VALIANT ONE?

D.L. Moody once said, "If this world is going to be reached, I am convinced that it must be done by men and women of average talent." Here I think Moody was on page with God.

For far too long we have had a "celebrity" mentality in the American Christian culture. We think that in order to really be "effective" people have to be sophisticated, smart, sharp, and the head of the class. We are impressed with eloquence and impressive status. We think through a worldly lens in terms of leadership qualifications instead of looking at the CHARACTER qualifications required in the Bible. A famous person makes a profession of faith and we push them to the front as a "Christian representative" and consistently they fall flat on their face. A person of standing and prestige in the community is often given the honored position simply because of their successful status in the world. But God's ways are NOT our ways. This profile is not the one that God normally uses.

Gideon would be voted "least likely to succeed". We find him in Judges 6 HIDING from the Midianites while threshing wheat. Suddenly the Angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, "The LORD is with you mighty man of valor!" (Jud. 6:12). Can't you almost see Gideon looking around and saying, "Are you talking to me?" He looked like anything but a "valiant warrior"! In fact, Gideon went on to say, "my clan is weakest...I am the least in my father's house" (Jud. 6:15). In effect he was saying "You got the wrong guy!"

But in fact, God had the right person! God uses the WEAK so that He might get the glory. He MOSTLY uses AVERAGE people! Forget the celebs - they largely don't matter. Oh, they too have value as souls, but in terms of vessels that God uses they are in the category of "not many" (cf. 1 Cor. 1:26-29). Gideon needed to learn that it's not about the person, it's all about the GOD behind the person! The Angel of the LORD addressed Gideon as a "mighty man of valor" but note the FIRST part of the sentence: "The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!" (Jud. 6:12). "The LORD is with you" is the point of emphasis. The LORD went on to say, "Have I not sent you?" and "Surely I will be with you" (Jud. 6:14, 16). This reality of God being WITH Him was what made him a mighty man of valor! It was really all about God!

God really drove this point home in Judges 7. As the Israelites were getting ready to battle the Midianites Gideon had 32 thousand warriors to help him. But then God said this:

Judges 7:2 (NKJV)
And the LORD said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’

God's ways are not our ways! In order to get the GLORY God would have to put in place a "warrior reduction program". By the time He was done Gideon was left with only 300 men armed with merely trumpets, torches, and pitchers. God will go to great lengths in making us weak to the end that He alone gets the glory! People can be too "strong" to be usable. God uses the weak, humble, and average!

In 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 Paul told the Corinthians that God has chosen foolish, weak, base, despised, nothings so "that no flesh should glory in His presence." It is true that 1 Cor. 1:26 says, "not MANY wise... not MANY mighty, not MANY noble, are called." (emphasis mine). It doesn't say "not any", but rather "not many". Praise God for ALL the called, but MOSTLY God calls the foolish, weak, base, despised, nothings (in terms of the world's evaluation).

Dear "AVERAGE" believer the LORD is with you and because of it you are a "mighty person of valor!" God wants to use you in ways that you can't even imagine. Hudson Taylor, founder of the "China Inland Mission" rightly said: "God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him." God LARGELY uses regular/average people to do amazing things for His glory! It's all about Him!

1 Corinthians 1:26–29 (NKJV)
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

Ephesians 3:20–21 (NKJV)
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.