Pardon me, my lord... you must be mistaken.

I think I know how Gideon felt. Well, not completely. I've never been asked to lead an army without ever having used a weapon before, but I know the "You've got to be kidding me. You want me to do what???" feeling. The passage below really makes me laugh. "Pardon me, my lord..." is like Gideon saying, "Ummmmm... I don't want to be disrespectful, but you must be mistaken."  Have a look!

Judges 6:11-18

11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”
And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”

God is well acquainted with people hem-hawing because of their own weaknesses.  Moses made so many excuses that God had to keep giving him new miracles to show Him his power.  Mary says, "How will this be since I am a virgin?"  The disciples say, "but we only have five loaves of bread and two fish."  Here, Gideon first brings up his distrust of God, and then brings up his own inadequacy.  God graciously works with the insecurities but is basically like, "and do it anyway."  He tells Gideon, "Go in the strength you have... am I not sending you?"  Really God doesn't care if we are able to do something in our human ability.  He sends us out before we are ready, because He doesn't need us to be ready.  He is enough for our imperfection and weakness.  He sends us out with the strength that we have, and He makes up the difference.  He does what He wants anyway!  "Am I not sending you?"  If He says go, that's all we need to know.  He will take it from there. He did continue to equip and guide Moses, Gideon, the disciples, Mary and Joseph and countless others, but if they had waited until they were ready, they never would have done what God asked them to do.  HE DOESN'T NEED US TO BE READY.  HE NEEDS US TO BE CLOSE.  HE NEEDS US TO LISTEN.  That is all. 

Where in your life is God taking you beyond the edge of your ability, and as you look off the cliff you are saying, "Pardon me, my lord..."  Take those questions to Him and let Him answer them and give you what you need.  He WANTS to love you and provide for you there.  Just don't look at the cliff and say, "I must have heard Him wrong, because I cannot fly" and walk the other way.  What a tragedy to never see what He would have done if you had just taken the step!  You don't need to fly. You just need to be with Jesus.