Morning Devotional

May 7, 2005
"Warriors" (Part 1)
    by Don Emmitte

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When they cried out to the LORD because of Midian, the LORD sent a prophet to the Israelites. He said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of slavery in Egypt and rescued you from the Egyptians and from all who oppressed you. I drove out your enemies and gave you their land. I told you, `I am the LORD your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now live.' But you have not listened to me." Then the angel of the LORD came and sat beneath the oak tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash had been threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, "Mighty hero, the LORD is with you!" (Judges 6:7-12 NLT).

Wouldn’t it be great to have been present at some of the Biblical stories like the one in our reading this morning to see the reaction on people’s faces as God’s plan unfolded before them? Gideon was threshing wheat one day and an angel of the Lord suddenly appears. I love the humor of the Scripture. The angels must have enjoyed the reaction of Gideon as they appeared to him in this manner.

Think about it for a moment. You are there with Gideon, minding your own business, perhaps wondering why your fellow Israelites were behaving the way they had been, doing “evil in the eyes of the Lord (Judges 6:1); perhaps even talking to God about it. Maybe he is even praying out loud! Sometimes I do that. Don’t you? Suddenly, an angel starts talking: “Hey, mighty warrior!” Gideon surely looked around and thought... “Who me? Is someone else here with me?”

This Scripture always reminds me that God looks ahead to potential far more than He looks at our present situation. To the world, Gideon, the “weakest” in his family (Judges 6:15), surely didn’t appear to be a “mighty warrior” while he was threshing wheat. I wonder if he could even work as fast as some of the other young men. He might have even been made fun of because of his physical weakness. They may have called him scrawny, skinny, or weakling. God didn’t see Gideon like the world saw him. God saw Gideon for what God could do through Gideon.

In God’s eyes he was a mighty warrior! This week we will look more into the life of this mighty judge of Israel. Today you should ask yourself this question: What potential does God see in you? Before you answer that question, remember that God can “do immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). God may just be waiting for you to surrender your will to His will so He can create a masterpiece through your life. Give God your availability today, and like Gideon, you will become a mighty warrior!