Go In This Thy Might
“And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?” Judges 6:14
Doubt is a powerful force. It can virtually paralyze a person. It can prevent us from performing our best. It can stop us from performing at all. Some people refer to it as low self esteem. What it really is, in a spiritual sense, is a distorted perception.
Judges chapter 6 introduces us to a man by the name of Gideon. When we first meet Gideon, he is threshing wheat for his family. Nothing wrong with that but for the fact that he is doing it in a winepress facility, in order to hide from the enemy of the Jews known as the Midianites. He is scared. He is sneaking around. I am not sure about the social climate during this time, but it is clear that Gideon is shaken. He is not bold. He fears for his life.
God sends His angel to Gideon in verse 12 saying, “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour”. I don’t know about you but it seems kind of odd to refer to a man that is sneaking around to thresh wheat as a mighty man of valour. We often look on people and make snap judgements based off their outward appearance. Or, we will decide someone’s worth based off their socio-economic status. God looks on the inside. God looks at the heart. God sees what is possible with His help. In God’s eyes, Gideon was a “mighty man of valour”. Webster’s dictionary defines valour as “strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness”. God knew what Gideon was capable of in spite of how he appeared.
God goes on to tell Gideon in verse 14, “Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?”. God tells Gideon to save Israel from their enemy. And He tells him to do this through the strength of knowing that God sent him. I have always found it easier for me to perform a difficult task if I knew that there were others who believed in me and my ability to complete the task. I’ll admit there have been many times that I have said that I couldn’t do something only to have someone step up and show me that they believed in me. It can be a spouse, mother, father, friend, or God. Confidence from others is very helpful when we doubt ourselves. God was trying to motivate Gideon. He knew the internal battles that Gideon faced each and every day.
Gideon continued to doubt. In verse 15 he says, ” Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house”. Gideon basically says,” How in the world am I going to make this happen. I am the bottom of the barrel of a lowly pitiful family. You can’t mean me.” How many times have we ever said, “There is no way I could ever do that”? Self doubt. It is powerful. It is paralyzing. It is debilitating. It is a self-defeatist attitude. As I mentioned before it is a distorted perception. What do I mean by this?
Gideon was looking at this all wrong. He was looking at this as if he were going to do this alone. He ignored a major portion of what God had said. God told him that He had sent him. That should be enough. Gideon should know that if God sent him then God would help him. Alone, Gideon would certainly fail. Gideon knew this. God knew this. Gideon allowed himself to get held up in this thought. God then provides a little nudge. In verse 16 God tells Gideon, “Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man”. God reminds Gideon that he is not alone.
We often need to be reminded that we are not alone. As a child of God we have the power of the Creator of the universe within us to accomplish everything that He calls us to do. It is ok to be afraid. It is ok to be nervous. Those are God created emotions. Jesus was afraid in the Garden of Gethsemane. He begged God for another way. But, Jesus overcome His fear and so can we through the help and strength of God. Just know that when God calls on you to do something, He will equip you to be successful.