April 22: Faith That Shows Up Trembling

The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valour.” — Judges 6:12 (NKJV)

When God called Gideon a mighty man of valour, Gideon was hiding in a winepress.

That is not a minor detail. A winepress was a sunken pit used to crush grapes, not a military staging ground, not a watchtower, not a place anyone of valour would normally be found. Gideon was there because he was afraid of the Midianites, threshing wheat in secret so they would not see it and take it. And into that pit, into that fear, into that hiding place, the angel of the Lord appeared and said: the Lord is with you, you mighty man of valour.

God did not see what Gideon saw when Gideon looked at himself. God saw the finished product, the judge and deliverer, the man who would scatter an army with three hundred torches and clay pots. Gideon saw a man from the weakest clan, the least son of his father’s house. The gap between those two visions is where faith is born.

Gideon did not spring up instantly convinced. He asked for confirmation, twice. He put out the fleece, not once but twice, asking God to be patient with his doubt. And God was. God met Gideon in his hesitation, not with impatience, but with evidence, working with the faith Gideon had rather than waiting for the faith Gideon did not yet possess.

Barak, who appears alongside Gideon in Hebrews 11, asked Deborah to come with him to the battle because he was not confident enough to go alone. God used him anyway.

These stories together say something tender and important: God is not waiting for you to become fearless before He sends you. He sends you in your trembling, and the trembling does not disqualify the calling. The only question is whether you will take the step, however unsteadily, in the direction He is pointing. Today, take the step you have been too afraid to take. Not because the fear is gone, but because the calling is real.

Prayer

Father, you see a mighty person of valour in me even when I am hiding in a winepress. I do not fully understand that, but I choose to believe it today. I am taking the step you have been calling me to take, not because I feel ready, but because you said go. Meet me in my trembling. Work with the faith I have. I trust that you who called me will also equip me. In Jesus’ name, amen.