“The LORD is with you, you valiant warrior!” How the Lord sees us

Gideon was threshing  wheat in the wine press, in order to hide it from the Midianites.  They had been regularly raiding Israel and destroying the produce. In fact Israel was greatly impoverished  because of the Midianites and had cried out to the Lord  (Judges 6:1-11).  In one sense it was sensible to hid in the wine press from the Midianites, but in another it was useless, because  you need wind to separate the wheat from the chaff, and there was no wind down in the wine press. Then the angel of the Lord comes to Gideon and says to him “The LORD is with you, you mighty warrior”  (verse 11).   The Lord goes on to instruct him “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you” (verse 14).

But Gideon begins to protest essentially telling God that He has got the wrong man, and in any case he is totally weak. The Lord insists that He is with him and will do it through him. Gideon asks for a sign. It is given, and it scares the living daylight out of him, but  convinces him it really is God (verses 17-22).  Later “All the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel” (verse 33).  Gideon still doubts his ability, and asks for further sign (two actually - often referred to as Gideon's fleece).  It is given, and the rest, as they say is the history of God delivering Israel through him (Chapters 6, 7).  The point here, is that God sees Gideon not as he was in the wine press, fearful and without confidence.   God sees him as he could be, as he will be if he puts his hand into God’s hand partnering with Him to do what God was calling him to do.  To put this another way, God calls Gideon up into his potential,  rather than calling him out for his cowardice.

As I have said before God often gets a bad rap. He is often thought to be just waiting for us to make a mistake, and so to ball us out.  But like He was with Gideon, He is much more an encouragement coach coming along side and spurring us on to our destiny, and showing often times infinite patience with our weakness and hesitation. Actually with some of us we start off overconfident doing things in our own strength,  totally blowing it, and then going to the other extreme  becoming like Gideon fearful and full of doubt.  But also like Gideon, God calls us up, not out. He sees the end from the beginning, seeing us as the overcomers He calls us to be.  He believes in us. He believes in you, and He believes in me!

Father, Thank You Lord that You see us as we can be, not as we so often see ourselves in  our weaknesses. Your Word tells us that You always lead us in triumphant procession in Christ (2 Corinthians 2:14), and that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us and gave Himself for us (Roman 8:37). Help us Lord to never be content to settle for anything less than all You can be through us and all we can be through You.  And we will give Your the glory in Jesus Name Amen