The Honeymoon Life Blog

The Lord is with You, O Valiant Warrior

hand holding a bundle of wheat
Photo Credit: Pexels.com Italo Melo
Terri & Curtis Krupp
Terri Krupp

The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior!

You know you have a calling on your life from God. That your life is meant to build the kingdom here on earth. But a constant voice reminds you how small and insignificant you are. I mean, what could a regular person like you ever do that would make even the smallest difference for God and others?

Let’s look at another person whose story we may be able to relate to. Enter, Gideon. You have probably heard his story in Sunday school or a sermon. Enter Gideon, a prime example of God triumphing through lowly circumstances. But have you ever said to yourself, “If a guy like Gideon can defeat an entire nation with only 300 men and no military training, could I possibly have an impact with my talents and gifts?” Let’s explore!

For context, read Judges 6:11 through Judges 7. (I am quoting the NASB translation.)

  • Follow the dialogue in Judges 6:12: “The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, 'The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” Me? Gideon? You talking to me? (I imagine Gideon had a Brooklyn accent like most Jews back then.) While Gideon is busy hiding the wheat harvest in the wine press, because even savages won’t burn wine, he encounters the angel of God. The introduction catches Gideon off guard. If I am cowering and hiding wheat, trembling in fear of the latest threat, I don’t expect anyone to refer to me as “valiant warrior.”

  • 13 “Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”’ Gideon isn’t looking at Israel’s current situation as a mess of their own making; instead, he concludes that even the God of his ancestors can not remedy their problems.

(Notice that when Gideon responds, he addresses the angel in the lower-case case lord. He has not yet processed that he is hearing from God. Gideon is completely absorbed with the problems, not the problem solver.)

  • Having challenged God’s lack of help so far, you may expect a big, sympathetic pep talk, but NOPE, the angel of the LORD responds in no such way. 14 “The Lord looked at him and said, ‘Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?”’ Thanks for so much compassion! Hosting a pity party before God doesn’t yield much consolation because He has already provided the strength and plan to accomplish what He is calling us to do. God simply tells Gideon to “Go!” From the angel’s perspective, the instruction was quite self-explanatory: if God is with you, you go!

  • 15”He said to Him, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”’ SAME! Gideon responds with his best list of why you “got the wrong guy.” Like Gideon, I know that God has called me into service for the kingdom, but I just can’t shake what my reality tells me. I am nobody, and the least among them!

  • 16 “But the Lord said to him, 'Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.”’ Again, it’s so easy. God said go, so assume you are going to be victorious. The angle even implies it will be kind of easy. If we look at our circumstances from the vantage point that God is doing the work, it is kind of easy!

Many of us have walked in Gideon’s sandals. We are given a calling on our lives that just doesn’t resonate with our reality. We just don’t fit into the image of what God is calling out of us. But God judges the heart. He knows all the many strengths and talents that have been invested in us so that we might do mighty things for the Kingdom of God.

It does not matter if this writing finds you cowering in fear. Or perhaps self-loathing for how ineffective you have been thus far. You may have a personal wrap sheet of sin that is long and exhaustive. You may not even have enough faith to believe God’s voice when He calls you personally into service. Still, you are a “Valiant Warrior!” Go! The Lord is with you!

Happy Honeymooning!

“The angel of the LORD appeared to him, “The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior.”

(Judges 6:12)