Our culture thrives on being strong, courageous, and bold in order to be successful. The same mindset has infiltrated the Christian perspective. Many believe that unless they are strong and courageous they are not qualified to do God’s work.
The Bible is the story of weak and unqualified people who were empowered and enabled by God to do what they could not do on their own. Gideon is a great example of one who considered himself weak, but God chose him as His warrior.
And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” Judges 6:12
Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” Judges 6:14-15
The Israelites had been in a place of defeat due to their disobedience to the Lord. Rightly so, Gideon did not see himself as a man of courage and strength. He spoke about his clan being the weakest in the tribe, and he considered himself as the least in his family.
In the natural, Gideon did not have the qualification to be considered strong, neither did he have previous accomplishments for him to be called a man of valor. Gideon looked at himself and his family background and didn’t see himself as a strong warrior. However, God was looking at Gideon’s future and his potential through His mighty hands.
Some of us may consider ourselves unqualified. We don’t think we can accomplish much because we are focused on ourselves or our past. We may have come from a dysfunctional home, broken marriage, bad choices, fears, or addictions as a result we see ourselves as weak and incapable.
The Lord isn’t necessarily looking for naturally strong people. He is looking for people who are believing in His estimation of them. He wants us to be willing to trust him in our weakness and rely on Him to empower us to do His work. It is also important to surround ourselves with people who are willing to pull greatness out of us. Those who are not focused on the immature person we used to be, but they see the hand of God in our lives strengthening us to do what we could not do in the past.
When God speaks and we believe Him, we are stronger and more powerful than any human ability or experience can give us. Fortunately, Gideon didn’t stay stuck in his own estimation of himself or his family background. He allowed God to confirm and affirm His hand in his life.
What are the areas that you consider yourself weak? It could be that you are an emotional person, so you try to hide behind others stronger than you. You may fear that unless I look strong and bold they are not going to approve of me. You could have an issue with anger, and you’re afraid that if you get too close to someone, people may find out about your anger issues. You could have a problem with organization, so you’ve lost hope in completing things because you can’t stay focused.
Gideon had to stop looking at his past, in order to move forward in God’s purpose. He had to have a change of mind and focus on what God said about Him. The same is true for all of us. Praise God for His strength in our weakness!
For comments, please email me at karlinefischer@yahoo.com.