"And Gideon came to the Jordan and passed over, he and the three hundred men who were with him, faint yet pursuing” (Judges 8:4).
I have been reminded recently of Gideon. We meet him in the book of Judges.
Here was a man on a mission! “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor,” an angel announces. Soon Gideon is appointed to “de-liver Israel from the hand of Midian” (6:14) – and deliver them he did. Men like this “conquered kingdoms, enforced justice…became mighty in war, [and] put foreign armies to flight" (Hebrews 11:33, 34).
Yet Gideon’s “valor” is not perfectly apparent. He appears on the scene hiding away in fear. The angel found him “beating out wheat in the wine press” – in the wine press, apparently, to escape the Midianites’ attention (6:11). And his valor is not much increased after he meets the angel. He responds to his commission with a series of sharp questions – impertinent questions, almost. “Pray, sir,” Gideon asks, “if the Lord is with us, why then has all this befallen us? And where are all his wonderful deeds which our fathers recounted to us…? Pray, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (6:13, 15).
Like many missionaries I know, the “mighty man of valor” was secretly small fry: a no-account sort of fellow, from a no-account family, in a no-account tribe. What he brought to the mission was skepticism, basically – and with pretty good reason. He had questions more than answers and misgiving more than confidence.
But the angel is not drawn into a debate. He challenges this fearful, questioning, no-account fellow: “Go in this might of yours and deliver…” (v.14).
What might? The angel, I think, was referring precisely to Gideon’s small and skeptical spirit. He was not making reference to his biceps! He was referring to the man in all of his complexity: his strengths and his weaknesses, his convictions and his doubts, his gifting and his need – and even his questions. Maybe in particular his questions. In his questioning, you see, Gideon revealed his honest heart: trusting yet doubtful, fearful yet bold. God can work with honest hearts, I think. Pretension is more difficult.
The Bible is filled with just such real people. Men and women on a mission, accomplishing much with little. From Gideon to David, and Peter to Paul. And more than that: the Bible is built around just such real people. God meets individuals such as these, grips them in love and challenges them in mission. They become the ambassadors of God Almighty in all the world. “Heroes” don’t accomplish these things. The Kingdom is built around small fry and little people. Like Gideon.
Gideon was enlisted in the mission of God in spite of himself. Throughout his career he remained, apparently, who he was all along: a little bit timid (6:27b), a little bit fearful (7:10-11). But he learned to walk in the conviction of the presence and power of God. “Pray, Lord, how can I deliver Israel?” he wonders. And the answer comes, “I will be with you…” (6:15f).
It is enough. Is it enough for you?
"The Way I See It", December 2003
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