Coming Out of the Shadows

“So he said to Him, ‘O my Lord, how can I save…?  Indeed…I am the least…’” Judges 6:15

Gideon continued to behave as a cowardly victim when God was trying to show him the potential he possessed in his current set of circumstances.  Gideon had been attacked in the past, so he was living his life in the shadows expecting another attack.  I can only imagine the self-talk in his head as he recounted the last time his enemy pursued him.  He found himself contradicting God in a war of identity.  The Lord reminded Him that he was not alone, but Gideon lived like he was.  The Lord told him how strong he really was, but Gideon believed he was the sum of his behavior.  The Lord called him to more than shadow living while Gideon wanted nothing more but to live in the shadows. 

Sometimes living in the shadows can feel safer than walking in the light.  Living in the shadows is exactly the address the enemy wants us to call home.  But God always penetrates the dark, and lovingly tugs us out of the shadow into His marvelous light.  Just like Gideon, we ask God ‘how can we save…when we are the least?’  How can the woman save the marriage when her mind keeps telling her she is the least of the women out there?  How can the man save his career when he feels that he is the least considered for the job?  How can the young mom save her wayward child when she feels the least equipped among the other mothers?  How can the person sitting in the chemo chair feel saved when his body is the least healthy it’s ever been?

The only way to save is by allowing God to pull us from those deceitful shadows and taking God at His word in each promise.  It is to no one’s benefit for us to fight God on who we think we are.  God determined our spiritual identity with the first breath into our lungs.  God’s power will partner with us and equip us to ‘save’ whatever in our lives is needing rescued.  ‘Gideon was more than the sum of his cowardly parts.  He was more than his circumstances.  He was a valiant warrior touched by an encounter with God Himself.  And you, my friend, are too.  Even if you are hiding in the winepress, running from the enemy and more humiliated than ever before.  Today, you’re getting tugged out of the shadows.  Now lift up your head and act like it.’ Priscilla Shirer, The Faithful, p. 35.