There is not always a favourable time or a perfect timing for a dream to come true, or to be realised. Life does not always present the best of conditions for us. Yet the Creator of the Universe uses the odds that stand against us to His glory.
He manipulates situations for our good, and virtually sifts out the wrong in us through the somewhat painful experiences that we go through. Gideon did not see himself as a warrior, nor even capable of leading the army of God against their foes. The time the angel of the Lord found Gideon happened to be a time and phase of Gideon's life when his weaknesses stared at him in full glare: JUDGES 6:11 -15 reads :
11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
Gideon showcased himself as a man of low self esteem, who did not believe he could amount to anything good. Contrarily, God saw Him as a mighty warrior, and urged him to go in the strength he had to save Israel. The question I suppose was on Gideon's mind at this point was - 'Go in what strength? I have no strength, I am a weak man from a weak family, and the least in my family.'
In response to Gideon's excuses, God assured Him - Judges 6:16 The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
Gideon acted in obedience and faith. He believed the Word of God and saw what was not as though it was, plunged into action, and the rest was history - a great historical feat! This is recorded in the sands of time and documented up until this generation - In Judges 6:27 we read about an obedient Gideon who still harboured certain fears, yet threw caution to the wind to start what God had instructed him to do - 'So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.'
Gideon's obedience to God sent a war cry to the camp of the enemy who prepared for war against Israel - JUDGES 6: 33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.
God did not forsake Gideon, He was with him and it is engraved in history that Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon’s lifetime, the land had peace forty years (JUDGES 8:28). And all these Gideon accomplished in the midst of exhibitions of his own fears and human weaknesses that crept up every now and then. His secret formula was to move in faith and obey God rather than succumb to his fears. He faced his fears and took practical steps and actions to do what God had laid on his heart .
What is it that God is beckoning to you to do? You may feel you are not qualified to do it, or may think you do not have the resources to accomplish it. Take a cue from Gideon and just take the first step, and the rest will follow, as long as you keep communicating with God every step of the way.
The Chinese Philosopher Laozi sums it all up in his great saying - A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
God bless you!
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