Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” Judges 6:14
As human beings, we do not naturally like showing our weaknesses. Showing our weaknesses, we believe, makes us look weak. It is vulnerable. It exposes the things that we feel most exposed and defenseless about. Although this is our natural reaction to our weaknesses, the Bible teaches us we do not have to be ashamed of our weaknesses. In fact, God works through our weakness and fights for us through everything.
God placed a big calling on the life of Gideon in Judges 6. God said to Him, "Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!" (verse 14). Immediately Gideon questioned this instruction from God. He did not feel adequate for the calling. He said to God, "how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!" (verse 15). In other words, Gideon felt extremely inadequate. He felt week and unprepared to rescue Israel from Midian. Maybe you can relate to how Gideon felt in this moment. How did God respond to Gideon's objections? He promised His power through Gideon's weakness. He said to Gideon, "I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man" (verse 16). It did not matter that Gideon was weak; God is all-powerful and could easily rescue the Israelites from Midian.
When God gives us a calling, He not only promises that He will give us strength to follow that calling. He also promises something better: His power. He is all-powerful and capable of bringing us through every calling He gives us. We may be weak, but as the old, beloved song "Jesus Loves Me" says, "Little ones to Him belong, they are weak, but He is strong."
Moving Toward Action
In what areas in your life do you feel weak? Bring them to God. Ask Him to work in those areas so that God can display His power through your weakness. Thank Him for the way He works through you, not in spite of your weakness, but because of it.
Read Judges 6:13-16 (NLT)
“Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”
Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”
“But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!”
The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”
©2024 Sagebrush Church
