Being labeled a “Hero” is a mighty big moniker to carry!
While there are definitely heroes in this world (courageous and noble people like Florence Nightingale, Mother Teresa and Rosa Parks, to name a few), would you and I put ourselves in the hero category?
According to Mr. Google, a hero is “...a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” Can you see yourself in that definition?
On that note, I’d like you to meet Gideon! Found in the book of Judges, we learn how Gideon earned his place among the legendary “Heroes of the Faith” as a leader, defender and judge of Israel. Best known for leading 300 untrained Israelites triumphantly against a 135,000-man army, Gideon is first introduced to us in Chapter 6 as someone God has His eye on….and Gideon was hiding!
Not what you expected from a hero, hmmm? Me neither!
In Gideon’s defense, there was a seven-year pillage party going on in his homeland, thrown by the invading Midianite armies. “Like locusts,” these attackers had been swarming over the Israelites, stealing crops, livestock, homes and their very lives.
Nonetheless, this is where God finds Gideon, threshing grain from his family’s fields, hiding in a wine press dug down into the earth, and hoping the Midianite patrols would not see the golden grain and steal the food his clan needed to live.
But God doesn’t see a fearful farmhand. Judges 6 says “Yahweh” (God’s formal name in Hebrew) sits under a tree watching Gideon harvest grain as he hides from attackers. Then God-in-an-angel-bod greets Gideon as HE sees Gideon:
“The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
Judges 6:12 (ESV)
How many times do we hear what God thinks of us and start arguing with Him? We see only our weakness and brokenness instead of how Yahweh sees us.
Gideon is no different! God calls him a “mighty man of valor,” but Gideon can’t bear the weight of this mighty moniker and sees only his insignificance and inability.
“Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
Judges 6:15 (ESV)
This “Hero of the Faith” is one I can relate to! He self-doubts and even questions the potential and possibility in God’s choice. He can’t see the hero God knows him to be on the inside.
How many times have I done that in my own head and heart? Me, doubting God’s view of me, especially when He invites me into His plans.
“Be a leader!” Who, me? Why me?
“Teach people about Jesus!” Wait just a minute!
“Write it and share it!” Why would they listen to me!
“Go and Serve!” What do I have that they would need?
At one point in my life, I started asking God what He wanted of me, what was I really here for? And as soon as He showed me a path and a plan, I started asking the same questions Gideon asked: “Please, Lord, how can I do that? I don’t have the training or the knowledge! Who am I that I could lead anything? I am weak, broken and definitely not enough.”
Here’s a thought, friends…
Just maybe it is our weakness that God uses to best show His greatness. When God invites us into the work He is doing, maybe it is the fact that we are imperfect that makes us hero material! And when God changes a life, a family or even a city through our involvement, it is easy for the world to see God’s power is what did it, not ours.
Gideon’s story makes this clear. When Gideon is all-in to lead the Israelites into battle against the Midianites, God tells Gideon to gather an army. Much to the surprise of Gideon, when 32,000 men show up to fight, God says,
“The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites
into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying,
‘My own hand has saved me.’”
Judges 7:2 (ESV)
God, in all His wisdom, gives Gideon some very specific tests for the 32,000 men, and they are whittled down to only 300. NOW it will be very apparent that it is not the strength of the people that will save Israel, but the strength of their GOD.
Friends, God wants our brokenness and weaknesses! Where you see them as negatives or disqualifiers, God sees a hero in the making; He sees us as people of courage and strength, not because we have become this on our own but because He will provide it when it is needed.
Imagine what God could do with your reasons and arguments on who and what you are! Let God’s way of seeing you become your reality so that you can step into the heroics He is preparing for you to do!
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)
So, here’s to Gideon, the self-doubting farmer that gave his heart to God and God made him one of the “Heroes of the Faith!” May Gideon be an example for us; even when we don’t see it, God sees a hero in us! Give it all to Him for His purpose and see what happens!
Shalom,
Namra