Many of our heroes throughout the Bible were “unqualified” for the jobs that God called them to. They felt unqualified for the task that someone had to step up and do. Are the callings of God just about completing impossible tasks? Are they always a series of predestined victories? Does failure mean you weren’t called to it? What does being “called” to something even really mean?
I have a long list of Bible heroes that we could talk about during this series.
People like:
Noah…who trusted God even when literally NO ONE else did, and got to live when literally NO ONE else did.
Abraham…who trusted God with someone absolutely impossible, for an IMPOSSIBLY long time. And got to have a legacy no one else did.
Jacob…who made decisions that no one else would have. And eventually got to make decision that no one else could have.
Moses…who was set up for success by other people, and eventually got to set up an entire people for success, when they hadn’t had any of that in a really long time.
David…who prepared himself unnoticed and unseen, caring only about the opinion of the One who mattered…and got to eventually be the ONLY opinion in the NATION that mattered.
Woman at the well…who got to be the first one to experience the GRACE and undeserved purpose of God, being called into ministry for the purposes of OTHERS, believed in, when no one else believed.
There are SO MANY others we could talk about during this series, because God calls the unqualified. And He can use you too. But what does it mean to be used by God?
The first 3 stories of Israel’s judges..Othniel, Ehud, and Deborah, and pretty good judges. They are loyal to God and bring about victory over the nations around them.
Gideon falls into the “okay” category. First of all, he’s sort of a coward from the beginning, and his story gets good, and then bad, again. We often tend to overlook the bad parts of his story, and just focus on the good ones…but we can learn and UNlearn from all the pieces of the Bible, good and bad.
Judges 6:11-16
Ancient Winepress:
YOU don’t have to have it altogether, because I do. You just have to be willing. Go, with the strength you have.
Sometimes, God just needs someone with the bare minimum amount of faith. The faith of a mustard seed. Just a LITTLE. Just give me what you have…because God is a multiplying God. He doesn’t add, he MULTIPLIES. He takes whatever is in our hand, whatever we’re willing to give, and he multiplies it!
I am sending YOU.
In fact, I think that some of us, don’t get angry enough. We don’t get angry enough to fix anything. To see it as OUR problem. If it’s someone else’s problem, then someone else has to fix it.
But God said I am sending YOU. Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?
How can I rescue anyone? I’m the least talented. I’m the least able. I’m the least qualified.
But maybe I’m just the right amount of qualified for God to use.
The ONLY difference God promises here is perspective.
If HE is with you–who can be against you?
If HE is with you–do you need to be “qualified”?
In my view:
God saw Gideon not as strong, or powerful, or qualified.
God saw Gideon as hard-working, determined, servant-hearted, and just angry enough to fix a problem.
God saw a person He could use. Not a person who had earned a title.
A person he could teach. Not a person who knew it all.
A person who had the right heart position. Not someone angry at all the wrong things.
And He called Him to fix it.
In my view, God calls us to BE someone…way more often than he calls us to DO something.