He seemed tentative at first. His big, amber eyes glanced from me to the ground and back again. This wasn’t our usual routine. Our Chesapeake Bay retriever, Joe, was used to exiting his area from one location – and this wasn’t the right place. Could he trust me? Would everything be okay if he came out of his territory another way? 

I knew that he could leave his area from any spot as long as his collar wasn’t on. But he didn’t know that.  With a bit of coaxing, he decided he could trust me and flew out of his area with his favorite toy held securely in his mouth. 

I’m a lot like our dog, Joe. I like routine. Routine is comfortable. But ‘comfortable’ isn’t where my Heavenly Father wants me to stay.

He’s interested in taking me out of my comfort zone where I’ll have to rely solely on Him. Where I can learn He is trustworthy. 

Etched on the pages of Scripture, the Lord gives one example after another of His faithfulness. I love the story of Gideon, the fearful young man God used to conquer the army of Midian. We meet Gideon as he’s threshing wheat by his family’s winepress – to hide it from the Midianites, Israel’s enemy. 

We’ve just learned that Gideon is hiding what he’s doing out of fear. Now take a look at how the angel of the Lord addresses him:

How encouraging to know that the Lord could work through Gideon’s weakness and proclaim him a man of valor. Even when Gideon questions God’s statement and claims that the Lord has forsaken the Israelites, God issues a challenge:

Sounds pretty impossible to me. Gideon thought so too, as he offered up one excuse after another:

The Israelites had been oppressed by the Midianites for seven years and God said Gideon would deliver his nation. I can almost hear Gideon’s knees knocking as he considered God’s words. How could he perform such a monumental task?

But delivering the nation of Israel wasn’t about Gideon ; it was about God. The Lord made that clear – when He whittled down Gideon’s army from a massive group of 32,000 men to a mere 300 soldiers.

The Lord wanted Gideon and his men to trust Him and then praise Him for His deliverance.

In Gideon’s day, God was faithful. And in our day, God is faithful. When He invites you out of your comfort zone to join in something bigger than you – trust Him. And then thank and praise Him for all He accomplishes.