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JUST STAND: EVEN IF YOU DON'T FEEL GOOD ENOUGH

When you think of the story of Gideon, typically images of a mighty warrior come to mind.  Well, if you take a closer look, Gideon had quite the inferiority complex.  I can totally relate.  My sister actually reminded me of this Old Testament hero when I felt the tug of this ministry.  I was frightened because I didn't know what to expect or where to begin.  Gideon had issues of feeling "less than" much like me.


11 Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” 13“Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.” 14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”15 “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!”  (HELLO!!) 16 The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”


Here, the Angel of the Lord finds the "mighty warrior" Gideon HIDING in a winepress so that the Midianites would not steal his wheat. I can just imagine the perplexed "who me?" expression on Gideon's face when the Angel greets him as a "mighty warrior."  He questions how the Lord could be with him and the people of Israel given all of the horrific things they have endured. He even goes further to reason why he isn't the man for the job (Judges 6:15) of delivering God's people.  ONE THING YOU MUST REMEMBER: GOD ALWAYS DELIVERS. 

As we read further, we find that an unconvinced Gideon asks for signs.  God gives them and confirms that Gideon is the one.  He goes on to gather 32,000 men to go into battle against the Midianites.  God brings that number down through a battery of "tests" so that Gideon and the men of Israel can only boast that God delivered them from their enemy.  

The Lord told Gideon, “With these 300 men I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites. Send all the others home.”  (Judges 7:7)

With just three hundred men, Gideon prepares for battle. He knows at this point that the Lord is with him. But God wanted to assure him even further, so He sent Gideon to spy on the Midianite camp.  Upon hearing about a dream one of the men had, Gideon is ready and sends his men in groups of one hundred.  With torches and jars, they cry out praise to God, and the Midianites begin to fight themselves!  Isn't that amazing?  The Israelites won a victory without lifting a sword.  They lifted their voices to the One who promised from the beginning to deliver.

All Gideon had to do was to obey God.  God delivered the victory.  Even when we feel unqualified or that God can't use us, He makes His move to use us for His glory.  If we are confident in ourselves, glory goes to us and not to God. Remember, mighty warrior, the Lord is with you and the battle belongs to God!



© Jill Cook and Unbroken & Undone Ministries.  All rights reserved.


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