Some days can seem hurried, pressured, and tense. We know God’s truth, we believe His goodness, and yet we still find ourselves struggling, minds racing, before our feet even touch the floor in the morning.
Our focus gets blurred. We start listening to the lies of other voices that do more harm than good. The constant media headlines tell us how dark and broken our world is. Images and reminders all around us shout that we’re “not enough.” The enemy’s great at heaping on guilt, condemnation, and fear. The problems we face seem more like giants of impossibility than anything good that God can ever bring from it.
The truth is, some days we don’t feel like much of a strong warrior for God’s purposes. We just feel really weak. Afraid. Alone. Defeated.
But often, out of His goodness and grace, when we find ourselves right smack in the middle of huge feelings of defeat, God shows up strong.
“When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” Judges 6:12
Gideon certainly had no reason to feel strong, mighty, or anything like a warrior at that moment. He and his people were facing great suffering and defeat at the hand of the enemy. He doubted God was even with him. In fact, when the angel showed up, he was threshing his wheat in the pit of a winepress, not up on a hilltop where this was usually done. He was fearful and trying to keep hidden from view of the enemy who’d been raiding their land. Gideon questioned, “If God was with us, then why did this happen?”
Sounds familiar…
Ever been there?
If God is really here, then why?
If God is really good, then when?
If God really cares, then how?
I love how God is so gracious, patient, loving, and kind – even with the questions, even after His people had turned their backs on Him. God still sends an angel to encourage, to strengthen, to remind Gideon and all of the Israelites that He is surely with them.
And yet even while staring straight into a heavenly messenger, Gideon continues to persist in defeated thoughts. He still questions, “But I am the weakest, I am the least…how can God save Israel?”
