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The Lord continually encourages His people to "be strong!" In His Word we find repeated assurances which have been given in this essential aspect of both living for Him and serving Him.

The key to appropriating this assurance in personal experience is the repeated confirmation: "The Lord is with you!"

The Old Testament contains many illustrations of this spiritual principle. One dynamic example of the Lord's commitment in this area is to be seen in His Word to Joshua.

In the first chapter of the book of Joshua, the Lord says to His servant, "Be strong and of a good courage" (verse 6). "Only be thou strong and very courageous" (verse 7). "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage" (verse 9).

The Lord guarantees, "As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee" (verse 5).

From the News Testament: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might" (Ephesians 6: 10).

Those examples introduce us to this vital theme which constantly recurs throughout the Scriptures. Repeatedly emphasized for our personal benefit in both areas of Christian life and Christian service.

But, are we really strong today? Where is the evidence that most Christians today are genuinely strong in the Lord? What confirming indications can we see that such true spiritual power is in our work for the Lord in these days?

If we are truly honest with ourselves, we will have to admit that such spiritual power is not evident. True effectiveness in service is far too rare. That, in fact, something must be wrong!

There are far too many who are all too quick to explain away that ineffectiveness. Excusing the lack of true spiritual power. Thus, they justify the common occurrence of both failure and defeat.

Can we, as Christians, really be strong today? Is it actually possible that our lives, our service can be marked by such dynamic spiritual power?

God has already given the answers to those questions. As we look at the Lord's dealings with Gideon we begin to discover just how unexpected His answers are. How surprising. How inspiring.

The background of these events reveals a tragic situation that can only be described as:

This disastrous crisis had its beginnings in the inescapable effects of rampant negative responses to the Lord and His will.

The people of Israel had permitted to develop the kind of attitudes to the Word of God that were so completely unacceptable.

They knew from His Word what the Lord required of them. Yet they chose to disregard that responsibility as unimportant and irrelevant to their lives.

This attitude encouraged increasing carelessness and indifference to the will of the Lord. The point came that was inescapable in such circumstances: "Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD!"

It is so very important that we remember that theirs was not a unique experience. There are so many who have become carelessly apathetic and indifferent in their attitude to the Word and the will of the Lord.

There is an inevitable result from such attitudes. It is seen in conduct that the Lord condemns.

In response to their evil lives, the Lord withdrew both His presence and His blessing from Israel. This fact had immediate and devastating consequences.

The nation was subjected to a most humiliating invasion. Their land was occupied by oppressive and brutalizing forces.

All of the people suffered so greatly. They were repeatedly robbed of all of the necessities of life, to find themselves totally impoverished. They reached the point where they were fugitives in their own country.

They "made them the dens which are in the mountains, the caves, and strong holds."

When they had planted their crops, the occupying forces confiscated the harvest. The invaders systematically stripped them and their lands. Leaving them with nothing.

That was the extremely high, and most tragic price which they were forced to pay. The inevitable consequences of their foolish carelessness toward the Word of God. Their disregard of the will of God. It was a self-inflicted tragedy of immense proportions.

There are still so many who choose to live as though God's Word and will are irrelevant. Who see no need to take God seriously. Who reap the most tragic harvest as the direct result of that foolish attitude.

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6: 7).

In their anguished desperation, the people of Israel finally reached the point where they cried out to God for help. Their humiliating defeats and the ever-increasing destitution convinced them that He was their only hope.

He alone could intervene and meet their need. Like so many people, even today, they had to hit the very bottom before they would look up. Before they would acknowledge that they could not help themselves.

came to the people of Israel through the ministry of a prophet of the Lord proclaiming the Word of the Lord.

He reminded the people of all that the Lord had already done for them. He spoke of the Lord's gracious intervention in saving Israel from the earlier bondage in Egypt. Of the many victories which they had been given by Him.

How His constant provision had so faithfully and continually met their every need.

All that should sound so very familiar - to us! He has done all that, and so much more, for us!

The prophet reminded them that the Lord was fully justified in asking them to be faithful to Him. They had every reason to give Him their total loyalty

Was that asking too much of them? Is it asking too much of us today?

How very real His challenge is! He has done so very much for us. He has given His dearest and His best in His Son: The Lord Jesus. In infinite love He gave His Son to die on the cross for us. To bear our sin. To make atonement for us.

Yet still His Word is so carelessly and so callously ignored by so many. People live and act as though God has done nothing that should move them to even thank Him. As though He is not worthy of our loyalty.

