon ordered his men to do two things: Covering up a torch in an earthen pitcher, he ordered them, at an appointed signal, to break the pitcher and let the light shine, and then sound with the trumpet, crying, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon! the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!” This is precisely what all Christians must do. First, you must shine; break the pitcher which conceals your light; throw aside the bushel which has been hiding your candle, and shine. Let your light shine before men; let your good works be such that, when men look upon you, they shall know that you have been with Jesus. Then there must be the sound, the blowing of the trumpet. There must be active efforts for gathering in sinners by proclaiming Christ crucified. Take the gospel to them; carry it to their door; put it in their way; do not suffer them to escape it; blow the trumpet right against their ears. Remember that the true war cry of the Church is Gideon’s watchword, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!” God must do it; it is his own work. But we are not to be idle; an agency is to be used: “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!” If we only cry “The sword of the Lord!” we shall be guilty of lazy presumption; and if we shout “The sword of Gideon!” alone, we shall be showing idolatrous reliance on our human effort: we must blend the two in practical harmony, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!” We can do nothing of ourselves, but we can do everything by the help of our God; let us, therefore, in his name determine to go out personally and serve with our flaming torch of the example of a holy life, and with our trumpet tones of earnest declaration and testimony, and God shall be with us, and Midian shall be put to confusion, and the Lord of hosts shall reign forever and ever.