Life is not going your way, you are living in danger, afraid, hiding in the dark to complete the harvest so you have food to live. You are afraid to be discovered by the enemies who would steal your grain and leave you destitute.
In the dark, struggling to thresh the harvest, suddenly you are discovered! By God!
You, down in a winepress trying to go unnoticed when God shows up1 and says,
This is laughable except you are so startled! Who? me? Mighty man of valor? I’m hiding from enemies, afraid they will steal my crop! I am anything but mighty or valorous.
How can God who speaks only Truth address me this way? How is it that God sees me so differently than I see myself?
Gideon has a perception problem that he only sees the problem and responds in his own abilities. His perception is that God can’t be involved because he measures by his own expectations and understanding of what is real. What God has done in the past is limited by his belief God has forsaken them and given them over to the enemy.
After being honest with the Lᴏʀᴅ about his vision of himself without God’s involvement, God turns the circumstances and speaks into Gideon:
God does not discuss with Gideon whether Gideon has enough might or valor but simply calls Gideon to use what he has because that is what God is sending him to use. Yes, Gideon is tied up with his own limitations and God deals with more issues but ultimately God uses what is available to Him and that He, God, is the One sending.
How will we respond when God enters our situation, desires us to move forward, desires us to live out what He sees to fulfill His desires for us? Maybe even today.