He said to Him, “Please Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.
“But I will be with you,” the LORD said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.” Judge 6:15-16 HCSB

In the Old Testament, time and time again the Israelites mess up and God punishes them and they cry out for help. God delivers them and they repent and do well for a while and repeat the whole process over again. Sound like anyone you know? This is one of those times. We are told in Judges 6 that the Israelites had done evil and God punished them by allowing the Midianites to oppress them. They attack them when they are trying to harvest their crops. They leave no food for them and take all of their livestock. The Israelites hide away trying to preserve what food they have. Gideon is hiding in a winepress, threshing wheat when an angel of the Lord appears to him.

The Angel of the Lord said to Gideon, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” Gideon certainly doesn’t feel like a mighty warrior and asks if the LORD is with them, then why has all this happened? His ancestors had told him of God’s wonders and how God had brought them out of Egypt. But now Gideon says that the LORD has abandoned them and handed them over to Midian. He wants to know why. He is amazed that God would choose him, the youngest child of the weakest tribe to deliver them from the Midianites while he is hiding from them. You can just imagine that he is hearing this angel and thinking, “You want me to do what?”

The more we are oppressed, the less powerful we feel. So Gideon must be feeling pretty helpless as this point. He doesn’t just jump up and say, “Okay God, what do you want me to do?” No, he questions why God has allowed this oppression if he cares so much about them. Sound familiar? Then he tests the angel and the angel confirms that he is sent by God. God begins to instruct Gideon on some things to do. Gideon tests God not once, but twice. Then Gideon puts together an army of 32,000 men. Sounds pretty strong, right? But God tells him this is too many. He tells him to let those who are fearful leave. Only 10,000 remained. Then he has Gideon put them through a test. Only 300 men passed the test. In no time, God shrunk Gideon’s army from 32,000 to 300. Why did God do this? Well in Judges 7:2, God told Gideon that if he had too many men, Israel might brag that they had done it on their own. He narrowed it down to 300 so there would be no doubt that God had delivered the Midianites over to them. God wanted everyone to know that this had been done under His power.

Perhaps God is calling you out of your comfort zone. Perhaps He is asking you to give up something that you really, really like. Perhaps He is asking you to conquer something that causes you great fear. Do you find yourself asking, “You want me to do what?” Whatever it is we can rest assured God doesn’t ask us to go through anything alone. He will be right there beside you.

This is where trust and obedience become key factors. Gideon and his men did as God directed them to do. The end result was that the Midianites not only fled from Gideon and his men, but they turned their swords on each other. Gideon and his men pursued those left and killed them. Gideon was a mighty warrior. God saw this even if Gideon did not.

We will never know what we can do until we trust in God and obey Him. Even though you may feel like the weakest person on the planet, God can still use you to accomplish great things. Even though the devil may be oppressing you and leading you to believe all hope is lost, know nothing is impossible with God. There is nothing He can’t do, even if He chooses to use someone weak like you or me. Instead of asking God, “You want me to do what?” Try asking Him, “What is it Lord that you want me to do?”

God doesn’t save us so that we can decorate pews, He saves us so that we can do great things through Him for His people. Trust in Him and allow Him to use you today.

Have a great weekend!