Their defeat was so real. So humiliating. So totally tragic. But God was not willing to let them be left to wallow in that stark depravity and futility.

As He moves, in infinite grace, we begin to see the exciting reality of: "God's Answer To Defeat"

as it is so clearly seen in these verses eleven and twelve. The people had sunk to the utmost depths of hopeless despair. They found themselves in that condition as the direct result of their own foolishness. Yet the Lord refused to give up on them!

The Lord is faithful! He is unerringly faithful to His plan and purpose for His people.

Thank the Lord, He is not so easily discouraged or diverted as we are. How we always need to express our thankfulness to Him for that fact

Though everyone else may have given up. We ourselves may feel utterly deserted, especially when it comes to human support and sympathy. Yet - look up!

God still loves! God still cares! He is persistently seeking the opportunity to intervene. Desiring to demonstrate the infinite magnitude of His compassion.

The Lord is on the move! But, did anyone recognize that fact? Would anyone be ready or willing to respond to Him? Where was even one person who was committed to give of themselves and their all to: "Move with God"?

The angel of the Lord came! Who was this person to whom the angel came?

Here we are confronted with a most unexpected and surprising development. The angel came to: Gideon!

Why should this be so unexpected and surprising to us? Because, from our human point of view, Gideon was so obviously the most unlikely candidate. Especially for this responsibility of: Going with God!

Gideon was a young man. He was a very frightened young man. At the actual moment that he was approached by the angel his actions clearly demonstrate just how scared he was.

Gideon was threshing wheat - in a winepress! To effectively thresh wheat he should have been out in the open. On a hill side if possible. Where the wind would assist in separating the grain from the chaff.

But he was down in a winepress. There he could keep himself well hidden. There would be little or no breeze there. But at least he hoped that he would be concealed from the Midianites.

This is a most amazing choice for: a prospective leader! That is how man sees this situation.

It is so very essential that we carefully keep in mind one vital truth. The Lord does not see people as man sees them. How very thankful we should be for that fact!

Man would have been so quick to dismiss Gideon. Seeing him as a totally unsuitable candidate for the task that needed to be accomplished.

But God saw what man could not see. God saw the full reality. He saw the exciting potential that was dormant beneath the surface.

When God looks at each one of us He sees dynamic potential. He is aware of amazing possibilities. He sees these thrilling qualities which no one else can see, least of all the person concerned.

He sees the entire scope of all that which He in grace has put into us. Then He reaches out in wisdom and love, to stir that potential. To awaken it. To continue to encourage its development to its fullest possibilities.

Gideon heard the Word of the Lord. "The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valor!" That word of inspiration and encouragement must have startled Gideon.

The cynical critics would want to interrupt, "Surely you cannot mean that! Not him. He is not the man you want. Look at him. So scared. So insignificant. Such a description is quite inappropriate as far as he is concerned!"

NO! That response is not true to the facts. Not according to the Lord. Remember the Lord never makes a mistake! The Lord never distorts nor exaggerates the truth. The Lord is always completely accurate in what He says about any person!

"The LORD is with you!" The Lord said it! That is the foundation for everything else. It was by the factual reality of that vital and exciting truth that God was going to work. By it He would accomplish exciting reality in and through this young man's life.

That was absolutely true of Gideon. It is equally true of us today. "The LORD is with you!" That truth stands! It stands sure on the eternal and unchanging integrity and holiness of God Himself! God inspires us to fully believe it, and to faithfully live by it.

No one but the Lord would have described Gideon in those terms. But it was the Lord who chose those terms to define the man!

When the Lords applies such a label to a person, He is committed to make that description the actual reality! "With God, all things are possible!"

Are we really listening to the Lord today? Do we actually hear what it is that He is saying to us? What He is saying about us? The incredible potential that is revealed in the terminology He uses to state all that He sees in us?

Think! "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"(Genesis 18: 14) What a challenge this is! What an inspiration! What an exciting difference it must make to the way we think about ourselves. About the potential of our service.

That was: "God's answer to defeat!" He gave His answer in His call to Gideon.

God speaks His answer to the defeat of our day, as He speaks His Word in His call to us!

It is so obvious that Gideon was caught off guard by the Word of the Lord. It all seemed to be so totally unreal.

"IF!" "If the LORD be with us!" The suggestion that the Lord was with him was so utterly alien to Gideon. That was an area of life in which he knew he was totally devoid of knowledge and experience.

