Hello Friend,
There are times in our walk with God when we can feel small, tired, unsure, and even hidden. We know the Lord is able, but if we are honest, sometimes we wrestle with whether we are able. We look at what is in front of us, we look at what is lacking in us, and we wonder how God could ever use someone like us.
That is one of the reasons Gideon speaks to me so deeply.
When we first meet Gideon in Judges 6, he is not standing on a mountaintop in confidence. He is threshing wheat by the winepress, hiding from the Midianites. Israel is oppressed. The people of God are in distress. Fear is in the land. And Gideon is trying to survive in the middle of it.
Yet it is in that very place that the angel of the Lord appears to him and says,
“The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.”
— Judges 6:12 (KJV)
What a word.
Gideon did not look like a mighty man of valor in that moment. He looked afraid. He looked hidden. He looked like a man trying to make it through another day. But God was not speaking only to Gideon’s present condition. He was speaking according to His calling, His purpose, and His power.
That ministers to me.
There are times when we judge ourselves only by where we are right now. We measure our worth by our weakness, our mistakes, our fears, our limitations, and the battles around us. But God sees further than that. The Lord knows what He has placed in us, what He is forming in us, and what He intends to do through us for His glory.
Gideon answers the Lord in a way that feels very human:
“Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
— Judges 6:15 (KJV)
In other words, Gideon says, “Why me? I do not come from strength. I do not come from influence. I am not the obvious choice.”
Maybe you have felt that way too.
Maybe God has been stirring something in your heart — to pray more, to speak more boldly, to serve more faithfully, to step into something bigger than your comfort zone — and your first thought has been, “Lord, I do not think I am the one for this.”
But God’s answer to Gideon was not to give him a list of his qualifications. He gave him His presence.
“Surely I will be with thee.”
— Judges 6:16 (KJV)
That is the answer.
The power of Gideon’s calling was never going to come from Gideon himself. It was going to come from the fact that God was with him. And that is still the foundation for every believer today. What the Lord calls us to, He sustains us in. What He commands, He also strengthens us to walk out. His presence is the difference.
This is one of the deepest theological truths in Gideon’s story: God delights in showing His strength through human weakness so that no man can take credit for what belongs to Him alone.
That truth becomes even clearer in Judges 7.
Gideon gathers an army, and from a human standpoint, he already has reason to feel outnumbered. But then the Lord does something surprising. He reduces the army. He strips it down. He removes what looked like human security.
Why?
Because God says:
“The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.”
— Judges 7:2 (KJV)
That is such a needed word for us.
Sometimes God will allow our resources to look smaller. Sometimes He will narrow things down. Sometimes He will remove what we were leaning on, not because He has abandoned us, but because He loves us too much to let us confuse His glory with our own strength.
The Lord will not share His glory with flesh.
Gideon’s victory was never meant to become a monument to human ability. It was meant to become a testimony to divine power.
And if I can say this personally, I think many of us want God to use us, but we still secretly want to feel strong in ourselves first. We want to feel fully ready. We want all fear gone. We want every answer laid out. We want visible assurance before obedience.
But that is not usually how God works.
The Lord often calls us while we still feel weak. He leads us while we are still learning. He stretches us while we are still trembling. And in doing so, He teaches us to trust not in ourselves, but in Him.
Gideon did not win that battle with the kind of weapons men would expect. The Lord used trumpets, pitchers, and lamps. From a natural perspective, that does not look like the way to victory. But when God ordains the battle plan, what looks weak to man becomes mighty through Him.
That reminds me that obedience does not always look impressive at first. Sometimes it looks simple. Sometimes it looks strange. Sometimes it looks like trusting God when it would be easier to lean on logic alone. But when God is in it, obedience will always carry more power than self-reliance.
There is also something deeply personal about Gideon’s process. He was not a man without questions. He wrestled. He asked for confirmation. He needed reassurance. And yet God dealt with him patiently.
That encourages me because it reminds us that the Lord is merciful with His people as He grows them. Gideon was not perfect, but God still used him. His faith was not flawless, but it was real. The Lord did not cast him aside because he needed strengthening. He met him in his weakness and brought him forward.
That may be where some of you are today.
You love the Lord, but you are tired.
You believe, but you are still fighting fear.
You want to obey, but you feel weak.
You know God is calling you deeper, but part of you still wonders whether you can really do what He is asking of you.
Gideon’s story is a reminder that God does not need your natural strength to fulfill His will in your life. He is looking for surrender. He is looking for trust. He is looking for a heart that will say yes, even when it trembles.
And here is the practical side of it for this week:
Stop disqualifying yourself from what God may be calling you to do.
If God is leading you to pray more, then pray.
If He is leading you to witness, then speak.
If He is leading you to step out in faith, then step.
If He is leading you to trust Him in a place where you feel weak, then trust Him there.
Do not wait until you feel mighty to obey. Gideon was called a mighty man before he felt like one.
That means your current weakness does not cancel God’s purpose.
This week, I want to encourage you to bring your insufficiency before the Lord honestly. Tell Him where you feel afraid. Tell Him where you feel too small. Tell Him where you feel unqualified. And then surrender that place to Him. Let Him remind you that His presence is greater than your limitations.
The Lord is still glorifying Himself through weak vessels.
He is still calling hidden people.
He is still strengthening trembling hearts.
He is still proving that victory belongs to Him.
So let this be settled in us: we are not enough in ourselves, and we were never meant to be. Our confidence is not in our own hand. Our confidence is in the God who calls, the God who stays, and the God who gives victory.
“Surely I will be with thee.”
— Judges 6:16 (KJV)
That is enough.
Keep learning, keep growing, and keep staying near to Christ,
Randy Faulkner
The Learning Disciple