ON THE VANGUARD

THE LORD IS WITH YOU
“When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.’”
“’But Lord,’ Gideon asked, ‘how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.’”
“The Lord answered, ‘I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.’”
Judges 6:12, 15-16

Have you ever felt like the runt? Have you ever found yourself in a thought pattern where over and over in your mind you constantly hear all these negative things about yourself that you start to believe them? I think it happens often, and I know it happens to me more than I care to admit. Even in the midst of so many things going right I find myself being hit with thoughts that destroy my self-esteem. For instance, just this past week I found myself having a productive week at work. Every day it seemed I was leaving feeling a sense of accomplishment for the work I had done and people I had helped. But as soon as I walked in my door at home, a feeling of poor esteem would flood me. Seeing a dirty home or having to correct my children would play the feelings of a terrible homemaker or parent. By the end of the night I would be beat up by my own thoughts.
In a way, Gideon found himself in the same boat. Granted the Bible tells us nothing about his homemaking skills or doubtful parenting abilities, it does share with us that he viewed himself as the runt. And it wasn’t that he was only in the runt clan, but that he was the runt of the runts. When the angel of the LORD greeted him with words spoken according to God’s eyesight and God’s planning, Gideon questioned how it could be true. “My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (Jud 6:15). Gideon was pretty sure of where he stood, and it wasn’t in the same place as where God saw him standing.
But how did God really see him? He saw him as a mighty warrior. Gideon was hearing through the angel a prophecy about who he was in the Spirit. God was calling him a mighty warrior. The word mighty is the Hebrew word GIBBOWR, meaning the obvious strong or mighty, but also brave or valiant. The word warrior is the Hebrew word CHAYIL, meaning force or army. In God’s view, He saw no little wimp. Instead He saw a man who was brave and forceful, destined for just such a task as defeating the Midianites. In God's ability, Gideon was a force to be reckoned with.
In time, Gideon began to accept the words the angel had spoken from God. When the time came, God used this brave force, this mighty warrior, to lead an army of three hundred men against the Midianites, giving them into Israel’s hand. God gave them the victory. In fact, all the victories in Gideon’s life came from God. It started with the welcome, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” Until Gideon grabbed a hold of God’s perception of him, he was doomed to be a runt. But as he let that sink in and began to believe it, God’s spirit in Gideon rose up. And the same is true for us. Until we stop listening to the words and lies of our enemy, telling us of our low worth and tearing down our esteem, we too will only see ourselves as the runt. You are more. You are a mighty warrior. You are no longer the runt, for the Lord is with you.