When God has your back …

Rare is the Christian who awakes each day mindful that we live in the midst of spiritual battle that will last our lifetimes.

Instead, from the moment our feet slide out from under the covers and hit the floor, we try to take on the day in our own power, pursuing our own desires.

We don’t get very far before troubles appear!

BUT, when we remember that we were created by Jesus Christ, and exist for Him (Col. 1:16), and make our lives about living for Him, what troubles may come our way become insignificant in the bigger picture of life. When God has your back, what seems difficult becomes only an obstacle the Lord empowers you to overcome.

Take, for example, the experience of Gideon. He was frustrated with the oppression Israel was experiencing from Midian, and yet God saw Gideon as being a mighty warrior!

“Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior,'” Judges 6:11-12 (NASB).

Commenting on Gideon’s plight, Roger Teal notes:

When God came to Gideon, He called him a warrior. Gideon didn’t see himself as a warrior. In fact, he said he was from the weakest clan and he was the least of his clan. Gideon also questioned God’s ability to work in his life. He wanted to know why God had abandoned them. He wanted to know where all the wonders were that his fathers had told him about.

“Then Gideon said to him, ‘O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, “Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian,’” Judges 6:13.

Teal concludes his commentary:

Many people are just like Gideon. They see themselves as weak and of little value. They often ask “Why did this happen to me?” or “Where was God when I needed him?” But God didn’t see him as weak or of little value. God called him a warrior.

Never underestimate something because it seems to be small. David’s brothers underestimated him, but the guy who underestimated him the most was Goliath, and he lost his life.

How can something or someone so small be so powerful?

It’s like the movie Lion King when Simba was a Cub and the hyenas had him cornered. When he roared, they laughed at him. So he roared again, only this time they cower down and whimper. Why? Because Simba had someone backing him up — when he roared, Mufasa roared behind him.

It doesn’t matter how small or weak you are, as long as you have someone big and strong backing you up. Gideon was a warrior because God had his back.

When God has your back, the weak become strong, the little become mighty, and victory is realized!

So, you can live your life trying to talk God into powering your desires, or you can remember you exist for Him, and let His desires become yours, as well as His strength, His might, His victory. How are you living? Who’s got your back?

Scotty