In my previous post, I talked about Joseph and how he was favored by his father, from an early age, there was already this sense of greatness inside of him. The favor he had became the platform for him to dream. However because of jealousy by his brothers, he quickly found himself being dragged down. But he didn’t let his circumstance dictate what he knew about himself. Even though he was brought down, falsely accused and imprisoned, he wasn’t about to let his situation determine who he was going to be and what he stood for. What about if you didn’t have this sense of greatness? What if your circumstances are so great you can’t see the light of day? What if the situation you’re in has stolen your hope?

Dreaming became a dream.

Often times our upbringing blurs our sight to see the greatness that’s inside of us. We see our circumstance or situation and we let it define who we are, what we can do and where we can go. Because this thing happened to me I can’t possibly go anywhere. We use excuses such as, “it’s just the way it is,” or “there’s nothing I can do about,” or “I was born into it.” We start limiting ourselves and we use the cards that has been dealt to us as our box. This kind of language reminds me of a story about a guy named Gideon.

During his time, when wars and violence rampaged, the nation of Israelite found themselves being bullied by their neighboring nations. In worshipping other foreign gods, they have forgotten about the Lord, therefore, His protection and favor has lifted from them. In their desperation, the Israelites turned to the Lord once again and cried out for help. So the Lord sent an angel to Gideon to call him out of hiding. The angel spoke and told Gideon, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” Gideon starts questioning him. But the angel ignores his question and tells him to “go with all of his might and save Israel from the hand of the Midian.”

After hearing the angel, Gideon starts pointing out how he is not qualified for the task. He begins to point out how his clan was the weakest and he is the least in his father’s house. Gideon begins to retrospect his life, looking at his environment ultimately disqualifying himself. A dream to change his circumstance was nowhere be found inside of him. The future of the Israelites was locked up in his mind. But then the angel responds. He saw something completely different. He already called him mighty man of valor. The angel totally believed in Gideon that he could defeat him but he wasn’t seeing it. So the angel speaks out. He encourages him. He lifts up out of his way of thinking. He says to him, “I will be with you.”

To make a long story short, Gideon eventually takes up the responsibility upon himself to save the Israelites. He defeats the Midianites with only 300 men. What was impossible in his eyes the Lord made possible for him. There was greatness hidden inside of Gideon and only took someone to draw it out of him. It took someone believing in him that he could step into his calling and gain victory.

Do you know of anyone that has said something about you that you didn’t believe about yourself? How did that make you feel? How did that change you on the inside? Was it easy to believe their words? For Gideon, someone believed in him before he ever prove himself. This became the catalyst that changed the way he saw himself. I’ve heard it said by someone,

“When someone believes in you before you deserve it, it transforms you.”

So let me tell you: There is greatness inside of you. Your circumstances and situations doesn’t have to define how you are going to live. Your upbringing doesn’t have to define who you are. You can dream again. Hope is here to wrap its arms around you. What you might see as lines and scratches and scribbles in the canvas of your life, the Lord uses as the canvas that displays his creativity, his glory and the beauty He is creating in you. Don’t disqualify yourself just yet. Grace sees something different. Because grace has a different set of lenses, it tells a different story. A story, one that you might have missed. All you have to do is see as Grace sees.

May you begin to see through the lens of Grace and believe that your circumstances and your situations doesn’t have the last word.