Gideon's call

“‘But Lord,’ Gideon asked, ‘how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.’” Judges 6:15
Like many people in the Bible, when Gideon was called by God he was very surprised and expressed his own low view of himself. Gideon knew he was a nobody. But even so, God chose him. He called him a ‘mighty warrior’ (Judg. 6:12), even as he was threshing wheat in a winepress (Judg. 6:11) – an act of cowardice and fear, since threshing wheat in the open would bring the Midianite raiders coming to attack you and take your food. Gideon was as far from a ‘mighty warrior’ as one could get. Yet he was exactly the sort of person God chooses to use in such a situation – one who knows he can’t do what God is calling him to do, in his own strength.
It would seem that Gideon did not have much faith, and God showed grace to him by giving him signs through the two fleeces, and the dream of the Midianite soldier, that God would be with him to lead Israel to fight her enemies. He was a transparent vessel who was used by God in mighty ways.
It’s the same for us. The bigger our ego, the less God can use us for. The more self-confident we are, the less of God’s power we will see working in our lives. But when we have a humble view of ourselves, that’s when God can use us most effectively.