Gideon...mighty warrior?

When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." Judges 6:12. Now, for those of us who are familiar with Gideon's later conquests, that passage makes sense. But only if you ignore what the Israelites and Gideon were doing when the angel of the Lord appeared to him. The Israelites were hiding from the Midianites in caves and in the mountains. Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress so the Midianites wouldn't get the wheat. Hardly the model of a mighty warrior. Further, once God encountered Gideon, it took three miraculous events before Gideon got on with the work he had been called to (fire consuming the offering and two dew-fleece events). Eventually, Gideon fulfilled God's calling - to be a mighty warrior. God often gives us our name and purpose, in this case "mighty warrior," long before it fits or makes sense to us. Ours is to take it on faith, grow into it through obedience, and live it out by God's power.