A Life Without FearSample

Day 2: God Sees Who You Really Are

Today’s reading continues right in the middle of Gideon’s argument with God. Gideon first pushed back on God’s statement, “The Lord is with you.” Gideon didn’t believe this for a moment because, from his point of view, all the evidence pointed at just the opposite.

I love how God completely ignores Gideon’s gripe session and instead expands on His first declaration when He called Gideon a mighty warrior. And again, Gideon pushes back. 

You can see Gideon’s thought process: What in the world is God talking about?! He wants me to save Israel? He’s got the wrong guy!

Gideon’s response shows just how ludicrous he thought this was. He’s a nobody from a nobody family! There is just no way God understands who he is. 

Excuse after excuse after excuse.

But God’s simple and patient reply: I will be with you. I’ve got it all taken care of. 

These are a couple of takeaways for you to consider today. 

First, your success is not dependent on you, but on God’s presence in your life and His work through you. That’s why God’s immediate response to Gideon’s objection is, “I will be with you.” 

Gideon may not feel like a mighty warrior, but with God he truly is. And so are you. 

God knows your inadequacies which so often feed your fears. But that is why He has given you His indwelling Spirit. His constant presence in you makes you that mighty warrior that can vanquish the enemy and achieve far more than you could ever imagine. 

Because it’s dependent on God, not you.

Did you catch that? Your success and your situation depend on God, not you. 

In reality, we too often diminish what God wants to do through us. It’s why I think Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:20, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

Notice how the “immeasurably more” is accomplished. Through “his power that is at work within us.” That’s the power of God’s indwelling Holy Spirit in your life. That’s the power that makes all the difference.

Second – and it’s related to the previous point – God sees who you really are, not the person you’ve made up in your mind. He sees your potential where you don’t. From the world’s point of view, Gideon was a loser. Being the youngest from the weakest clan he had zero social standing. He was a nobody.

And that’s exactly what Gideon thought of himself. He saw himself as a real loser, the least from the weakest family.

Yet God chose him. 

He knew Gideon better than Gideon knew himself, which is always the case with God. Yes, God knows you better than you know yourself. He created you to be who you are and He knows you intimately and the amazing potential you have. 

My bet is that you think less of yourself than God thinks of you. In fact, my bet is you feel inadequate, which makes you feel anxious and fuels your life with fear. And here’s the kicker…

Your view of yourself diminishes what you believe God can do through you. 

Like Gideon, however, our view of life is narrow and shortsighted. We live in a microcosm of life. Yet God is working a plan on a cosmic scale that is far grander than you and I can even begin to imagine. And He has a purpose for you in that plan. Just like He did for Gideon. And I’m confident it is far greater than you think.

So today, take time to let this truth sink in: 

God knows you intimately and He created you with incredible potential – potential He wants to use to fulfill His plan for you. A plan which is far greater than you believe. The key is God’s Spirit that He has placed in you. Because with God in you, nothing is impossible.