Gideon...The Mighty Warrior?

Have you ever had someone say something about you and you thought "are you serious, I don't think you really know me." I had that happen recently when I was asked to lead worship at a service. Can you imagine me leading worship. My wife for sure, me... well if you have ever stood by me in a worship service you know that I am not a worship leader. Don't get me wrong, I love to worship God but not as the leader.

As we saw yesterday the angel of the Lord came and told Gideon he was a "mighty warrior". Gideon certainly did not see himself like that. In fact Gideon says to the Lord in v.15, "How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Israel and I am the least in my family?" Does this sound to you like he feels like a mighty warrior? If you looked at him and listened to him would you want to go into battle with him? I don't think Gideon was ready to lead people into battle, BUT with God leading the way, the impossible can become possible.

Gideon tells the Lord what he thinks about himself. Gideon is seeing things from his own perspective. God is about to give Gideon a new perspective. You know sometimes we need a new perspective on the challenges we face. So here is the new perspective.

In v. 16, the Lord says, "I will be with you and you will strike down all the Midianites together." Now that is awesome. God is with us and will be with us, and you and I can do so much more when we understand God is with us.

Last night I was sharing at our home group on this scripture. I challenged one of the men there to get a new perspective. It seems that he often feels like Gideon, overwhelmed, defeated and worn out. I asked him if he felt like a mighty warrior. Not really was his response. I encouraged him to allow God the proper place in his life, to really get to know him and invest time in building a deeper relationship with him.

I wonder how many times God has a specific task he desires for us to do and yet we have all the excuses why we can't do them. Remember if we try to do it alone based on our natural abilities we will fall short. BUT if you do it in partnership with Him, you can do the impossible.