Judges 6:11-12

Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

Joshua 6:11-12

We find Gideon here in a time in which Israel was in rebellion against God and, as a result, the Midianites were oppressing them. The people of Israel were terrified of the Midianites who destroyed their crops, so Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress, hiding out of fear. Gideon was afraid of his oppressors and yet when the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, he was addressed as a mighty man of valor.

Verses like these are always comforting knowing that my identity isn’t found in my shortcomings but rather my identity is found in who God says I am. My sins and my failures don’t dictate who I am but rather the Lord does. We often associate who we are with what we do or how “faithful” we are to the Lord. But verses like these remind us that God gives us our identity, we are who He says we are, and we can always trust that He continues to mold us and shape us to be the people He has made us to be.  

For His Kingdom, 

Alex Alfaro