December 15, 2016

MIGHTY ONE OF THE ARMIES

Judges 6:12

And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, mighty one of the armies!”

Encouraging Words

In the story leading up to this proclamation by the Angel of the Lord, we find Gideon threshing wheat in a winepress. This doesn't make any sense until you read the rest of the story. Gideon is an Israelite and his people have been under the oppression of the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites have been destroying their crops and decimating their livestock in order to break them down. Gideon had found some stalks of wheat and had found a place where he could hide from the Midianites and thresh the wheat for some food. He was actually being kind of cowardly in what he was doing. I can just imagine what he thought when he was told that he was a mighty one of the armies. What armies? Who, me? Why do you think that I am hiding out here? I am sure it was quite amusing. As the story continues we see that the Lord is indeed with Gideon and that he does indeed become a mighty warrior for his people, We too have our Lord with us. He has promised to never leave us or forsake us, even if we are hiding out someplace from the challenges in our lives that are closing in on us. He will lead us into the battles of this world as mighty ones of His army if we will just let Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!