Are you familiar with the story of Gideon?

It is found in the book of Judges beginning in chapter 6 through chapter 8. (If you have never read it or are not familiar with it, I encourage you to go find it in your Bible and at least read Judges 6: 11-16 BEFORE you read this blog post.)

At the beginning of the story, Gideon in a wine-press threshing wheat. 

The first thing to jump out to me is that this is a rather strange place to be threshing wheat.

First, it’s a wine press, an area meant for pressing wine. It’s not going to be where you would expect someone to go to thresh their wheat. Secondly, it’s not going to be conducive to threshing wheat as you need a larger area to help separating the wheat kernels from the chaff. And finally the air flow won’t be good for threshing as wind is needed to blow the chaff away. Ancient wine presses were often inside buildings, and even if the winepress was located outdoors it was typically in a valley area near the vineyards so that it would be easy to transport the grapes to the wine press.

Gideon’s location for threshing his wheat is certainly not an ideal choice. So why is he trying to thresh the wheat in a wine press? 

The Bible tells us Gideon is down in the wine press because he is hiding from the Midianites who have been laying his country to waste for seven long years.

In chapter 6: 1-10, you can read about how the Midianites were literally destroying all crops and animals and land belonging to the Israelites. In fact, due to this on-going oppression, the Israelites are completely poverty-stricken. So, in a sense, you can hardly blame Gideon for wanting to hide his wheat crop from the people who are systematically destroying his nation.

Still, it’s a cowardly position. Furthermore, Gideon’s actions clearly indicate that he is behaving from his own point of view of himself. He is basically acting like a coward because he FEELS like a coward. He sees himself as weak and vulnerable.

Then, out of nowhere, the Angel of the Lord shows up.

Biblical scholars generally agree that in the Old Testament, the Angel of the Lord is the pre-incarnate Christ. So this is actually God Himself coming to visit Gideon.

When God arrives, He greets Gideon … but instead of using his name, calls him “Valiant Warrior.”

This is a reflection of how God sees Gideon. Now remember … this is the same God who came up with the idea of Gideon in the first place, who gave him the exact personality and specific talents, planned out the details of his life, and then formed him. This is Gideon’s Creator talking to him and saying, “You, my son, are a valiant warrior — not a fearful farmer.”

I am a word nerd. So I looked up a bunch of synonyms for valiant and warrior.

Synonyms for valiant include courageous, fearless, plucky, bold, indomitable, gallant, gutsy. My favorite synonym for valiant was LION-HEARTED. Isn’t that a great word?

Synonyms for warrior include champion, hero, soldier, and trooper.

Just start combining words from the valiant synonym list with words from the warrior synonym list and you can get an idea of exactly how God viewed Gideon: Bold soldier. Fearless hero. Gutsy trooper.

And then there is my personal fav … lion-hearted champion.

Imagine God knew Gideon as a LION-HEARTED CHAMPION because He had put in him the spirit of the heart of the LION OF JUDAH (Jesus). Wow! 

This is where it gets interesting. Gideon, who has just been called by a new title, doesn’t even seem to notice that at all. Instead he just wants to know WHY? He basically asks God why is this happening … To me and my family? To my nation?

He then asks, “Where is the Lord?”

Um … He is standing right in front of you, you valiant warrior!

That’s how I would have said it anyway …

But according to the Bible, the Lord does not respond with a snarky comment. That’s because He is far more gracious than me. But I digress.

Instead, the Lord ignores that line of questioning and instead says to Gideon, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”

Whoa … did you see that too? 

God didn’t just say “go” but He said to “go IN THE STRENGTH YOU HAVE.”

The strength you have right now … not in the strength you feel you have or the strength you think you need to have. But just go with what strength you actually have right now. Even if it feels meager, just go. Step out in faith and start the process. 

And God then tells Gideon what he is “going” to do: Deliver Israel from the Midianites.

God didn’t say “try” to deliver them, or “do your best” to deliver them. Just deliver them. That means the outcome is literally guaranteed.

And the reason the outcome is sure is because of that last part of what God said: “I am sending you!”

So what’s the lesson from Gideon?

First, God sees me far differently than I see myself. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t think of myself as a warrior in God’s kingdom. And yet, He says I am part of His army … an army that is engaged in spiritual warfare.

Secondly, He has a purpose for me, a job for me to do. One of the things I feel like God has called me to do is to write for Him. But after ten years working on the same manuscript, I am filled with more doubts than assurances that this is a true calling on my life.

The truth is that I often feel unequipped to do anything for God. I feel like a nobody. Who am I? Just a first grade teacher at a teeny tiny school. What makes me think I can write a book for His glory? What makes me think I have any real job that matters within the Kingdom of God?

The Lord said, “God in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!

Judges 6:14

But as God said to Gideon, I believe He says to each of His children, “Go with the strength, the talents, the gifts that you have right now (because I have given you all you need) and do the work I have put in front of you to do — because I am sending you to do it.”

And this is how God turns cowards into warriors …

The fact that every day I get to choose to be a warrior in God’s kingdom is a feat of God’s amazing grace!

Let’s go be brave for God.