Everything was so negative in his life. So oppressively threatening. He knew only fear, darkness, defeat! There was not the slightest glimmer of light anywhere.

There are, or will be, those times when we will be able to identify with Gideon in that feeling. When we are tempted to quit in the face of insurmountable odds. Driven by despair.

The darkness is so oppressively heavy. The situation is so hopeless.

Yet, still the light is seeking to penetrate that darkness. But, can we see it? Will we?

"IF!" "WHERE?" We have been told about all of those great things that the Lord once did. His mighty intervention those long years ago. The great acts of deliverance from the bondage in Egypt. The glorious victories which He gave to His people.

But, that is all way back there. So long ago. It was certainly not in our time.

We no longer see any such mighty acts that reveal God's presence or intervention. There is absolutely not the slightest evidence of any such deliverance today.

We have no tangible proof that God still cares. Or that He is involved with us in any way whatsoever. Not in our day!

How very familiar those negative expressions are. Yes, there may have been a time when God intervened in great revival. But we cannot expect anything like that today.

There were those periods way back there in former days when there were amazing outpourings of the Holy Spirit. But that is not our experience today. Those things do not happen now.

We have heard of those times of great ingatherings of converts. We never see such things in our time, nor will we. It just will not happen.

In this cry of futility and desolation Gideon was expressing exactly how he felt. God knew where he was coming from: that these words were his honest expression of how he actually felt.

"But now the Lord hath forsaken us!" He has left us to our fate. He has deserted us, to leave us to wallow in the hopelessness of our futility and defeat.

The Lord has delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. As the direct result of that, our situation is completely hopeless. We cannot do anything about it. God will not. He is not interested in us any longer.

Gideon believed that he had every reason to feel this way. All of the evidence that he could see fully supported his evaluation.

We are so prone to make the same mistake. We quit in despair because we make our judgment based on what we can see. That is never enough. Never!

All of Gideon's observations and questions were to be answered. All of our questions and observations will also be fully answered. In both cases, answered by one unanswerable reality: The Word and the Will of the Lord.

God had not, has not, changed! Man had, has, lost sight of: God!

God's answer to Gideon's despair: the unmistakable reality of:

"The LORD looked upon him!" Did you notice that very significant fact?

"THE LORD!" That is a most vital change in the emphasis. Previously the Lord had used an angel to speak His Word. Now it is THE LORD who responded to the pathetic cry of desolation that came from Gideon.

The Lord responding! Not to condemn the words of His servant. Not to criticize him for his lack of faith. Not to find fault with his attitude. Not to denounce him or refute his statements. Not at all.

Too often we expect such a response from the Lord. But such expectation reveals how little we understand Him.

We are too quick to make such a foolish mistake. Imagining that if we are completely honest with the Lord in what we may feel at a given moment, He will respond negatively to us.

Thus, too often we play with words. We pretend. We want to appear to be more spiritual. More positive. Such an attitude is an insult to God. God condemns it as the rank hypocrisy it actually is.

The Lord responded so positively to Gideon's complete honesty. His response expressed the commitment of true love. He spoke in gracious encouragement and inspiration.

Gideon's honesty gave the Lord the opportunity He sought. To lead Gideon into a higher, closer walk with Him.

God waits for that opportunity in our day. When we stop playing our religious games to become honest with Him. Then we give Him the opportunity to lead us into a much higher and richer relationship with Him.

The Lord commanded Gideon, "Go in this thy might!" "Go in the real strength which you now have!"

This is such a significant development. The Lord told Gideon that He saw strength. Real strength- where Gideon only saw weakness and futility. The Lord saw extensive resources ready to be released in and through His servant. Resources of which Gideon was completely unaware.

The Lord says to us today, "Go in the strength which you have!" In astonishment we ask, What strength? All we can see is our weakness and futility.

Yet He does assure us that He knows that we do have amazing resources which are ready to be set free in His service.

When He assures us that it is there, it is there! He is never deceived. He seeks to inspire us to believe we do have at our disposal the most vital resources. The most exciting ability. Real potential for great effectiveness. He has already made all this available- to us!

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me!" (Philippians 4: 13).

The Lord proceeded to point Gideon to the task that He expected him to do. "You are to save your people!"

As the result of the invasion of the Midianites, the people were enduring terrible oppression. They desperately needed someone to intervene and save them.

God gave that task to: Gideon! Many may have scoffed at the idea. God knew what He was doing.

