Weakness

During my morning Bible time I read the story of Gideon. Gideon was a man who was from a weak family and was a serious wimp! God came to him, personally, and told Gideon to tear down the false idols and pagan altars in his town and make an altar to the Lord. Gideon needed a sign that it was really God speaking to him. After Gideon believed, he still did it at night. The Bible says that he did this because he was afraid. Gideon was also afraid to raise up an army as God requested and asked for two more signs from God (see Judges 6).

What really stood out to me was that God allowed Gideon to be himself. What was asked of Gideon were some pretty major things, but God was patient and gave allowance for weakness. The old saying should not be, "She has the patience of Job," rather "the patience of God."

God is patient with us. He allows us to be weak and still uses us. He doesn't mind if we can do what is asked of us in a superior way, as long as we do our best. When we are knee-knocking afraid of our given task, God will either let us do it under the cover of dark or He'll give us an "Aaron" to be our help (Aaron was brought to speak for Moses when Moses was to fearful of public speaking).

This was going to be a post about having patience, as I learn every day to breathe deep and count to ten with my boys, but it seems that God wants me to hear that I need to be obedient in the tough things He's called me to do. How about you? What can you learn from Gideon's story? I encourage you to read past Judges 6 and hear how else God stretched faith and did miracles in Gideon's life.