My studies this week have been on the Israelite judges. The focus has been mostly on Samson, Deborah and Gideon. As I was studying the story of Gideon and his leadership of the Israelites against the Mideanites, I noticed an interesting part of the passage, that I guess I never really paid attention to before. I knew from having read the passage several times in the past that Gideon was from the weakest family in Israel. And he was the least of all his family. And yet God still used him. And that's a nice concept...God being able to use a weak, humble person to accomplish something great. Isn't that nice of God? But I had missed a crucial part of the story. When Gideon was working (while hiding from the Mideanites in a winepress...brave huh?) and the angel of the Lord appeared to him, the angel referred to him as "a mighty man of valor". huh? So here's this guy hiding in a winepress from Israel's enemies, he's never done anything wonderful, he's from the weakest family in all of Israel and the angel calls him a "mighty man of valor"? Why? What could he have possibly done to deserve that title. Then it hit me...nothing. He did nothing. But he was absolutely a mighty man of valor. And not because of anything he'd done...he didn't earn that title by what he did, but by who he was. God didn't care that he hadn't done anything spectacular yet in his life. He didn't care that he was considered weak by those around him. He saw Gideon for who he has and not what he'd done and he saw a mighty man whom He would use to save Israel. The comforting thing about this passage?? God does not base his view of us upon what things we've accomplished in life. He sees deep within us to who we really are and who we really can be. Developer is my top strength according to StrengthsQuest...those with the strength of developer see people almost never for what they are...but always for what they can be. They see the deep potential in people and only gain satisfaction when they see that person become all they knew they could be. After reading this passage I realized, God has amazing "developer strengths". haha. He sees us for who we are...our assets...what we can be, never for our failures or accomplishments. Personally, my developer strength is also my greatest weakness. I tend to see good in people and because that's all I see, I end up subjecting myself to a lot of unnecessary hurt, because although those people do have good within them...I can see it....they don't realize their own abilities to be all they can be...they aren't willing to change...to become the people that they can be...and so they stay in the same miserable position and in turn make those around them miserable. I'm sure God must feel the same way sometimes. He sees us all as the amazing people He created us to be, then watches us blow it on our own selfishness and inability to turn from sin and live the life He wants for us. For me, this passage of Scripture was so comforting because it doesn't matter if there are days I can't get everything done. It doesn't matter if I can't finish laundry because Kai is in the basket. ;) Or if I fail to squeeze enough accomplishments into my day to satisfy my perfectionist side. God doesn't see me for what I've accomplished anyway. He sees me for who I truely am. He sees the real me, who's just doing the best I can and seeking Him with all that is in me. What an amazing God...and what an inspiration to continue to cherish my developer strength for all the good it has done, rather than resent it for all the hurt it's caused...because in the end, the good FAR outweighs the bad. A wonderful lesson I've been blessed to learn.
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