Broken and Mighty

Go in this might of yours and save Israel…do I not send you? Judges 6:14

D.L. MOODY
God knows, and you know, what He has sent you to do. God sent Moses to Egypt to bring bondmen up out of the house of bondage into the Promised Land. Did he fail? It looked, at first, as if he were going to fail. But he fulfilled his calling. God sent Elijah to stand before Ahab, and it was a bold thing for him to say there should be neither dew nor rain: but did God not lock up the heavens for three years and six months?
But did Elijah fail? And you cannot find any place in Scripture where a man was ever sent by God to do a work in which he failed.

ERWIN LUTZER
In our text today, we see God calling Gideon, an ordinary man, to do a great work. Like Moses, Gideon complained to the Lord about his situation, asking questions about why Israel was not delivered. But God saw beyond Gideon’s objections and weakness and called him “A mighty man of valor” long before he became one (Judges 6:12). God humbled him before He used him. Weakness in itself is not a barrier to our usefulness. If our weakness drives us to depend on God, we can say as Paul did, “When I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). If we’ve never been broken, if we’ve never been humbled, if the sense of pride and self-will has never been dealt with, we will not have the strength to fulfill our calling.
Recently, we spent time with a young couple who were blessed with a child with a disability; taking care of him has been a difficult and unexpected challenge. But as time has passed, their initial anger has turned to joy; their many questions have turned to worship.
To what have you been called? “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

PRAYER
Father, here I am, whatever your calling is on my life today, help me to accept it without complaining.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Why do you think God uses broken people?

How should we measure success in work in light of God?