📖 From the Bible
Gideon asked, “How can I save Israel? My family is poor, and I’m the smallest in my house.” God answered, “You can do it, because I will be with you.”
15He said to him, “O Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16The LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
This is how we tell this passage to kids. The exact words of the Bible are under “As it is in the Bible”.
Judges 6:15-16 · Scripture: World English Bible Updated (public domain)
Somebody is picking teams. You stand there thinking, “I’ll get picked last. Or not at all.” Do you know that feeling, when everybody else seems better? Gideon knew it really well. And then God said something to him that he never expected.
Gideon lived in hard times. Enemies called the Midianites came every year like a swarm of locusts. They took all the food from the Israelites: grain, sheep, cattle. People hid in caves. Gideon was hiding, too. He was threshing wheat in a wine press, a hole in the ground where grapes were squashed, so nobody would see it.
Suddenly somebody was sitting right there next to him. It was a messenger from God. He said, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!” Gideon probably looked around. A mighty hero? Who, me? He started asking questions: if God was with them, why was everything going so badly? Then he said he wasn’t the right person: “Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” Gideon didn’t know yet that this was only the beginning.
God didn’t argue with his fear. He just said, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” Gideon didn’t suddenly turn strong. He didn’t suddenly turn smart, either. But he started to trust that God knew what He was doing. And he got going. God didn’t choose him because he was the best. God chose him because He wanted to help him and be right beside him. Gideon got a job bigger than he was, but he didn’t have to do it alone.
Did you know?
Later, Gideon gathered an army, but God said there were too many people. Almost everybody had to go home. Only three hundred people were left. With trumpets and torches hidden inside clay jars, they surprised their enemies in the middle of the night. God wanted people to know that their own strength hadn’t won. Later, Gideon was even listed in the Bible among the people who trusted God.
Look at Jesus
Jesus picked His closest friends, too, and they weren’t the famous or the powerful. Some of them were fishermen. He walked up to them and said, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men.” They felt small, but they went. And before He went back to heaven, Jesus promised, “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Jesus sees more in you than you do. And He is with you.
What about you?
Everybody sometimes thinks, “I can’t do it.” Maybe it’s a new game you don’t know how to play. Maybe it’s a talk in front of the class. Gideon learned that you can have doubts and still take the first step. Tell God honestly that you’re scared. Then do one small piece of the thing you’re afraid of. God sees more in you than you think.
Let’s talk about it
- When did you think you couldn’t do something? What happened next?
- What good things do other people see in you that you don’t notice?
- Do you remember how Gideon described himself when the messenger came?
Today’s challenge
Pick something you think won’t work out. Try a small part of it today, and say to God, “Help me.”
Prayer
God, sometimes I think I’m too small and too weak. Thank You for seeing something good in me. Be with me when I’m scared. Amen.
Tap when you have prayed.