MIGHTY MAN OF VALOUR

 

Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” Gideon said to Him, “O my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” 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 6:11-15 NKJV

When the curtain opens on Gideon in Judges 6, Israel’s brutal 400-year stint of slavery in Egypt is far in the past, as are their years of wandering in the wilderness. Joshua’s military conquests from the previous century have nestled them deep in the heart of Canaan, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” They are right where God intended them to be all along positioned for His blessing.  Gideon brushed past God's explanation of his view of him. Instead of acting in a way that is congruent with what the Angel said,

he casually dismissed it as something that might may be true for others, but not for himself. Not knowing without God, left to his own reality, he is all of those things, he thinks of myself, fearful, incompetent and insignificant, but

with God, His purposes, and possibilities completely change, Gideon was so skeptical of a description, God had given him. “Mighty man of valor!” He didn't even address the whole title of mighty man of valor in his response. Immersed in the throes of devastation and disillusionment, he discussed another theme entirely. In essence, Gideon overlooked one of the most important portions of this heavenly interaction. He prematurely pursued the mission to which he had been called and forwarded the critical groundwork of learning about and walking in our God given spiritual identity. Life shadows distorted his reality; those distortions easily became his truth, ripping him away from God's truth and thwarting his purpose. Gideon was more than the sum of his cowardly parts, he was more than his circumstances. He was a valiant warrior, touched by an encounter with God Himself. Sadly, he didn't know it. Gideon seems to be fearful, think little of himself, and definitely not carry out the moniker ‘mighty man of valor’.

Gideon was under the shadow of the Midian but God was not, the Angel had already told Gideon who he was but he had a small perception of himself.

He was in hiding, running from an enemy, he was humiliated, intimidation and fear had been his constant companion. He had to get tagged out of the shadows, lift up his head, and act like it. We can all imagine the thoughts that were running through his mind when the angel showed up. Gideon’s identity was based on his background and not Christ’s identity. Gideon encounters a number of challenges to the way he thinks about himself, in an apparently very short time period. Gideon had to capture his thoughts and make them subject to Christ (2 Cor 10:5) casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing

every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. He says he is from the smallest clan and is the smallest in that clan. I can imagine that he was saying to himself, ‘what can little-ole-me do in this? Defeat the whole army? Do you know how many they are? I’m supposed to do what? ’Gideon had a shadow across his life. He was worried, cast down and dispirited. For seven years he had lived with an ominous Midianite silhouette which covered his soul and caused discouragement around him. Gideon did not have the look of a mighty man of valor, he was cowering silently in the winepress, he didn't look valiant and yet God’s view of him was not bound by Gideon’s reality or actions. Gideon needed to go through a process of turning his identity into that which God was calling him into, that which God created him to be. Gideon goes back and forth, God was calling Gideon to lead the people of God through the victory and after. He had to demonstrate the victory of a renewed self-worth, a new identity in God.

Let us learn from Gideon story, accept what your creator has to say about you. You can do all things who Christ who strengthens you.