Have you ever felt unqualified for something you were called to do? I still feel that way most days. The Bible is full of stories of people just like that…just like us. If you read Judges 6-8 you will find the amazing and improbable story of a man named Gideon who God called to lead and deliver His people from the enemy who had oppressed them. Here are some ways God spoke to me through Gideon’s story…

Empowering words help people become who God has created them to be. In Judges 6:12 the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon and tell him “The LORD is with you, might warrior”. The angel reminds him first that God is with him but he calls him a mighty warrior, he spoke words of value and potential into Gideon that on his own Gideon (and others) wouldn’t have believed.

Fear cannot survive in the presence of God. Throughout the story Gideon is skeptical and scared, constantly needing reassurance that God was in it. To me, it reminds me that God isn’t afraid of our doubts and fears but that is because His presence takes away our fears. We are reminded in 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

God uses the unlikely and unremarkable to do the unlikely and unbelievable. The people and Gideon himself would have never picked him to be the deliverer of the people, nor would have expected for it to happen the way it did. But God works in miraculous ways because He loves us and so we cannot believe we were delivered by anything or anyone other than Him. He gets all the glory because He deserves all the glory.

But the truth when you read Gideon or any of the other judge’s stories you realize that neither Gideon nor any of the Judges could be the true deliverer the people needed, Jesus is the true and final Judge and Deliverer. So may we be willing to follow God wherever and however He calls us knowing that we are mighty warriors and that God is with us. Jesus came as our deliverer once and for all but we are called to go be messengers of hope and reconciliation. We must point them to the deliverer, the Savior Jesus Christ. Let’s go.