It was truly the worst of times. The worst in Gideon’s memory, at least. Heavily oppressed by the Midianites, his people had gone into hiding. Mountains and caves had become their homes. Some had built strongholds for themselves. Their crops were continually ransacked by the enemy. Food was scarce or nonexistent. Their animals had disappeared, been killed, or stolen. The Midianites had effectively placed Israel below the poverty level. They were miserable and starving, their future the darkest it had been in recent memory.
The Israelites were not innocent, their current circumstances a revolting result of their penchant for evil. Choices had been blithely made. Consequences disregarded. Whatever they interpreted God to mean when He told them to serve and obey only Him, they had been woefully incorrect. His words necessitated no interpretation. They stood as spoken. “I am your God. Do not worship any other.” They had disobeyed. The repercussions were inevitable. (Judges 6:10)
In desperation, they cried out to God for a rescue they didn’t deserve. His scathing reply through the prophet was a rebuke for their lacking love, their errant eyes, their honorless hearts. It was a perspicuous reminder that sin brings punishment. Discomfort. Destruction. Death. They were getting no less than they had bargained for. Mercifully, God takes no pleasure in the despair of the people He loves. His heart beats steadily with mercy and grace. It has to. There is no other explanation for the curious conversation Gideon had with the angel of the Lord or the intriguing rescue that ensued. (Romans 6:23; James 1:15; Ezekiel 18:20; Isaiah 54:10; Lamentations 3:22-25)
If Gideon was not surprised by the visit from the Angel of God, he most definitely was surprised by the message he brought. Him? A mighty warrior? Hardly. Had the angel gotten the wrong guy? Was he supposed to visit the neighboring tribe and somehow ended up in the wrong set of caves? Gideon didn’t come from a line of warriors. His family wasn’t known for strength and battlefield prowess. Quite the opposite. So clearly were they not cut out for battle that Gideon wasn’t busily discussing a strategy for revolt with his peers. He was busy threshing wheat with a wine vat!
As strange as that sounds, everyone was doing it, finding ways to creatively harvest food. They had to. How else could they hide their activity from the Midianites and salvage their meager crop? But surely, as the angel of God sat resting against that oak tree observing Gideon, he would have noticed a certain talent for farming and a dearth of one for war. Gideon’s work left no question as to his aptitude as a warrior. He wasn’t one. It was as simple as that. No matter his boyhood dreams or clumsy teenage efforts with a sword, Gideon had never made the cut. Yet the angel stood and approached, addressing him by the moniker, “mighty warrior.” Someone was clearly confused.
Oddly, that confusion was not the first item Gideon felt compelled to address with the angel. No. He had questions. He needed to know things. Things about God. His character. His promises. His faithfulness. His love. Gideon needed to know that his depleted faith, no matter how deficient, was still placed in a God of ultimate sufficiency. Thus questions came spilling out in response to the angel’s salutation. Questions whose answers were of utmost importance if he was to truly be God’s mighty warrior.
Where was the God who had rescued his ancestors from Egypt, anyway? Vacation? Where were the miracles they had all heard He could perform? Where was their rescue? Did He no longer care about His people? Had they strayed too far, done too much? Or had God’s faithfulness run out, His love gone cold, His care for humanity dimmed? Could they still count on Him? Was the loving care of God he’d heard so much about still unfailing? Would He still be faithful even if they themselves had failed? (Exodus 15:3, 34:6)
Miraculously, God’s love for them was still intact. They didn’t deserve it. After all their blatant disobedience, unconcealed idolatry, and lavish lusting after the world, God was still going to rescue them. But they were going to have to make some changes. Changes He’d enact through Gideon’s obedience. The greeting was not at all off the mark. With God, Gideon would indeed be an impressive warrior. (Judges 6:12)
Gideon didn’t get it right away. Maybe he was caught off guard by the approach of an angel. Maybe he was too focused on his own frustrations, fears, and frailties. Whatever distracted him, he had to hear it again in more direct verbiage. He got it the second time. The Lord was actually telling him to rise up and defeat the Midianites! “I am sending you to defeat the Midianites and free your people. Gather your strength and go do it.”
