Judges 6:12-16 “The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.” Gideon answered him, “But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.” Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.” He responded, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.” Today's episode talks about how we question who God says we are and what He is calling us to do, just as Gideon did. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Who Am I?
Judges 6:12-16 “The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.” Gideon answered him, “But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.” Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.” He responded, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.”
I really like this story because it is one most of us can relate too. Well, not the first verse probably. I doubt too many of us have been visited by an angel. The verse starts off by telling us that an angel appeared to Gideon and told him the Lord was with him and then called him a mighty warrior. I find it interesting how Gideon answered the angel. I feel as though I would be in shock and probably speechless if the angel of God spoke to me. If he told me that God was with me I think I would say thank you or I would just be in awe. Gideon is not speechless and it doesn’t sound like he is in awe. He questions the angel. He says, “But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.”
Those are some pretty gutsy things to say to an angel. The angel said the Lord is with you and Gideon basically said, “oh yeah, how? We don’t see it. What has He done for us lately?” With this being written text, we don’t know the tone or volume this was said with. I picture Gideon being angry and almost yelling it at the angel. However, I could be wrong, he could have mater of factly stated it to him. Either way Gideon did not believe what the angel said and he wanted an explanation, or some sort of proof that God was for them.
Next the angel says, “Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.” The angel does not answer his question as to where God has been. The angel looks at Gideon and then tells him to go and lead the fight with Midian to deliver his people. Gideon’s response is a response that I think most of us have when God commissions us for a task. We question it, we tell Him we aren’t ready, we aren’t good enough, we don’t know how, we aren’t strong enough. We question God as if He, the one who created us, did not know all these things about us when he commissioned us for that task. When Gideon was told that he was commissioned to defeat Midian he said, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
Gideon was counting himself out before he even got started. He looked at his family and his place in that family and judged his abilities on that. He felt God must have made a mistake. How could he be a mighty warrior when his family was the weakest and he was the least in his family? Does this sound familiar? Do you ever count yourself out of things because of your family or your history with your family? I can understand a bit of what Gideon was feeling. I am from a large family and we didn’t have a lot of money growing up. When I was in school, if there was a big field trip I immediately counted myself out. There was not way my parents could afford the cost of trip when they can barely afford their bills. In seventh grade my french class was taking a trip to Quebec for a few days. I think the cost was $450 or something like that. I knew I wouldn’t be able to go. I am not even sure if I asked my parents or if I just counted myself out. One day after school the french teacher talked with me and asked if I wanted to go on the trip. I explained I did but my parents couldn’t afford it. She said there was a scholarship, and so if my parents could afford some of it, the school could pay the rest. Somehow my parents were able to pay whatever part they had to pay and I was able to go.
Another way I can relate to Gideon is when he said he was the least of his family. I don’t think I was the least of my family, and yet, having a large family, you are bound to be compared to your sibblings. Others are bound to compare you as well. I remember one Christmas Eve party at my aunts house one of my uncles saw me and was trying to figure out which child I was. My mom is one of 10 children so you can imagine how many kids were at this Christmas Eve party. He said oh, you are the smart one that is going to Yale right? Nope, that is Virginia. Oh, you are the one that just got that cheerleading award, nope, that is Elizabeth. Got it, you are the one that is having open heart surgery, nope that is Theresa, Oh, who are you then he said. I wasn’t really sure how to respond to that one. I didn’t know which distinguishing characteristic might have been used to describe me.
We can all get stuck thinking we are who our family says we are. We can get stuck thinking we can’t do certain things because of our past history. We know God is calling us to something and yet we don’t answer that call because we don’t think we can do it. Instead of giving God our whole hearted yes, we give Him a list of reasons why we are not the right person for the job. The very beginning of this verse the angel of God address Gideon as a mighty warrior, and yet he questions that. What name is God calling you that you are dismissing. Is it son/daughter of the one true King? Is it Beloved? Is it Mighty Warrior? Is it Gifted Healer? Is it Disciple? Is it Preacher/Teacher? Is it Worthy or Enough? What name do you hear God calling you and yet you struggle to accept? God does not make mistakes. He is the Lord God Almighty. If He calls you something it is because that is your name to Him. That is who you are in His eyes!
What task is God commissioning you for that you are resisting? Is there something you feel called to do and instead of telling God yes, you are giving him a whole host of reasons why you can do it? Is He asking you to do something and you are explaining to him why anyone else would be better for the job? I get it, I do the same and yet God is telling us here in this story of Gideon that we need to believe what the Lord says about it and just go out and do it. Stop trying to tell God who you are, He knows who you are better than you do. Stop trying to find all these excuses why you can’t do the thing God is telling you to do. Start trying to figure out how to do the thing God is leading you to do. Stop and ask God, what would you like me to do today? If you don’t know how to do what He is calling you to do then ask Him how He would like you to do it. Our God is a wonderful God and He will answer us when we ask. Answer the call God is placing on your life today with a resounding Yes! Trust if He gave it to you He will help you fulfill it!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord we are so grateful that you know us better than we know ourselves. Thank you for loving us so much and being the best dad out there. Thank you for calling us by our true identity even when we struggle to see it. Lord, help us to see ourselves and the world through your eyes. Father, thank you for commissioning us to certain tasks. We are sorry we don’t always say yes. It is not because we don’t want to, it is because we are afraid. Please replace that fear with courage and strength. Make us bold so we can say yes to whatever you ask. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you would be willing to give a witness as to how God is working in your life, please let me know. I know those listening would love to hear it! I look forward to bringing you a witness tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!