The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." Judges 6:11-12
When we compare ourselves to a holy God, there is simply no comparison. Most of us would not even dare to compare ourselves to God. In fact, when we consider our humanness compared to His holiness, we fall far short. In an effort to remain humble before God, our human tendency is to berate ourselves until we see ourselves as no more than wretched worms, unworthy of His love and grace. Somehow, we have gotten this confused and consider this type of attitude towards our own humanness as some sort of righteous obligation so that we do not think of ourselves more highly than we should. In actuality, this type of thinking opens the door to the enemy to decive us with his lies rather than God's truth!
In Judges 6, Scripture records the story of the Israelites suffering oppression at the hands of the Midianites.The Midianites, along with the Amalekites, came against Israel after they had planted their crops in an effort to take away their source of sustenance. The oppression lasted for seven years and was so severe that the Israelites found themselves forced to hide in mountain caves. In response to the Israelites cry for for help, God sent an angel to visit Gideon.
The angel refers to Gideon as a "mighty warrior" and proceeds to instruct him to save Israel from the Midianites. Gideon immediately denies the possibility of having any ability to save Israel. Gideon looked at the facts, as he knew them. Not only was Gideon from the weakest clan in Manasseh, but he was also the least important member of his family. Because Gideon was only looking with his natural eyes, he could not see the attributes and abilities that God had placed in him.
Think about Gideon's claim that his tribe was the weakest in Manasseh and he was the least important member of his family. Where did Gideon get these ideas? Did the other families in the tribe consider Gideon's clan weak, and if so, why did they come to this conclusion? Had someone told Gideon that he was the least important member of his family, or was this his own conclusion based on his perception of reality? It really does not matter where any of Gideon's ideas came from; the most important thing to understand is that none of his ideas was true. Through the angel, God told Gideon face-to-face the truth and it directly contradicted what Gideon believed about himself! Gideon had chosen to believe a lie and he did not even know it. The angel of the Lord spoke God's truth to him. Yet, the lie was so entrenched in Gideon, he could not accept what the angel was saying about him. Gideon insisted that the angel give him a sign because he needed proof.
The world will attempt to define who we are through the lies of the enemy. If we believe the lies and accept them as our truth, then we cannot fully operate as God intended. When we accept negative beliefs about ourselves then we turn our backs on the very God who created us! We each have a choice to let the world define us or to believe what our Father and Creator has to say about us. Gideon discovered that God was right and he was wrong, and choosing to believe God's truth was life changing for him. I urge you to choose to believe God's truth about you and you will discover that without Him, you are nothing, but with Him, you are more than you could ever imagine!
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. Psalm 139:1
