While the instructions to the soldiers must have sounded silly at the time, Gideon understood God’s bigger plan. Each of the 300 soldiers got to see God in action as the Midianites started fighting each other. That must have been quite the experience. But to have that experience, they needed to trust both God and Gideon. Good soldiers are well trained to follow their leaders without question – but these were not trained soldiers, they were simply men who drank water from the stream with their hands! God used their trust and faithfulness to defeat the enemy.