At training camp we had an AWESOME guest speaker, Dr. Rob Walborn. He told us a little part of the story of Gideon. I never heard the story of Gideon before, but I'd heard of the band Gideon (AWESOME band btw), and I was curious when he started telling us the story because I'd finally know what their name was all about. Later on I read the whole story of Gideon on my own to get a better understanding of it. I'll give you the cliff-notes:
So Gideon lived in this place called Ophrah, and these wicked nasty dudes called the Midianites were invading and getting all up in their business HARD. They were even coming down and stealing all their food so they would just die off from having nothing to eat. eeeeevil! Straight up #strugglebus in Ophrah. So because these dudes are all over the place stealing everyone's food, Gideon's like "DUDE, I know what I'll do. I'll hide in my wine press and thresh some wheat, sonnnn! YEAH! They won't get me in there!" Ok first of all threshing wheat is separating the edible parts from the rest of the wheat (I had to google that one.) Second of all a winepress in those days was just a straight up hole in the ground.
This is where it gets good…So while Gideon is being a total wimp hiding in a hole from the bullies trying to steal his food, the angel of God comes down into the hole and says:
"GOD IS WITH YOU O MIGHTY WARRIOR!"
Gideon's only answer to that is "With ME Master?" Just imagine how random that must have been.? Gideon is thinking "Uuuuuuuh…I'm hiding in a hole right now, Dude…are you sure that I'M the mighty warrior you're talking about? I'm scared out of my MIND! Out of everyone you could have picked to be a mighty warrior I'm the LAST person you should choose! I'm the wimpiest, weakest, and the least prepared! WHY would you pick ME?!" But God DID choose gideon. God chose Gideon because he was the man for the job. Gideon did free his people, and he did defeat his enemies despite the odds, and he did this because God was with him. He did this because God chose him.
I feel like that a lot. During training camp I found myself telling my squad-mates over and over again "I'm really new to this" and "I'm not used to this." And I got really down on myself because I felt unprepared, and weak, and even straight up scared. I couldn't spout out bible verses like everyone else, my back story was not the brightest, and I didn't even go to church every week before training camp! I thought about why God would want me to do His work, and how everyone else was more cut out to do this work. But none of that matters. Because God called ME. Despite all my flaws and issues and problems, He chose me. I may be weak, and my flesh may fail, but my God NEVER will. Whatever plan He has for my life, I will get through it because He is with me! How crazy is that?
One of my squad-mates told me something that really stuck with me. God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called. That phrase and the story of Gideon have given me so much encouragement. When I find myself hiding out in that hole scared of the dangerous world around me, I know that God is with me. When I think I'm not ready or that I'm not good enough, I know that God has called me to be a mighty warrior. Not because I'm the most prepared, but because He has a plan for me, and he chose me for it.
Maybe you're scared and you're thinking you're not good enough. Like there's something wrong with you, and that there is no way God could choose you to do his work. Or maybe you're thinking your mistakes and challenges make you weak and unlovable, so you're "hiding in a hole" right now. Just know that God loves you, no matter what you've done or who you are. And He has something amazing planned for you, even if you can't see it right now. His plan is always better than ours, even if we can't see what He's doing. He knows EXACTLY what He's doing.
