Ooo-Rah!

             The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.  When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

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?”

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but 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, leaving none alive.” (Judges 6:11-16)

 

I’m actually writing this on the last day of 2021 but you’ll read it on the first day of 2022. I think we’re supposed to start out the year like motivated marines. “See that hill? Take that HILL!”

“Oo-rah!”

The truth of the matter is that part of me is saying, “I’m supposed to start doing more than I did in 2021? Pardon me, my lord, but…”

“I’m supposed to do better than I did in 2021? Pardon me, my lord, but…”

“I’m supposed to do differently than I did in 2021? Pardon me, my lord, but…”

I’m too weak. My family is too small, too weak, too insignificant. God isn’t doing things my way. The excuses tumble out.

And the angel’s answer to Gideon? Go in the strength you have. Am I not sending you? …I will be with you and will strike down… In fact, later, God tells Gideon to reduce the number of his troops, because so many men would put Gideon’s faith in his men.

So, what strength do I have? For that matter, what are my real weaknesses? What are the opportunities available to me? What external threats do I face? These questions were part of the strategic planning course that was my favorite in my MBA program. It’s a S.W.O.T. analysis, designed to help companies swat their competition.

I need to do one of these for myself. But let’s just start with some universals. We have God. We have His compassion, made new every morning. We have Scripture. We have prayer. We have access to the Fruit of the Spirit and the armor of God. We have His love and attention. We have fellow believers.

We have one thousand four hundred forty minutes every day. We have computers, stoves, refrigerators and other household appliances, equipment, tools, vehicles, bodies, minds, hearts, family, friends, neighbors, professionals and MacGyvers of various sorts, some level of education, some skills, some knowledge, some wisdom, access to libraries, access to stores… At some point in the past thirteen months, I read something about someone recommending that we learn to ask for help at least once per day.

 Do you have any idea what sort of wealth is out there if we would just pay attention? This morning, I heard my neighbor running his saw, so I measured out where I needed a piece of wood cut and 30 seconds later, it was cut.

Equally, do we realize how much of that wealth we waste saying “Pardon me, my lord, but…”? What do you have? What can you do? Who do you know who can…? We wallow in our buts instead of solving our problems. Sometimes, that’s part of the process. We need to figure out what our problems really are. Other times, it’s just an excuse.

If we’re going to do more and better in 2022, we need to stop showing our buts to God. Instead, we need to cast our cares on Him, and go in the strength that we have.