There's no such thing as someday.

The story of Gideon is one of my favorite sections of the Bible. There are just so many lessons woven into what is ultimately a short section of verses. The thing I dig most is how ill equipped Gideon was for the whole adventure of battling the Midianites.

When God first comes to recruit him, Gideon was hiding in a winepress threshing wheat because he was afraid of being attacked. If Braveheart started that way you would have thought Mel Gibson was a wuss.

The opening statement is great too. This is the first thing the angel says to the cowering Gideon in Judges 6, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."

Are you kidding me? If an angel found me writing my blog in a closet because I was afraid of all the people that hated the one I recently wrote for a magazine, would it feel right to call me a “mighty warrior?” If an angel found you hiding under your desk from your boss at work, would you deserve the title “mighty warrior?”

No, but the first lesson in this section is that God sees things we don’t. God names our core, not our circumstances. He speaks to who we can become, not who we are in the moment.

Gideon complains a little, “If the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us?” If God is so big, how come my marriage ended? Why didn’t I get that promotion? Why can’t I find a husband? Why don’t people like me at work?

And then my favorite sentence in the story is unraveled in verse 14:

The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?”

I heart that. I love that God says “Go in the strength you have.” Do you ever feel like there’s some strength you’re waiting on? Some bit of wisdom or power or prayer that’s in the mail and as soon as you get it you’ll go out and do that thing God has been quietly whispering to you? It’s not coming. I promise. It’s not coming because you already have it.

And you have to like the subtle sarcasm in the end of the statement. “Am I not sending you?” You get the sense that God is saying, “What are you kidding me? I’m God. I mean seriously, this is me sending you. God. Alpha, Omega, creator of the universe. Come on already. This is me we’re talking about and I said go.”

This might not be everyone, but some of you have more strength than you know. Some of you are already might warriors and today God is simply saying, “Go.”