Dealing with our Inner Critic

What does your inner critic sound like? If you could give him or her a tone of voice, what would it be? Would it be accusatory? Gentle? Angry? I guess if we’re calling it a critic then it must be critical, if nothing else. If you made that voice in your head into a person, what would he or she look like?

Sometimes that voice is so embedded in our minds that we don’t actually hear the voice - it’s more of a sense or an intuition. It can be very helpful to actually pay attention to it and write down what it says. Give the voice a persona. It’s easier to deal with something that we can see and hear clearly. It’s trickiest when it is just a subtle tickling in the recesses of our minds. It still influences us, but it’s a foe that’s hiding in the dark rather than one we can deal with out in the open. 

I think I would name mine Bertha. She’s a big, ugly bully. (My deepest apologies to anyone actually has that name!) When I don’t live up to what I think I should be, she is pretty harsh and ungracious. I’m not sure where that came from - my parents didn’t talk to me like that. Regardless, I don’t tend to be very kind to myself when I feel like I don’t measure up. I need to train Bertha to sound more like God and how He dealt with Gideon.

God’s Gentleness with Gideon

One of the things I’ve been encouraged by in the story of Gideon is how God was gentle with him. God could have whacked him upside the head for being a wimp and a coward and always asking for confirmation and signs, but He didn’t. He led Gideon on a journey, step by step, to becoming the mighty warrior that He called him when God first encountered him. He took him on a journey and was gentle with him.

Last week we talked about how God first appeared to Gideon. Gideon didn’t even believe he was talking to God until God burned up his offering with the touch of a stick. Then Gideon took his first step and obeyed God in tearing down his father’s false idols and setting up an altar to the Lord. God rewarded his obedience (even though it was done at night in fear of his family and the townspeople - it’s OK to do it scared!) and kept him from being killed by the townspeople. 

Then “the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon” (Judges 6:34) and he had the courage to rally the locals to follow him. I would say that was a pretty big step! It takes a lot of courage to declare yourself a leader and ask others to follow you. For a lot of us, that’s where the “imposter syndrome” kicks in. Who am I to lead? Who am I to do this thing? I’m not worthy… But Gideon, led by the Spirit, stepped up and blew the trumpet to summon everyone. 

Then he seemed to doubt himself and God again. He asked God for a sign to show that God really was with him and would bring him success. I’m thinking it was a “oh my goodness - people ARE actually listening to me - now I have to follow through and do this!” sort of moment. You work up the guts to take that first step and when you see results, it’s suddenly scary again! 

So Gideon asked God for a sign. Did God rail him for his lack of faith or his desire for proof? No. God gave him what he asked for - twice! Gideon asked for specific signs and God gave them to him. 

Next, God whittled down the number of men that Gideon had to work with as soldiers until the Israelites were ridiculously outnumbered by the Midianites. Then God encouraged Gideon again, without him even asking. God told him that if he was afraid to attack the Midianites (with only 300 soldiers) that he should sneak down to their camp and listen in. God allowed him to overhear one Midianite telling another about a dream he had had. The Midianite understood the dream to be a foreshadowing of Gideon beating them all in battle. 

Hearing that gave Gideon another boost of encouragement and he led his men in a very unconventional plan to defeat the Midianite army. 

Gideon seemed to be a fearful, doubtful, insecure guy, but God used him. God was patient with him and gave him the encouragement he needed to carry out his task of rescuing the Israelites from their enemies. 

What can we take away from his life? 

Obeying while scared is a legitimate and God-honoring option

Gideon’s first act of obedience was tearing down his father’s altars to false gods and making them into an altar to the LORD. He did it, but was so scared about it that he did it at night. But he did it! Is there something you believe God has asked you to do but you’re scared out of your mind to do it? Don’t wait for the fear to subside. Just do it. He doesn’t honor your obedience less because it terrifies you. Sometimes we just need to accept the fact that we’re afraid and make the choice to obey anyway.

Adjust your inner critic to sound more like God

Our inner critic is usually much more harsh and ungracious than how God actually deals with us. God didn’t berate Gideon for his fear and insecurity, so we shouldn’t do that to ourselves. Write down what your inner critic says and then compare it to how Jesus talked to people. He was kind of rough on the Pharisees, but they were being hypocrites and leading people away from God while supposedly representing God. Other than that, Jesus was very gentle with people. Would He talk to you the way you talk to you? 

How much of our insecurity do you think comes from that inner critic humming in the background, telling us we’re not good enough, not smart enough, not anything enough? What if instead, we heard Jesus’ voice telling us He loves us and that we’re valuable because He made us? What if we quieted that critic long enough to hear the Holy Spirit whisper His guidance on what we should do next? We need to fill our minds with God’s Word and what is true about Him and us. Then we can tell the nasty inner critic to take a back seat.

How about you? How do you deal with your inner critic and learn to hear God’s voice instead?