Gideon
was basically a nobody. He was self proclaimed least in his tribe,
which was the weakest of all Israel. Yet one day he received a word
from the Lord that he was a mighty warrior and he would be used to bring
down the Midianites that had tormented Israel for years. He didn’t
receive this as a proclamation from a prophet in front of the entire
people if Israel, or even in front of the leaders. Instead he received
this word from an angel sitting under a tree. He was all by himself.
No one was there to encourage or support him. He had to choose to
believe what God was saying for himself. As I’m sure many of us do when
we receive a word from the Lord, he doubted.