[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":111},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fthe-strength-you-have":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fthe-strength-you-have-surround":100},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":11,"columnName":83,"date":84,"description":17,"extension":85,"image":86,"meta":87,"minRead":88,"navigation":89,"path":90,"postType":91,"publication":92,"publicationUrl":86,"seo":93,"stem":94,"topics":95,"__hash__":99},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fthe-strength-you-have.md","The Strength You Have",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9,10],"Judges","2 Corinthians",{"type":12,"value":13,"toc":79},"minimark",[14,18,21,24,27,30,33,36,39,42,45,48,56,59,70,73,76],[15,16,17],"p",{},"During the rough and tumble era of the Hebrew judges, the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and their conversation went something like this.",[15,19,20],{},"Angel: \"The Lord is with you . . .\"",[15,22,23],{},"Gideon: \"Oh, really? If the Lord is with us, why have our Midianite enemies overtaken our land, ruined our crops, slaughtered our livestock, and swarmed across our land like locusts?\"",[15,25,26],{},"Angel: \"As I was saying, the Lord is with you . . .\"",[15,28,29],{},"Gideon: \"Wait, I'm not finished. The Lord performed miracles in the past, but where are all his wonders now? We feel abandoned and forsaken by the Lord.\"",[15,31,32],{},"Angel: \"Ahem. May I finish bringing you an official greeting from Heaven?\"",[15,34,35],{},"Gideon: \"Yes, but you don't understand how miserable I feel.\"",[15,37,38],{},"Angel: \"I do understand. But still, the Lord is with you, mighty warrior.\"",[15,40,41],{},"Gideon: \"'Mighty warrior'? You've got to be kidding! If there's anything I don't feel like right now, it's a mighty warrior. Haven't you noticed what I'm doing here in this winepress?\"",[15,43,44],{},"Angel: \"Yes, you're threshing wheat.\"",[15,46,47],{},"Gideon: \"And usually I'd be threshing wheat out in the open so the wind can blow away the chaff. But now I'm forced to hide inside a winepress to keep the Midianites from stealing my grain. I'm angry and frustrated, covered with itchy chaff, and you call me a 'mighty warrior'? I don't think so. I'm nothing but a weak link in a weak chain of weak people.\"",[15,49,50,51,55],{},"Angel: \"",[52,53,54],"em",{},"Go in the strength you have"," and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?\" (Judges 6:14, emphasis mine).",[15,57,58],{},"It's not unusual to feel intimidated by the prospect of serving God. Moses, Jeremiah, Mary—many of God's greatest followers expressed some reluctance when they first heard his call. How can ordinary people overcome extraordinary odds? We're so weak and flawed, so small and broken. The apostle Paul spoke for all of us when he reflected on the responsibilities of his ministry and asked, \"Who is equal to such a task?\" (2 Corinthians 2:16).",[15,60,61,62,65,66,69],{},"But look again at the words spoken to Gideon: \"Go in the strength you have.\" In other words, \"Gideon, don't focus on what you can't do. Don't put the spotlight on your weaknesses and limitations. Refuse to worry about the strength you ",[52,63,64],{},"don't"," have. You'll be amazed what you can accomplish with the strength you ",[52,67,68],{},"have",".\"",[15,71,72],{},"Gideon prepared to lead his men into battle, but first the Lord told him, \"You have too many men.\" In a strange reverse draft, the Lord said Gideon's army needed to be whittled down from 32,000 to 300 men \"in order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her\" (Judges 7:2). Those 300 men defeated the Midianites with loud trumpets, crashing jars, blazing torches, and loud shouts—not the usual prescription for military victory—but the strategy worked because Gideon and his tiny army relied on God's power and wisdom instead of their own.",[15,74,75],{},"You and I are simply jars of clay—fragile and unspectacular—but inside these humble vessels, God stores the treasure of his presence. We can barely move molehills, but God has the power to move mountains.",[15,77,78],{},"We have a choice to make. We can whine about our thorns in the flesh, or we can remember God's promise, \"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness\" (2 Corinthians 12:9). We can gripe about our limitations and the things that we lack, or we can \"go in the strength we have.\"",{"title":80,"searchDepth":81,"depth":81,"links":82},"",2,[],"First Look","2008-06-29","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fthe-strength-you-have","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":17},"articles\u002Fthe-strength-you-have",[96,97,98],"Biblical Theology","Church Leadership","Spiritual Formation","CuR96cWDwUyLpS0-xY2KuPudLTBlDkGmZ-FMJEl0QGk",[101,106],{"title":102,"path":103,"stem":104,"description":105,"children":-1},"The Starting Point","\u002Farticles\u002Fthe-starting-point","articles\u002Fthe-starting-point","There's gridlock on the information highway, and it's easy to get stuck in the traffic jam.",{"title":107,"path":108,"stem":109,"description":110,"children":-1},"The Subtle Deception of Universalism","\u002Farticles\u002Fthe-subtle-deception-of-universalism","articles\u002Fthe-subtle-deception-of-universalism","What do you get when you cross a Jehovah’s Witness with a universalist? A knock on the door for no apparent reason.",1790466186619]