Becoming the you, that you were meant to be

Part 1

Judges: 6:1-16

12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."
13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."


Do you ever take a moment out of your day to try and figure out why you are here, or are you just drifting through life? Have you ever sat and thought about the future? If you have where do you fit in to the future? Do you play a leading or a supporting role? How do you see yourself? Do you see yourself as less than God sees you? Do you see yourself as less than you are? Do you see yourself through the eyes of God?

The way we view ourselves is very important. It can make or break our future. You are really only as strong, as smart, as powerful, as beautiful, as handsome as you think you are. People can tell you how smart you are, how beautiful you are… they can compliment you from sunup until sundown however, if you don’t believe it then it’s still of no consequence. Hence you can hinder your own dreams your own future because of your self concept.

When we meet Gideon for the first time he is living a defeated life. He has a low self-concept. He has been beat down by the Midianites, the Amalekites and others. It had gotten so bad that he had to hide to thresh wheat. Here he was one of God’s chosen people and he had come to this. He wondered where was God while he was going through all of his situations. Where was God when they had to hide out in caves because of their oppressors? Where was God when they planted their fields and before they could even reap the harvest the Amalakites and Midianites came and stole it away from them. Where was God as he watched some of his people starve to death because their oppressors didn’t even leave them with enough to feed their families.

Anyone ever been there? Ever been in a situation where you wondered where God was? Is He here? Is he listening? Can he hear you when you cry? As children of God it is difficult to understand why God seem furthest away when we’re going through troubles, why the times we feel the most hurt, the most pain we feel most separated from him.

In response to the angel's greetings in verse 12, Gideon responded like many of us today...

13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."

We have the concept that as Christians we are not supposed to experience hardships everything is supposed to be smooth sailing. It’s in these dark seasons in our lives that we began to doubt God. We begin to doubt his plans for our lives we begin to question our very existence. But if at our moment of hardship, of pain of disappointment we would begin to see ourselves as God sees us then we would know that everything is going to be alright. If at that moment we would see our future selves thorough the eyes of God then we would do whatever it takes to get us to that place.


Youth's Sunday
May 15, 2005