abandoned enemy camps

 There are two passages of Scripture that I want to direct your attention to today:

1. 2 Kings 7:3-8

In 2 Kings, we meet 4 lepers sitting outside the gate of Samaria. There is a famine spread wide in the country, and their location has been not been spared. They were literally between a rock and a hard place, for if they went into the city, they’d be condemned for attempting contamination, and killed. If they went away from the city, they would encounter a camp of angry Syrians that were ready to slay anything that moved. 

In a moment of starved desperation, they make a life changing decision: Get up, and TRY. Try to find food. Try to survive. Try to make it another day. Try to find something to live for. 

Upon entering the camp of Syria, they find a treasure trove of food and riches. Astonished, they start to fill their pockets when they become nervously excited. “We must tell the King!” The fate of a whole city is changed by this good news, as it sets things into motion that were prophesied from before.

2. Judges 7:16-22

In Judges we come across the story of Gideon and his fight against the Midianites. Through the miraculous power of God, a dream floods the minds of the soldiers standing against God’s people, and in a terror-stricken panic, the enemy flees when Gideon and his 300 men come on the scene. 

There is a similar theme here that I would like us to explore:
Abandoned enemy camps.

See I think the enemy very much wants you and me between the rock and the hard place, antagonizing us with every deplorably possible outcome. “If you move this way, death happens,” demons whisper. “If you move this way, punishment greater than death awaits you.” 

In Joel 3 it speaks of multitudes upon multitudes standing in a valley of decision, waiting for judgement. That could easily be me and you, standing there, never making any moves in faith, for the fear that taunts us has now taken credit for paralyzing us. 

But if we stay in this valley, “we will surely die.“

What the enemy doesn’t want us to know is that when we decide to move, angel armies travel with us.
Go back and read 2 Kings 6:16-19. The hosts of fire angels that covered the mountainside far outnumbered the physical assailants that were at the ready to behead Elisha. 

When we move based ON His directions, IN His directions, WITH the faith that He wishes and instills in us, HE WILL CLEAR a path – making a way. 

It wasn’t Elisha alone that moved. It was Elisha and God’s army.

It wasn’t Gideon and the 300 alone. There was a host roaring when the trumpets were blown. 

The number of lepers is interesting here: 4.
When we read through Joel, we come across 4 different types of locust that have destroyed and stolen. (Joel 1:4):

• Cutting locust – stripping of trees (knowledge)
• Swarming locust – rapidly strip fields (provision)
• Hopping locust – eat tender tissue (prevent regrowth)
• Destroying locust – territorial conquering (stop blessings)

We see these four lepers being completely reconciled to the things that were lost. I don’t find this interesting or odd, I find this intentional to the details of the Bible. When God says He will restore what was stolen, He doesn’t do it halfway. 

The camps were clear. God sent dreams, armies, ammunition of a strange kind, and more so that His people would victorious, healed, saved, and redeemed. 

Joel 2:25 says specifically that He will restore the years that were taken and destroyed. All of the toil and indecision that you faced will be given back to you. 

Our hearts are being cleaned and corrected. Our minds are being molded to shape into God’s anointed ones. Now is the time to start taking back what the enemy stole.

You know your identity – walk in it.
You know your purpose – don’t believe the lies.
You’ve forgiven – now let grace cover you.
You walk in faith – time to step out.

I’m ready to go pillage some enemy camps.