In all seriousness, the Midianites have more in common with the Huns than Gideon does with Mulan. From the very beginning, Mulan is a determined, pro-active go-getter. (Her character arc is more how she starts out fighting for her father, but starts to fight for China as she starts to realize the extent of the Huns' devastation. But that's a whole other topic.) Gideon, on the other hand, proves remarkably timorous for a warrior, waffling about a bit and asking God for numerous tests.
First, he asks God for a sign, and God obliges by discharging a tongue of flame at Gideon's offering (verse 21). I don't know about you, but a seeing a fireball launched out of heaven toward a very specific location would be more than enough of a sign for me. But Gideon doesn't stop there. He asks if God can make a wool fleece wet and the ground dry (verses 37-38), and then asks for Him to make the fleece dry and the ground wet (verses 39-40).
But Gideon also evinces timidity throughout the chapter. He excuses himself a lot (verses 13, 15), threshes wheat in the winepress to conceal it from the Midianites (verse 11), claims that his family has a low status (verse 15) even though he has at least ten servants to do his bidding, and surreptitiously smashes his father's idolatrous altars in the middle of the night (verse 27).
Honestly, as a non-confrontational person myself, I do kind of sympathize with Gideon's attitude. I like to consider all the variables before I make a decision (see yesterday's post), I perhaps apologize too often, downplay my achievements, and, when I have to do something potentially embarrassing, try to make sure that no one else witnesses it. And yet God used this equivocating man to engineer one of the most decisive victories in Israel's post-Joshua pre-kingdom history. Gideon may have been hesitant, but he obeyed God. And obeying God can work wonders in one's life.
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