SYNOPSIS: When will we ever learn that God doesn’t see what we see when he chooses people for his service? If God is with a person, then even the weakest, most reluctant, least qualified is a mighty man or woman of valor. It is not a person’s gifts, talents, skills and temperament that tip the scales as to whether they will be successful or not—though these personal qualities are not unimportant—it is God’s presence that determines the outcome of success in a person’s life. As the Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 8, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
The Journey // Focus: Judges 6:11-14
The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. Gideon replied, “Pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us. Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hands of Midian. The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
When we will ever learn that God doesn’t see what we see when he chooses people for his service? No one would have looked at a barren married couple in their nineties as logical candidates to be the parents of many nations. God saw something we couldn’t in Abram and Sarai. No one would have looked at stuttering fugitive, wanted for murder, now on the lam in the Sanai wilderness as Israel’s deliverer. But God saw something that we couldn’t see in Moses. No one would have looked at a young, ruddy shepherd boy, the runt among his strapping brothers, and predicted that he would be a giant slayer, a mighty king and a man after God’s own heart. But God saw something that we couldn’t see in David. Long before we see potential in a person, God does.
Such was the case with Gideon in Judges 6. When God found this man who would become one of the greatest judges in Israel’s history, he was hiding in fear in a winepress (Judges 6:11), blaming God for Israel’s subjugation at the hand of Midian when it was clearly Israel’s fault (Judges 6:13), arguing with God as to why he was the wrong choice to deliver Israel, mired in the quicksand poor self esteem (Judges 6:15).
Not a great job interview! Yet God saw past Gideon’s obvious weakness and addressed him, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!” You see, when God is with you—and that is key—then even the weakest, most reluctant, least qualified, is a mighty man or woman of valor. It is not our gifts, talents, skills and temperament that tip the scales as to whether we will be successful or not—though these personal qualities are not unimportant—it is God’s presence that determines the outcome of success in our life. If God is for us, who can be against us!
When God calls us, we have entered conqueror status. When God is with us, then we must simply go in the strength we have (Judges 6:14) and do what he has foreordained. To go in our strength is to simply put our gifts, talents, skills and temperament on the line for God and let God do the rest. We might see ourselves, or others, as Gideon saw himself: the least qualified in the least qualified family. God sees that too—more than we do. But God sees something else. He sees that he will be with us, and he sees that he will go before us, and he sees that he has already accomplished what he has predetermined.
That is why God chose Abram and Sarai, Moses, David—and all of the other heroes that occupy the Great Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11; none of which we would have chosen. But God chose them, and that sealed the deal; that guaranteed their success; that put them into the realm of mighty man or woman of valor long before they or anyone saw them in that grand light.
Do you ever wonder how God views you? Wonder no longer! He sees not what you aren’t, but what you are: a person he has chosen and blessed with his presence to do great and impossible things for him. So go with what you’ve got. The Lord is with you!
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.