We live in a day of the most desperate need. So many are held enslaved in bondage to sin, fear, and death. Vast numbers living, and dying, without any hope.

God is saying to us, if we will listen to Him, "You have the strength, you have the resources. You bring salvation to these people!"

God is serious about this responsibility which He places on us! No matter how totally impossible it appears to us.

Then the Lord added this wonderful assurance, "Have not I sent thee!" When God commands, He clearly emphasizes that it actually is Him who is commanding. Not another man. God Himself!

It is His will! His plan! He is committed to stand by His plan all the way. He does not command His servant, to then leave His servant alone to struggle through as best he can.

The Lord Jesus said, "Go and make disciples!" "Go and preach the Gospel!" "Am I not the One who is sending you!"

Whenever He sends a person, He is committed to stand by that person. We can always count on that.

God has all the answers. He has the answer to defeat. He has the answer to despair. Also:

As Gideon listened to all that the Lord was saying to him, his mind was so confused. Haunted by his awareness of his nothingness. His utter inadequacy.

Gideon was being so genuinely honest about himself. "Who am I?" To him the answer to the question was all too obvious. "I am nothing! Nobody!"

Why would God want to use someone like me? Choosing to send me to do such an incredibly impossible thing? I am nothing!

My family is so insignificant as far as our tribe is concerned. I am the least important person in my entire family. There is nothing that commends me, nothing that suggests that I am the person to do this.

Many today do respond as Gideon did. When confronted by the awesome implications of God's call on one hand, and the desperate need of people on the other. It is so automatic. Lord, you cannot mean me!

Lord, you must have made a mistake! There must be people out there who are much more qualified than I am. Lord, use them! Not me!

God did not make a mistake with Gideon. He does not make a mistake with us.

What Gideon saw as the irrefutable disqualification for this task, God saw as a vital qualification that was so absolutely essential!

God has no problem with those who see themselves as nothing. As disqualified because of their weakness and their many failures.

God has His problem with those people who are convinced that they do have what it takes, those people who are so full of self-confidence and self-sufficiency.

It is not those people who see themselves as "nothing" that God cannot use. It is the people who see themselves as "something" which He must exclude.

"God has chosen the foolish things of the world..., the weak things..., base things..., things that are despised..., yea, and things that are not..., that no flesh (no man) should glory in His presence" (1 Corinthians 1: 27 - 29).

That honest and humble self-depreciation by Gideon brought

Yes, it is true! You are nothing! That fact enables Me to add the glorious ingredient:

That is the absolute affirmation of the Lord. It is the unfailing guarantee of His commitment and intention.

The Lord Jesus issued to us His instruction: "Go and make disciples!" Then He added the same affirmation and guarantee. "I will be with you!" "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28: 20).

Gideon, God has taken your nothing! He has added to it His "Everything"! His infinite and eternal resources added to your utterly inadequate resources!

All that He so freely and so fully provides will always completely answer every deficiency. Leaving no question, no doubt, no uncertainty!

Superficially, Paul's testimony sounds like a contradiction. "When I am weak, then am I strong!" How can he make such a claim and mean it?

He has heard the Word of the Lord. He has claimed that Word in faith. "My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in (your) weakness" (2 Corinthians 12: 9 - 10).

"If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8: 31). It is His personal involvement in His almighty power that makes this exciting difference real for us!

God assured Gideon, "I will be with thee." That fact means, "You will do it!" "Thou shalt save Israel!"

As far as God was concerned, there could be no question about the outcome!

How this truth should continually inspire us. God has drawn us into this exciting alliance with Himself.

In that covenant alliance He unites His resources with our resources making them one. He adds His strength to our weakness, enabling us to be strong in Him.

This fact means that the weakest, most insignificant person can do everything God appoints them to do.

What a thrilling inspiration that assurance should be to every Christian today.

Will we in faith humbly, joyfully accept this reality? Are we convinced that God in His Word means everything He is saying? That it all can be a living personal reality in our daily Christian experience? We can prove the veracity of His promise in all areas of our service for Him?

Nothing is too hard for the Lord. Nothing! Which means: nothing- in us! Nothing - in our lives! Nothing - in our service. Nothing - that He reveals as His will for us. "Nothing is too hard for the Lord!"

This is so gloriously true! It means that every area of our attitude should express the most positive confidence - in Him! It means that every element of our commitment can be marked by the most dynamic enthusiasm, because He is central!

Let Him bring it all together! When we do we will be overwhelmed by the impact He makes in our lives and in our service.