Gideon

We meet under an oak tree one afternoon and I watch as he threshes wheat in winepress. He is hoping to redeem some of what is lost, to gather all He can before the Midianites come and take what little they had. I watch as an angel appears and greets Gideon in a tender voice.

“The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

It seems that the Lord already knew something about Gideon that he didn’t recognize in himself.

Oh touché!

Gideons response is one that is familiar with me as of late. Question after question. The expression on his face was one of confusion and one that said, “Who? Me?”

“But Sir….if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about? Why has he abandoned us?”

From that moment, I was hooked. I needed to know more about the one who dared to ask the questions that I only dream of asking out loud, for fear of sounding like a hypocrite. He wasn’t afraid to ask the questions or seek for signs.

Long story short ….It turns out God calls Gideon to lead the Israelites against their oppressors. Gideon in return attempts to come up with every excuse in the book. (Hmmm..why does that sound familiar?)

"I am the weakest”

“I am the smallest”

“I am not sure your are really speaking to me.” (Oh yeah this is me!)

“I need a sign.” (Me too!)

He made all the excuses but in the end He still did what He was led to do.
How? Look at Judges 6:14-16

Seriously…I think I just uncovered my new favorite verse. Ok to my list of verses.
Read them slowly…let them sink in.

“Go in the strength that you have .” Then after He makes one of many excuses God follows it all up with “I will be with you.”

For the first time I see that God was not asking Him to give more than He had, He just wanted him to take what He already had and trust that God had the rest.

How many times a day do I push myself to do or be something that is out of my reach? Probably too many to count.

And its tiring.

So I think I will stop and work with what I have …..and leave the rest to Him.



More on Gideon to come!