There really could be no misinterpretation. The straightforward command left room only for obedience, yet Gideon felt the need to notify God of his own inadequacies. His family was the weakest of his tribe. He was the youngest of his father’s sons. Warrior training had gone uncommonly poorly. He was really just a farmer, secretly threshing grain in a wine vat. He was hardly a great choice to defeat the people that had oppressed them these seven years. God planned to win, right? So was He sure Gideon was the right choice for the task?
Absolutely! God doesn’t make mistakes. When He plans a rescue, He executes it flawlessly. When He chooses a warrior, He chooses one who finds their strength solely in Him. Gideon was unequivocally the right choice, in spite (or possibly because) of his shortcomings. He had no confidence in his own abilities or strength. It would all have to come from God alone. So with one phrase, God silences the arguments flowing from Gideon’s tongue. “I will be with you.” And it was so.
From the destruction of the idols in Israel to the death of Midian’s kings, God made Gideon, a man of no strength, no fighting skills, no aptitude for war, into a mighty warrior he thought he’d never be. Rescue came to Israel because one man who thought himself weak and useless was willing to follow God and allow His power to work in and through him for the good of his people. (Judges 6-8)
I hope you can see the correlation between Gideon’s story and ours. We are distressed on every side. Evil is rampant. So many around us have chosen disobedience to obedience, the temporal over the eternal, Hell over Heaven. We find ourselves hanging perilously in the balance, begging for a rescue, concerned it isn’t coming, yet desperately hoping it will. As the world around us continues its headlong plunge into eternal darkness, caring nothing for the consequences of their hazardous living, God is still speaking. Speaking to you. Speaking to me. Speaking of a rescue for the people He loves in spite of their sin and degradation. God is speaking and He is calling us to do something. (Ecclesiastes 8:11; Acts 1:8)
Admittedly, I have never felt so completely inadequate as I do today. The sorry state of our world has me wanting to gather my family together and hide. But God is calling. He’s calling me to write words on paper, type words in posts, speak words in conversation. Words that mean something. Words of hope. Words of peace. Words of forgiveness. Words that speak of rescue. Mercy. Grace. Second, third, fourth chances. Words that convict. Convict me. Convict someone else. Words of action when I feel completely inadequate, totally hesitant, entirely terrified to act. (Psalm 73:26; II Timothy 4:2)
Today, in the midst of my self-doubt, God speaks these words to me:
“You are a mighty warrior because I said so. Your prayers and words and actions are all part of my plan. Just because you can’t see Me working, don’t see miracles of Biblical proportions, evil forces collapsing, or milestones of godly change in the world doesn’t mean I’m not busy. I am still working. Gather the strength you have. Not your own strength. Mine. Draw from My unending supply. Use as much as you need. I never run out. Throw your inadequacies, hesitancies, insecurities out the door and follow me. Do what I have called you to do. You are not alone. I am right beside you. I’m not going anywhere. I’m working through you. Trust Me. Go and do it.” (Psalm 121:8; John 5:17; Isaiah 41:10)
The words are not just for me. He is saying the same things to you. You are valiant through God. You are His warrior. You have His strength. You are useful to God. You are integral to His kingdom. He has a purpose and a plan for you. There is no one too weak, too faulty, too timid to do something for God. None of those things matter. You simply have to be willing. (Psalm 60:12; Psalm 18:32-34)
So go do it, warrior. Do that thing God is calling you to do. Visit that neighbor. Befriend that lost soul. Pray that prayer. Make that move. Fight that battle. Take that stand. Do whatever it is He’s called you to do. Go and do it. Draw from His inexhaustible strength supply, put your boots on the ground and let God do the rest. Do it and you will find that God uses the willing, not just the strongest, the loudest, the most articulate. No. God uses the weak as long as we are willing. Just lay your willing weakness at His feet, go in His strength, do as He asks, and let God make your weakness His strength. (I Corinthians 15:58; II Corinthians 12:8-10; Deuteronomy 31:6; Ephesians 6:10; II Timothy 1:7; I Corinthians 1:27; Romans 8:31-37)