Unqualified
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
Judges 6:12
God’s people were being threatened by the Midianites, bandits who swooped down out of the hills to ruin crops and villages. God chose to raise up a leader who would defeat them. When the angel called Gideon a “mighty warrior,” Gideon thought the angel was joking. He felt that he was the least qualified man to be a warrior at all. He was the weakest member of his family, which was the weakest clan in his tribe. He was a farmer and didn’t know anything about battling enemies.
But by the time God finished training Gideon for battle, he was leading three hundred men against 120,000 troops. It was an “impossible” mission, but with Gideon’s small army God sent the Midianites running for the hills.
Like Gideon, we often resist the challenges God sets in front of us because we don’t think we are good enough or strong enough or skilled enough to meet them. But God doesn’t ask us to do anything we cannot do with His strength.
The apostle Paul went through many trials in his life. But in Philippians 4:13 he wrote, “I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.”
Jesus showed by example how to depend on the Father for everything, regardless of what challenges we face. Thank God that because of Jesus’ victory over sin and death, “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).
Jesus, thank You for conquering sin and death. Help us to be mighty in Your power, and strong in faith when we face trials and battles in this life. Amen.
Inspired by a Today Devotion