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The Least of the Least


            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?”
                “But Lord,’” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” 
                The LORD answered, “I will be with you , and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”  (Judges 6:14-16) 

            The least of the least. God seems to have a habit of choosing the least of the least. The "wrong" son. The "wrong" son again. The "wrong" son a third time. A slave child adopted, who grows up with anger-management issues. A woman to serve as judge and prophet, who'd have thought? Another "wrong" son who started out a shepherd and ended up a king. Much later, a very "wrong" son who saved us from our sin. But today, the least (youngest?) of a family - another wrong son from a clan that was the weakest. 
           Who am I? How can I save America? I can't even save myself from most mundane difficulties. I'm the brainy, spoiled, youngest kid who "got everything" and never did anything with it.  The indulged child who never moved out of her parents' home. A nobody among nobodies...and yet, the least of the least seems to be God's favorite choice to use when He wants to do something spectacular. I'm not making any claims for myself. No doubt in some way, you are also a "least of the least," a nobody. There is so much less for nobodies to let go of when God calls them, though we do seem to hold on to that much less more tightly because it is so little. 
            When Gideon, or we, ask "How can I?" God's answer is to go in the strength we have and do what we're told to do because He is with us. Take our least of the least selves out there - speak up, take action. Gideon freed the Israelites from Midian. David slew Goliath with one stone, 20% of the pitiful stuff he had with him. The disciples complained that all they had was five loaves and a few fish. They fed thousands. Jesus had one life, and look what He did. You might be the least of the least, a loser among losers, a nobody among nobodies, with nothing to offer. That's just the sort of person God seems to pick to do great things.

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