God is with you, O mighty warrior (Judges 6:12). The testimony of the Lord is sure (Psalm 19:7).
God shows up to Gideon in a winepress, where he is threshing wheat. Gideon was the least of his family, the least of his people, the least of his friends. The Bible does not say one single good thing that Gideon had going for him on his own. And to top it all off, he was a total wimp – hiding in a winepress to thresh his wheat, which he should have been doing out in the open if he wanted to get anywhere in his task for the day, but he was too scared of the Midianites. Try sweeping your garage out with the door closed, and that’s about how good of a job Gideon was doing with his scaredy-cat wheat threshing in a winepress.
In the midst of all of that…God shows up to Gideon and says, “God is with you, O mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12). Umm…what?? Mighty warrior? Mighty man of valor? You have the wrong guy, I think you’re looking for Killian, 2 blocks down. He hits the gym every day – totally ripped. That’s got to be the mighty man of valor you’re looking for. And by the way, I also don’t believe that God is with me. If God was with me, all this bad stuff wouldn’t be happening to us, the Midianites wouldn’t be ransacking our country, and I wouldn’t have to be hiding out in a winepress to keep my food from getting stolen (Judges 6:13).
God works in patterns throughout the Bible. We see over and over again this same pattern that we see God follow with Gideon and how he walks Gideon into his purpose. The testimony of the Lord is sure – and this pattern can apply to your life as well.
So first, God gives Gideon a new name. He calls him a mighty warrior, a mighty man of valor. He gives Gideon an identity. The best part, is that God is not just telling Gideon this just to be polite, or to be a nice guy because He’s God and He has to be, or to give Gideon a pep talk. God calls Gideon a mighty warrior because He sees what Gideon does as a mighty warrior in the near future because God exists outside of time and sees it happening. He calls out Gideon’s identity to him because God is being honest and truthful to Gideon. The testimony of the Lord is sure – you are a mighty warrior, you are beloved, you are a friend of God. These promises all apply to you, right now. Even when you don’t feel like it today, God is calling that out in you right now because He sees the truth of you and the identity He has made for you.
God always gives His people a new name, even before they have fulfilled what He is calling them out to be and do. Moses, mighty deliverer, who was really just a murderer talking to a burning bush. David, king of Israel, when he was only a shepherd boy left out in the back 40 because he wasn’t important enough to come to dinner with the rest of the family to meet the prophet. Mary, mother of God, just a pure, simple teenage girl engaged to a carpenter. God is giving you a new name, and your identity is written all throughout the Bible. You have to read it and see what God is saying about you. The testimony of the Lord is true for you.
Second, God gives Gideon steps: tear down the altar of Baal (tear down the wrong things in your life), make an altar to God (build up the good things in your life), gather an army, get rid of 29,700 of them so that you only have 300 men to defeat hundreds of thousands of Midianites, oh and by the way, you’re going to defeat them with some lighters and trumpets. God’s steps start out small – tearing down an altar, removing some bricks, and putting up some new bricks. But God is building our faith, step by step. Find whatever next step God has for you, and follow it. Step out. Even if you don’t know if it’s the right direction, keep trying, and God will build your faith, and come through for you. Don’t let go of the identity promise God has given you and He will see you through to each next step. And eventually, through those steps, He leads you to your purpose.
Finally, after walking through all the steps God gave him, Gideon really does become the mighty warrior God called him in the beginning and through God, he and 300 men defeat hundreds of thousands of Midianites who had been oppressing the Israelites for 7 years. God gave Gideon a new name, he gave him steps, all to lead to a new purpose. But, God doesn’t want to just give you a new name and give you things to do. He wants you to grow in Him and be something different – something bigger than yourself, something bigger than you ever thought possible. He wants to bring you joy and fulfillment beyond your wildest dreams, and when you live that out, you give Him glory too. Identity – Steps – Purpose.
This week’s blog is just a very very very brief synopsis of the message, If You’re Not Ready, You’re Perfect, by Pastor Ethan Vanse of Church on the Move, from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I have listened and re-listened to this message so many times I’ve lost count. But it is so powerful and has built my faith so much. I encourage you to go listen to it as well, I promise you will not be sorry. I often feel like the wimp in a winepress, but God is calling me to get out of my winepress, and to take the steps that He is giving me. I pray that God will bring clarity to you in the identity that He is calling you to, and that you will be bold to find and take the steps in front of you. God is calling you to a glorious purpose.
In Him – Just a girl pursuing her reflection in the mirror