Mighty Warrior

When God called me to lead our congregation, I was afraid. It is one thing to help the minister and quite another to take on that role myself. When I read the stories of God’s people I want to be like David, walking out against Goliath, but often I behave like Saul when he hid among the baggage (see 1 Samuel 10:22). I would like to leave everything without hesitation and follow Christ as his first disciples did, but instead I make excuses, as Moses did when God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

Not long after I accepted the challenge to become a minister, one brother in Christ advised me to read the story of Gideon, the judge of Israel. The more I read this story, the more I recognised myself in Gideon’s response: fear, doubt, uncertainty, questions and cowardice. Yet God’s messenger addressed Gideon as ‘mighty warrior’ (Judges 6:12). God did not seem to be interested in how strong, clever or experienced Gideon was.

From Gideon’s story, I conclude that God doesn’t require us to be completely equipped to serve from the beginning. Instead he can use weak, insignificant, foolish and cowardly folk like us so that all the power and glory belong only to him.

Prayer: All-powerful God, may your strength be revealed in our weakness, your wisdom in our folly and your boldness in our fear. Amen