6:14
The Lord tells Gideon to “go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”. How can Gideon going in his own strength do any good? But that is the point. He did not need to increase his own strength, rather he needed to trust in the Lord, to go in his own strength and the Lord’s strength. The focus needed to be on what God was doing. Note also that there is an almost equivalence between the “angel of the Lord” and the Lord. The angel was representing the Lord Himself.
6:15
Gideon does not understand what is truly being asked of him, the subtle but profound change that occurs when we start living out of the Lord’s strength and not just our own. He is still focused on himself, and so cannot see how he could possibly save Israel. Looking to his family is no help either, for his clan is the weakest, and he is the least in his family. It is not that our own strength and abilities do not matter. They do matter, for they are given to us by God, but we are meant to use them in fellowship with the Lord, following His lead. God involves us in what He is doing. It is more a matter of us getting involved in what God is doing, than God getting involved in what we are doing.
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