S82P2 – The beauty of the call: Gideon
Jud. 6:14-16
The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” But Gideon said to Him, “Please Lord, how am I to rescue Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest (smallest) in my father’s house.” The Lord answered him, “I will certainly be with you, and you will strike down the Midianites as if they were only one man.”
By making one simple statement God can tell us 1,000 different things. When God tells Gideon to go in his own strength, He is speaking at least about two different things. God is speaking not only about Gideon’s strength but also about his own strength. Regarding the strength of Gideon, God is telling him to walk in what he thinks is inadequate to get the job done. God is telling him to walk in his lack of courage and see what happens. The reason for this is that he then will see the strength of God manifest to complete the call. While Gideon walks in his own inadequacy, God will make up the difference so that he will be adequate in Him. It is as if God is saying, ” Show me how weak you are, and I will show you how strong I am.”
What God is doing here is changing Gideon’s vision. He wants Gideon to see things the way He sees them. The same thing is happening when God tells him that he will strike down the enemy’s men as if they are a single man. Judging by the words of Gideon here, I think it might be a safe bet that he would not have been confident even against one man. However, God tells him that the impossible is going to happen. God wants to give him a future vision for what amounts to a miracle, a future vision of how God sees his victory playing out. In order for Gideon to trust God and what He is saying will happen, Gideon must first get past himself and his own faulty vision of what is possible. In doing that, he not only will see himself differently but also will see God differently.
God has never called me to do something that I knew I could do. He has never asked me to walk in an area in which my confidence already overflowed. When God calls us out on the water it is because there is something new to be experienced and learned. He never wants us to stay the same. He always wants us to be changing and growing. The work that God has for us accomplishes many great things in the spirit, and part of that is what it accomplishes in us. He wants us to have a vision not only of new possibilities but of a new reality. He wants us to see not what could happen but what will happen. Father, thank You for calling us to work alongside You, and thank You for showing us that things are not how we see them but are how You see them.