Do you know who you are?
Really.
Do you really know who you are?
I was drawn to Gideon last week, in
Judges 6 and 7. Gideon was a man who doubted God's calling, because he doubted
who he was. He doubted that God has the right man, with the right tools, the
right equipping, and the right knowledge to carry out the things that God had
for him.
And the angel
of the Lord appeared to
him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O
mighty man of valor.” And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir,[a] if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where
are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did
not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” And the Lord turned to him and said,
“Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not
I send you?” And he said to him, “Please, Lord,
how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I
am the least in my father's house.” Judges 6:12-15
Gideon filtered the words of the
angel of the Lord through the human circumstances and through His human
perspective. Can you blame him? Perhaps that was all he had known: inferiority,
insecurity, overwhelming circumstances, confusion, passivity, and rejection.
So Gideon asked the Angel of the Lord
and God Himself to respond to his test….
And the Lord said
to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as
one man.”And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes,
then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Please do
not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it
before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
“So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and
unleavened cakes from an ephaph of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the
broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and
presented them. And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the
unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over
them.” And he did so.Then the angel of the Lord reached
out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the
unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and
the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished
from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O
Lord God! For now I have seen
the angel of the Lord face
to face.” But the Lord said
to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” Then
Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and
called it, The Lord Is
Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the
Abiezrites….
“Then
Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have
said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If
there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall
know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” And it was
so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough
dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then
Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just
once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be
dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” And God did so
that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was
dew.” Judges 6:16-24, 36-40
Gideon doubted that He was who God said he was
by His calling out to him…chosen, worthy, acceptable, invited, adored, secure,
and valuable. Gideon, though a man of valor (verse 12), likely didn’t do much
to gain, keep, or invite the Work of God through Him. He was seen and enjoyed
because of who He was. Gideon didn’t trust this or believe this – he doubted
much. This led to him testing God.
Gideon soon discovered who he really was,
because of who God Himself showed faithful to be.
Out of the fullness of true identity did Gideon
go out and serve His God (Judges 7:1-25). Gideon got in right order: to embrace
whom he was, to receive from His Lord his identity. And then he proceeded into
His miraculous service.
God is sovereign, He will absolutely give unto
us marching orders for the days He does so ordain. But like him (which is what identity means: sameness), we
can be boldly ourselves and allow that to overflow into what we do. It’s what
God did first: He is Love (1 John 4:16) and because He loved, He did
give (John 3:16).
I pray not as much that I do: best and big and
bold for God. I pray that I know whom and Whose I am.
I pray that for you – the blessing of Gideon,
that you’d know who you are in likeness to: the Creator, Abba Father, Lord, and
Liberating King.
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