When the Angel of the LORD found Gideon, Israel was having a rough time. The Midianites had been raiding the land for years, destroying crops and leaving the Israelites with very little to live on. Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press, trying to hide what little food he had left from the Midianites, when the Angel appeared and called him a “valiant warrior.”
Gideon did not exactly respond like a valiant warrior. He wanted to know why all of this had happened if the LORD was really with Israel. He had heard the stories about God bringing their ancestors out of Egypt, but from where Gideon was standing, it looked as though God had abandoned them to Midian.
The LORD told Gideon to go and save Israel from the Midianites, and Gideon immediately pointed out the problems with that plan. His family was the least important in the tribe of Manasseh (Judges 6:15), and Gideon considered himself the youngest or least important person in his father’s house. In other words, You have got the wrong guy. Have you looked at my résumé?
God answered with a question.
“Have I not sent you?”
Gideon was looking at what he brought to the assignment. God was pointing to who had given him the assignment.
That did not instantly turn Gideon into a fearless warrior. He asked for a sign that the LORD was really speaking to him. Later he asked for signs involving fleece, first asking for dew on the fleece while the ground remained dry and then asking for the opposite. Even after that, God knew Gideon was still afraid and gave him another reassurance before the battle.
That makes “Have I not sent you?” even more interesting. God did not ask the question because Gideon had suddenly become brave, powerful, or completely confident. Gideon would continue needing reassurance. His qualifications were never really the point.
The man hiding his wheat from the Midianites was eventually going to lead Israel against them.
Gideon thought the problem was that he wasn’t enough.
God’s question pointed to the reason he didn’t have to be.
God has more questions. See Let Me Ask You Something: When God Asks a Direct Question.