Day Seven: Victory for Oatmeal People

Last Saturday, during my visit to California, my sister and I feasted on crab and avocado Eggs Benedict. She’d been working me up for this treat since my arrival on Wednesday, so I was more than excited. Normally I don’t eat a big breakfast – unsweetened cereal, juice, and coffee. It’s filling, nourishing, and better for my hips. A lot like oatmeal.

zipping the jacket to the inside vest: what an oatmeal!

Most of our days are oatmeal days. We do what we need to do, what’s best for us, things that fill us up and give us satisfaction. It’s not all thrills and mountaintops, but those days contrast with the Eggs Benedict moments so we appreciate them more.

A lot of the time I feel like an oatmeal person. I’m not famous or powerful or sought after. I spend my days caring for my husband and family, writing, working in the yard, doing wash, teaching, and whatever else God calls me to. And yet, in the spiritual realm, I can be a victorious conqueror. That’s what Gideon found out too.

He saw himself as an oatmeal kind of guy – from the smallest clan of the Israelites, at the bottom of the family pecking order. When God called him to lead the Israelites and conquer their enemies, he needed a lot of encouragement. Here’s what happened:

“The Lord said, ‘Get up! Go down into the Midianite camp, for I have given you victory over them...Listen to what the Midianites are saying, and you will be greatly encouraged. Then you will be eager to attack.’ So Gideon took Purah and went down to the edge of the enemy camp. The armies…had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts…Gideon crept up just as a man was telling his companion about a dream. The man said, ‘I had this dream, and in my dream a loaf of barley bread came tumbling down into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent, turned it over, and knocked it flat!’ His companion answered, ‘Your dream can mean only one thing—God has given Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite, victory over Midian and all its allies!’ When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship before the Lord. Then he returned to the Israelite camp and shouted, ‘Get up! For the Lord has given you victory over the Midianite hordes!’” (Judg. 7:9-15, NLT)

In Gideon’s day, barley was cheap, plentiful, filling, and nourishing. Like oatmeal in the US. The message from God through this man's dream was clear, “You may be just an average Joe, but I’m going to use you to defeat the enemy. All you have to do is follow my orders.

If you’re feeling like an oatmeal person today with nothing great to offer, I want to encourage you. God can bring victory through you if you’re willing to follow Him. You can have victory over your habits and attitudes, your doubts and fears, and over the enemy who wants to discourage you from making a difference in the world. I’m believing it for me; I am claiming it for you as well. May God give us courage, His oatmeal people, and  the assurance of victory in Him.