Runt of the Litter

 

Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 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, my lord, 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.” And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” (Judges 6:11-16 ESV).

 

I can identify with Gideon sometimes. When the angel came to call him to battle, his answer was one of inadequacy for the task. He felt like he was “the runt of litter.” How could he possibly achieve such a victory for his people? After all, he was the least powerful member of the family of the least powerful clan of all Israel. There are those times when we all feel that kind of inadequacy in the face of a daunting challenge. We feel as if we are not nearly strong enough to take on such a calling.

 

Let’s dig a bit deeper into the story of this great man of God. The people were being threatened by the Midianites, marauders who swooped down out of the hills to ruin crops and villages. God decided to raise up a leader who would defeat them. When the angel called him a “mighty warrior,” Gideon thought the angel was joking. He was the least promising member of his family, which was the weakest clan in his tribe. He was only a farmer and didn’t know anything about battling enemies.

 

Gideon gathered every man he could from the surrounding villages. But by the time God finished training Gideon and his warriors for battle, he was leading three hundred men against 120,000 battle-hardened troops. It was an “impossible” mission, but with Gideon’s small army God sent the Midianites running (cf. Judges 7).

 

Like Gideon, we often resist the challenges God sets in front of us because we don’t think we are good enough or strong enough or skilled enough to meet them. But God doesn’t ask us to do anything we cannot do. The apostle Paul went through many trials in his life. He wrote, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). So can we… go ahead… fix your eyes on Jesus and win your race!