Go In The Strength That You Have♡♡♡

 

 "When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.". "Pardon me, my Lord, "Gideon replied, "but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?" But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian". The Lord turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" Judges 6: 12-14

What was it about Gideon? Why did the angel of the Lord choose Gideon? I mean wouldn't you like to know what qualifies a person before God? Aye I'd like to know. Is it because Gideon was a manly man? Was he a prayer warrior of some sort? Or did he just smell of holy fire and ooze of righteousness, God was like "you definitely the man!"

The Israelites lived at a time where they were being oppressed by thier enemies. Scripture tells us that God gave them over to the Midianites for 7 years, because they did evil in His sight [remember my last post on discipline? God does this for our own God]. The Israelites under this harsh oppression, took shelter for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Oh, how their enemies took great advantage of their pitiful situation. The Midianites only had the upper hand, because God allowed it to be so. The Israelites were so impoverished under this great oppression; they cried out to God. And God being who He is "full of loving kindness, compassion and mercy" started to make out plans to save them from the hands of thier oppressor. It's right in the middle of all of this, that an angel of the Lord appears to a man named Gideon, who was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 

Gideon like so many other Israelites were probably in survival mode. I imagine on the scale of 1 -10, thier self esteem on sub level 0. God called Gideon what he didn't think himself to be & what he didn't think to be his reality  -"The Lord is with you, mighty warrior" - Dang! Little wonder Gideon was like "....wait what? mighty warrior what? As in you really mean to tell me, you are with us? If you are with us, then why are we going through all of the hell we are going through? By the way where are all those mighty miracles we heard about from long time ago?  I mean aren't you the God that does jaw breaking wonders?!" lol. Thing is God didn't even care what Gideon thought about himself either. God didn't even dialogue with Gideon on that point, because He is who He says He is - "Go in the strength that you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" The last five words though? Whatever "strength" Gideon had, was enough for God. In this case he was at strength -My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family"  - Judges 6: verse 15 - nothing else beats Gideon's excuse lol

If Gideon had put some more thought into it, he'd realise that actually God wanted to be more than just "the God of miracles from long time ago or from hearsays". God wanted Gideon to see for himself that He is the God of miracles of all times! And Gideon was exactly the man for the Job, for exactly the reasons and excuses he put forward. Though it took a few more convincing for Gideon to trust God completely, he got there in the end. I can totally relate with how Gideon saw himself. Gideon was dealing with the trauma of oppression, self pity, caves, mountain clefts and strongholds. He had learnt how to "just get by" and survive. God does not call us by our deficiencies. In fact He calls us by who He wants us to be or who we can be in Him. This should encourage us deeply, to know that whatever we've been through, either by our own doings or just life, there is never a "period" to it, that can stop the wonders/miracles of God over our lives. God can take "weakest in clans & least in families" and make mighty warriors out of them all. So encouraging! So deeply encouraging. I hope this encourages you too.....

"..She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me, "for she said, "I have now seen the One  who sees me" - Genesis 16:13

                             Do you feel weak? Or feel like the least? - Go in the strength that you have, because God can work with that too!

Love 

SR