Who? me?

I can’t tell you how much I love the story of Gideon. Such an unlikely hero. We’ve already looked at the setting in which Gideon finds himself (see here). It’s the very setting into which the LORD steps…

The Angel of the LORD came, and He sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. Then the Angel of the LORD appeared to him and said: “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”

Judges 6:11-12 Holmans Christian Standard Bible

Or as the English Standard Version says, “O mighty man of valor.”

Gideon said to Him, “Please Sir, if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the LORD brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”

The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not sending you?”

He said to Him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

Judges 6:13-15 HCSB

Can you see the “who? me?” in this dialogue? I’m convinced one of the main reasons we answer God with “who? me?” when He calls us is unbelief. Did you catch what the Angel of the LORD said first when He appeared to Gideon? He said, “The LORD is with you…” I think Gideon missed this. I think his circumstances was all he could see… our fathers told us You could do all of these miraculous things but look at us? This enemy swarms in on us time and time again and they leave us with nothing. If You’re an all-powerful God then You must have abandoned us for this to happen… He didn’t believe God was with him.

Another reason we respond with “who? me?” is that we are painfully aware of our own inadequacies. We are all too aware, often consumed, by the places where we have fallen short or don’t measure up and we make for ourselves places to hide. For Gideon, it was a winepress. For me, it’s often been the word “fine”, or a forced smile when I’m crying on the inside, or a life that looks pretty – if you don’t look too close. For years, it was hiding a broken, scared little girl behind an attempt to be superwoman. We know our inadequacies.  It’s unbelief and the awareness of our inadequacy measured against the circumstances around us that cause us to fear. And at times, I have lived desperately afraid.

Nothing of what could be seen supported what the LORD called Gideon.

“The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

He’s hiding in the winepress, doubting the LORD’s faithfulness, feeling abandoned, of the weakest family, and the least likely of even that. That’s all true but it’s lower case ‘t’ true. It was only his truth. Beth Moore, in the study Breaking Free, lays this out so well.

environmental influences + experiential influences = my truth

my truth + 0 = INCOMPLETE (distorted by selective memory/our own perception)

my truth + the enemy’s lies (you’ll never be enough, free, God wouldn’t possibly call you) = CAPTIVITY

God’s Truth > my truth

my truth + God’s Truth = FREEDOM! (to obey, to be me)

Can I tell you something that I find very comforting? God was okay with Gideon asking questions. There is no rebuke as Gideon expresses his truth to God. Gideon lays it out before the LORD as he sees it. I can almost hear the LORD saying, yes, I know that’s how it feels right now but you’re missing one very key thing, so I’ll say it again…

“But I will be with you…”

Judges 6:16a

God is saying My Truth is greater than your truth. And if we just believe that, we can walk out our calling with the LORD. The LORD with us makes all the difference!

That’s what took Gideon and used him to deliver Israel. It’s what took Moses (an aging shepherd who had killed a man and had a stuttering tongue) and used him to speak before Pharoah and lead God’s people out of Egypt. God’s empowering presence took Peter (a fisherman who had recently denied Jesus three times) and used him to preach the Good News to thousands – bearing much fruit. I could go on… we could consider Saul turned Paul. Scripture is full of examples of how God does not call the equipped – He equips the called. He takes us in the midst of our total inadequacy and adds His complete sufficiency and it equals more than enough!

I’m counting on it. Like Abraham, who was old and his body was dried up when God called him to be a father of a nation. I’m exercising all of the strength I have to believe God will do what He says and calls into existence what does not yet exist. (see Romans 4:17-18)

God’s presence changes everything! It has and is for me. There have been times when I have forgotten. Now, again, despite my circumstances, I am choosing to remember. To believe. And I am coming out from hiding and going forth in the strength that I have – accompanied by my Great, Big God – to do what He’s calling me to do.