“Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor’” (Judges 6:11-12, ESV).

So here was Gideon, threshing out his livelihood in a winepress to avoid being noticed by the Midianites. Which is all fine and good, and I suppose we can’t really blame Gideon for being prudent. After all, if Gideon had threshed his wheat on the threshing floor, the Midianite oppressors were sure to confiscate much of it.

But as Gideon goes about his business, the angel of the Lord pays him an unexpected visit. But what is even more unexpected is the way in which the angel addresses Gideon: “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

Huh?

If I were Gideon, I would be looking around, trying to figure out who this angel was talking to. Surely there must be someone else in the winepress that could rightfully be called “mighty man of valor,” because it couldn’t be Gideon! Can you blame Gideon for later trying to test God to see if all this could be for real? There must be some mistake!

In any case, that’s what is so intriguing about this encounter. There was nothing in Gideon’s actions that showed courage. Yet, God saw differently. When God looked at Gideon, he didn’t just see a person hiding out. No, when God saw Gideon, he saw Gideon as he would ultimately become. Or, to put it another way, God saw Gideon with eyes of faith.

This is a great reminder of who we are in God’s eyes. When we see ourselves in the mirror, we probably are less than impressed with the person peering back at us, less underwhelmed than the image we so desperately try to project. And honestly, others around us probably don’t see much in us either.

But just as God saw in Gideon a mighty man of great valor, when He looks upon us, He doesn’t see us as we see ourselves. He sees us through eyes of faith.

That’s why Paul isn’t exaggerating when he declares, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

When God looks at us, He sees in us a reflection of His son, the very righteousness of God.

You may be going through a difficult time, or maybe you’ve been going through the dark valley for much longer than you can admit to anyone else. But even when you can’t see yourself as amounting to much, God sees much more in you. Even when no one else believes in you, even when you can’t believe in yourself, God believes in you.

Thank You Lord, that You see us with eyes of faith, even when we can’t.

—submittted by David Choi, US