I was reading through the Book of Judges recently, and came across the passage on how the LORD used Gideon to relieve the Israelites’ oppression at the hands of the Midianites:

Judges 6: 11 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. 12 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

13 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.”

14 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?” 15 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.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”

I got to thinking how amazing it is that the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY usually calls on those who have a very low opinion of themselves to do HIS work. Usually these men, when they are called, shy away and come up with all kinds of excuses as to why they just can’t do it. But as the LORD says, “Have I not sent you?” …And when HE says that, surely you are indeed capable of doing what the LORD has called you to do. If you were not, HE would not have called you.

This brought to mind something a college student shared with me recently. He was considering whether he should try and score a job in a retail store belonging to a business person he admires. He says at that moment the Councilor (yes, the Holy Spirit) said, no, that if he was going to try and work with this person he should aim higher, that is, go for a position in the corporate office. Like many of the Biblical figures called to aim higher, he grappled with the LORD’s instruction, wondering if he was really hearing right. Sure, he’s a capable guy, but was he good enough to walk through the ‘big’ doors? Apparently, the LORD thought so. And if the LORD says you’re good enough, then surely you must be.

Some of us know the myriad of excuses Moses gave the LORD when HE called him to lead Israel/Jacob out of Egyptian bondage. GOD showed him a miraculous sign and still Moses doubted — himself. Moses did not doubt the LORD with whom he spoke, but he didn’t think very highly of himself, despite the LORD’s reassurances.

Exodus 3:9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you…

Exodus 4:4 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’”

… 10 Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” 11 So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

13 But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”

Joseph, Moses, Gideon, Jephthah, Saul, David and even Samuel (who started serving the LORD as a little boy) were all regular people — not one of us are perfect…yet (when Christ Jesus returns, we will be perfected). These folks didn’t have high aspirations and had probably settled down into leading very normal lives when the LORD called them. Gideon did not come up thinking he’d be a victor of his people. Saul most certainly never thought he was king material. David was just a shepherd boy. Joseph was hated by his own brothers who wanted to murder him. Jephthah’s mother was a prostitute and his half-brothers disowned him. Samuel barely knew how to say the LORD’s name, yet he was ministering in HIS temple at a very young age.

Moses was born Hebrew but raised Egyptian. He murdered a man and fled, ending up in a land even farther away from his people. He was called by GOD (whom he knew very little about) to lead these people he hardly knew out of captivity. So, no matter our histories (and I know mine is kinda ugly), what we think our strengths and weaknesses are, whether we don’t think we have any special skills or talents, that we’re not worthy or that others don’t take us seriously… we have to remember that the LORD our GOD created each and every one of us for a purpose.

As Paul writes in Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? … 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

… 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Like Paul says, if GOD is for us, who can be against us? If the CREATOR of everyone and everything sends us, will it not be accomplished?

And the LORD doesn’t call us and empower us for our own glory, for who are we without HIM? No, everything we do is for the LORD’s glory. As HE sets up, HE pulls down (Saul’s coronation and eventual dethroning). As HE gives life, HE brings death (the opening of Sarah’s womb and David’s punishment over Bathsheba). And HE insures that we are mindful of this — that it is by HIS hand that all things are accomplished…as King Nebuchadnezzar surely learned.

So let us praise the LORD our GOD and believe that we are who HE says we are and can do what HE says we can do. As the writer says, “I can do all things through Christ who straightens me (Philippians 4:13Philippians 4:13
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.  

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