During the month of April, we will be looking at the life of Gideon, broken into four parts (biblical text can be found in Judges chapters 6-8). I pray that Gideon’s story blesses you!

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Imagine living in an agricultural society, working hard to grow crops to feed your family, only to have those crops stolen again and again, with your family left to go hungry. Understandably, this would wear on a person, and you would likely rise up in anger, seeking to enact justice on those who are stealing from you.

But imagine that those stealing from you are much more powerful, much more forceful, and any time someone tries to speak up or fight for their rights, they get squashed so that the rest of the community will get the message and fall back in line.

This is the environment Gideon grew up in.

His solution? He hid.

He hid wheat in a winepress so that he and his family could eat. But still, he hid. I wonder if he felt a mix of cleverness and cowardice all at the same time as he was beating his wheat. Cleverness, in that he was pulling the deed off, and yet cowardice because he didn’t have the courage to fight for what was rightly his.

One day, while hiding in the winepress, an angel appears to Gideon. The angel addresses him as a “mighty warrior” and a man of valor.

If I were Gideon, these would be the last words I would use to describe myself. And yet, the angel of God seems to see something in Gideon that Gideon himself could not see.

What words would God use to describe you?

Not the words you would use, but what does He see when He looks at you? Have you taken the time to ask Him?

I imagine God’s words might surprise you. I imagine, like Gideon, hearing God’s view of you might be life-changing, even if you struggle to believe in the version of you that He sees.

It changed Gideon’s life, and it can change yours and mine as well.

Like Gideon, may we all come out of hiding, believing in, and becoming the person God sees.

Because more may be at stake than we realize.