A Closer Walk
At various times in our lives it may appear as though our Lord has abandoned us. We might feel like we are one of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness; except that we may seem to be alone in our distress. The Old Testament character Gideon felt that both he and his people had been abandoned by God.
"And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, 'The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior'. 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 6:12-13 NASB. Gideon seemed to be convinced that God had abandoned the entire nation of Israel, along with him as well.
Following this exchange, and without expressly answering his question, the Lord called Gideon to deliver his people from the Midianites. "And the Lord looked at him and said, 'Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?'," Judges 6:14 NASB. So Gideon was questioning why all these things had happened to his people; possibly to gain insight into their current circumstance. Figuring out how we got into a situation can be helpful in avoiding the same or a similar situation in the future. But, instead of providing the answers Gideon was seeking, God directed him to do something. Don't you dislike it when that happens?
Our Lord is not required to explain Himself, or His actions, to us. Agreed? But, by giving Gideon this instruction, God was in fact telling him that now was the time to throw off the yoke of the Midianites, and today was the day to start. And guess who was elected to lead this endeavor? Again, don't you dislike it when that happens?
Gideon then undertakes to explain to God why he is not qualified to be the leader that God needs to carry out this task. "And he said to Him, 'O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house'," Judges 6:15 NASB. "God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called," (Ken Owen, when he was President of Racers for Christ).
No matter what our Heavenly Father calls us to, or instructs us to do, He will provide, or has already provided, the equipping and the preparation we will need to be obedient to Him and to carry out His instructions, no matter how inadequate or unqualified we may feel. Look at Moses. He spent forty years in the wilderness tending sheep and ensuring they had water and food. That experience was, without doubt, extremely helpful as he was leading the Israelites while they wandered in the wilderness for forty years.
When Moses was called by God at the burning bush to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, this was part of his response. "Then Moses said to the Lord, 'Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent...for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.' And the Lord said to him...'Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say'," Exodus 3:10-12 NASB.
Do we respond like Moses and Gideon? Whatever equipping we have right now at this time will be enough to obey and carry out our Lord's instructions.