When Jehovah appeared to Gideon to call him to fight the Midianites. He said, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” (Judg. 6:12). An interesting salutation to a man hiding in a winepress! The first question that Gideon asked God—and it probably had been on his mind for a while—was, “If the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?” (v. 13). Where were all the miracles like in the olden times?

God’s answer was, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel … Have I not sent you?” This raised even more questions for Gideon than it answered: “Why is Jehovah calling me a ‘mighty man of valor’ while I’m hiding from the Midianites? How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest one in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” Like Moses in Exodus 3, these were not only questions but also excuses.

What Gideon did not yet realize, but would learn, is that the weaker and smaller God’s servants were, the better. In fact God would later whittle Gideon’s army down to three hundred men (7:2–7). Gideon needed to learn that God can save “by many or by few” and that “God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty” (1 Sam. 14:6; 1 Cor. 1:27).

Most of all, Gideon would learn a principle which all of God’s servants must learn sooner or later. When there is a divine commission to “Go,” then there will be the divine presence to accompany it: “Surely I will be with you.” Do you feel weak and of no importance? That’s good! You are just the person God is looking for to serve Him in the battle.