But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “ Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. Isaiah 43: 1, NKJV.
Gracious God, You who keep watch over Your people, we have come to learn of Your will and Your way, that we might receive the blessing that You have in store for us. So please remain with us and teach us. We pray this in the name of our Savior and Friend, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Today we will talk about Gideon. Let us look at a particular incident in His life; we could refer to it as, the moment the Lord found him. It was something like a moment of conversion. It was certainly a turning point in his life, “Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which wasin Ophrah, which belongedto Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide itfrom the Midianites. And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor” Judges 6: 11, 12)!
It is interesting that God should call him, “a mighty man of valor,” under these conditions. He is hiding food from the enemy! I have said this before – I believe it is worth repeating, God does not only see us as we are at the moment, but as the individuals we were created to be. He sees us as the people we can become, by His grace. Therefore, He could call Gideon by his real name.
Gideon seemed to have been of a fearful nature. He feared that he would die, after seeing God (22, 23). He feared to obey God in the light of day, so he obeyed Him, covered by the canopy of the night sky (27). He feared to take God at His word, so he asked for two signs (36-40). But God saw that Gideon, once he was convinced that it was He who was calling him to His service, that He would lead the way, he would indeed become, a “mighty man of valor.”
Gideon went from fearful to fearless. By instruction of God, he and three hundred men, blowing trumpets, and bearing pitchers with torches inside of them, put to flight the same army from which he was hiding his grain, when the Angel of the LORD found him! After that first encounter he was never the same again. The threefold process of restoration had begun.
Dearly beloved, God not only creates us, He also redeems us, and calls us by our names – our real names! If we are willing to listen, He will also tell us of the plans He has for our lives – plans “of good and not of evil” (Jeremiah 29: 11). Let us be listening, He could be calling you by your name right now – your real name!
We will continue.