Go in the Strength You Have
“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?'”
— Judges 6:14 (NIV)
Threshing normally happened on an open hilltop, where wind carried the chaff away. Gideon was doing it in a sunken winepress so raiders would not spot the grain. Wrong tool, wrong place, all of it out of fear. An angel greeted him as a mighty warrior, which must have sounded like mockery. God offered no extra strength first. He said go with what you have, and added the part that mattered: I am sending you.
Gideon was hiding when he got the job, and he argued about it afterwards. Readiness was never the requirement, and it is not the requirement now. Fifteen minutes of the thing you keep postponing counts as going. Start there today.
Go With What You Have
- 1Name the task you keep moving down the list. Give it fifteen minutes, not the whole thing.
- 2Tell one person: 'I am starting the thing I have been avoiding. Ask me tomorrow.'
Lord, send me into fifteen minutes of the thing I keep avoiding.
I do not have to feel ready to start.
Why was Gideon threshing in a winepress?
Threshing needed open ground and wind. He hid in a sunken winepress so Midianite raiders would not see the grain.
Was Gideon actually a mighty warrior?
Not yet. The greeting described what God intended to make of him, not what he was that morning.
Does this mean ignoring real limits?
No. It means the strength you already have is the starting point, rather than a strength you are waiting to acquire.