“And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!’ ” Judges 6:12
When God first approached Gideon, He addresses him as the man he would become (“you mighty man of valor”) by God’s grace in his life (“the Lord is with you”), not the man he was at that time (6:12). Gideon did not understand how God would use him to save Israel from the Midianites since his family “clan is the weakest in Manasseh,” and he perceives himself to be “the least in” his “father’s house” (6:14-15). Gideon perceived that his own background and position in his family disqualified him from being God’s instrument of deliverance for Israel.
Do you ever feel like Gideon? You say to yourself, “I don’t think I can measure up to what God wants me to do. I’m insecure. I don’t have what it takes. I don’t know enough. I don’t have the right background. How could God use me?” Often when God says He has something for us to do, it seems much bigger than us! We don’t feel adequate. But listen closely! It doesn’t matter whether we feel adequate or not. What matters is God has chosen us. If God has chosen us, it is going to work whether we think we are qualified or not. Our life message is not about us. It is about what God chooses to do in our lives.
How did God respond to Gideon’s fear and sense of inadequacy? He assured Gideon by telling him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man” (6:16). This is God’s answer to our fear of inadequacy. Because one plus God equals a majority. If God is near, we will lose our fear. Because of God’s presence in our lives, we can do anything He calls us to do! But the fear of inadequacy should not keep us from doing what God has called us to do because God says, “I will be with you.” God’s adequacy is the answer to our inadequacy and God’s presence is the answer to our panic.