Have you ever felt misplaced?

You feel as though everyone else is in his or her right spot in life and you’re feeling forgotten, left out or even a little dishevelled?

You’re confused to how you ended up in this place and perceive that being misplaced is a bad thing.

But maybe you’re looking at it all wrong. Maybe your misplacement is the exact position God needs you to be in for your purpose?

What if you are meant to be in this wrong place but it’s at the right time?

Before we go any further,

I just want to apologize straight up to the bookstore assistant.

By braking the golden rule of shopping in a bookstore.

I put a book back on the wrong shelf!

Do you need a glass of water? You look as though you’re going to faint after reading that.

In my defence it was my friend’s book, she was with me at the time when I committed this atrocious crime.

I just couldn’t be bothered to wait for her to find the shelf the book came from because it was nearing lunchtime and my stomach was making growling noises.

Don’t worry she has already chastised me.

What made it worse was it was a Christian bookstore and it seems that every time I go there, I feel everyone has this heightened sense of awareness to be on his or her best behaviour.

You know,

That you’re not telling your teenagers to ‘go find their own section and stop bothering you’ in the Christian Living section or having an argument with your husband in the Marriage section on whether you should buy coffee at the bookstore or wait until you come out.

Wait for my Latte?!

Goodness, no.

Are you mad?

Sorry I digress; let’s get back to the misplaced book.

What if someone picked up that discarded book that was sitting on the wrong shelf and thought, “Wow, I can’t believe I found this book. I really needed it, thank you God.”

What then?

Gideon knew what it felt like to be misplaced.

You’ll find his story in the book of Judges Chapter 6.

When the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon he found him threshing wheat in a winepress.

Hold up, don’t you mean he was crushing grapes in the winepress?

Nope.

You see he was hiding from some bad people called the Midianites. They had destroyed everything Israel had planted, leaving nothing for them to live off.

That’s why Gideon was hiding the wheat he had gathered, he didn’t want the Midianites finding it.

I mean, who would be looking for wheat in a winepress?

Up there for thinking Gideon, you smart cookie.

“The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” said the Angel of the Lord to Gideon.

You see how God told Gideon his identity first?

Even though he was hiding in a winepress from the Midianites, God still called him a ‘mighty man of valor’

You may feel as though you’re completely misplaced but God will meet you where you’re at and tell you your identity.

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In the natural Gideon looked nothing like a mighty man, but God’s had been to Gideon’s future and he came back to tell Gideon who he was going to become.

I love the next bit.

‘Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” Judges 6:14

You see Gideon still wasn’t totally convinced that he was the guy for the job.

But God said, ‘Go in this might of yours.’

Equipped

The synonyms for the word ‘might’ are:

Muscle – Adequacy – Capacity – get-up-and-go – Authority

It means God was equipping Gideon for the task.

And when God called Gideon a ‘mighty man of valor’

The synonyms for the word ‘valor’ are:

Determination – Gallantry – Boldness – Fearlessness – Courage

Misplaced

So when you feel misplaced and you’re hiding.

God finds you in exactly the wrong place but at the right time and says to you.

I see your determination and fearlessness and I am giving you the courage to achieve great things.

You are no longer misplaced because I, the Lord your God am equipping you with muscle and authority and the get-up-and-go to fulfil the purpose you were created for.

And God finishes Gideon’s assignment with:

‘HAVE I NOT SENT YOU?”

In other words the creator of the Universe is saying, “I haven’t picked the wrong guy and you are not in the wrong place.

Your misplacement has set you up for your mission.

So the next time you find yourself or something misplaced.

Stop and think that it’s maybe the first ‘bread crumb’ to finding your purpose.

Wendy xo