There are a lot of things about the life of Gideon that makes his story fascinating. His humility, his leadership, the great victory. There’s so much to say about this great man of the Old Testament, but what about Gideon the giver?

In Judges 6, we are introduced to our main character, but before we get to his part of the story, we read about his people. The Israelites, as we find them in verse 1, are behaving wickedly. They have neglected their God and He has given them over to the Midianites, who had been prevailing against them for 7 years. During this time, the Midianites have been raiding their supplies, and verse 6 tells us that Israel was “greatly impoverished.” My mind thinks Great Depression. Only, with a foreign enemy coming in and stealing everything.

That is when we meet Gideon. He is hiding out in the winepress, doing his best to keep his family’s food supply a secret from the Midianites. There, he is met by the Angel of the Lord, who comes to him exclaiming that he’s a mighty man of valor. I’m sure in that moment he really didn’t feel like it. He’s poor. His entire country is impoverished. He’s hiding from the bad guys. But, he has a conversation with the Angel and says he wants a sign that he will actually be this mighty man that the Angel claims. Here’s how a portion of the conversation goes:

“Then he said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me. Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You.” And He said, “I will wait until you come back.” So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them” (17-19)

The thing I love about this portion of the story is not that Gideon needs a sign. While it is a cool story that the offering is consumed and then that the fleece is dry then the fleece is damp…those aren’t the portions that really apply to my life, as the time of miracles has ceased. What strikes me is that list of what Gideon brought to the Angel of the Lord.

Remember that Israel is impoverished. And yet Gideon goes and retrieves a young goat and unleavened bread…FOR AN OFFERING. Gideon isn’t going to get this stuff for a feast that the two can share. He isn’t going to get this food because he’s going to get anything out of it. Gideon is using some of the meager supplies his family has to simply give them to God.

In my life, that has and continues to speaks volumes. How often have I felt like someone who didn’t have much to give to God?! As a high school and college student who wasn’t making any money, how could my few dollar bills be helping each week? As a single, fresh out of college woman, how were my untrained talents and still meager dollars doing much for the Creator of the universe? As a young, stay at home wife, what huge contributions am I making to the Kingdom of God?! But then I think of Gideon, and a host of psalms, and remember that with God, it has never been about quantity, but about quality.

I remember the widow who gave her last two mites to God, and Jesus praised her for relying fully on her Maker. Two mites wouldn’t do a whole lot within the earthly realm, but it did a magnitude in her life. By giving little to God, He made her rich in good works and faithfulness.

It is crucial that we, as Christians, give to God even when we feel like it isn’t much.

Even when we feel like we don’t have much to give, we must give it to our Maker. Because really, we are simply giving it back. While Gideon and his family probably didn’t have a lot to spare, offering a young goat and unleavened bread to God was just giving Him a portion of what He had given to them. While the widow’s money wouldn’t do much as far as keeping up the temple, it did much in showing her willing and thankful heart to her God. The same principles are true in all of our lives. When we give – however much or little – we are simply giving back, and we are showing God our thankful, grateful, cheerful hearts in the process.

Or we’re not.

We may be showing God our greedy and stingy hearts. We may show God our complaining hearts. We may show God (and everyone else!) our portion, but out of a wrongly-motivated spirit. You don’t have to have a lot to be greedy and self-consumed. In the same way, you don’t have to have a lot to be generous and known by God as a cheerful giver. We just have to be people who give what’s there. If it’s a little, we still give generously and liberally and without a clinched fist. If it’s a lot, we give generously, liberally, and without pomp and flash. What matters is that we give.

Whether you’re a college student who really only has two mites, or a young mother who’s scraping pennies from the couch cushions and cutting coupons for diapers and milk, you give. You may not feel like it’s a lot or it’s significant, but you give anyway. God sees your heart. God loves your heart. No gesture is too small for our Lord’s eyes to look upon it.