If God Is with Us, Why?
Opening Prayer
Father of Mercies, the God of all comfort, deepen my faith, stir up my zeal and lead me to obedient trust.
Read Judges 6:1–24
The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.
7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9 I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”
11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”
And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”
19 Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. 22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”
23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
“You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” (Psa. 43:2). Even the psalmist asked why?
Think Further
It’s a rare person who gets through life unscathed; even the most trusting ask God “Why?” on occasions. Gideon is one of many biblical figures to voice the question (13), and with good reason. Israel was enduring a long period of terrifying, dispiriting and ruinous oppression by the Midianites, which led them eventually to cry out to God for relief (1–7). It was then that God stepped in, sending two messengers (8–12) to prepare the way for the unlikely Gideon to become Israel’s savior.
The angel called Gideon “a mighty warrior” (12), though he seems more like a mighty mouse! Gideon peppers the angel with questions. His primary question asks why God had abandoned the people he’d delivered from Egypt. In fact, the prophet had answered that question earlier: it was because they hadn’t listened to God (10). Like many still now, Israel wanted a God who’d always be on their side to protect and comfort them, not a God they were to obey. They thought of God as their servant and of the covenant as one-way, not a two-way agreement that involved responsibilities. Sometimes when we ask God “Why?” the answer is that simple. We can’t expect life to be smooth if we’re living against the grain of his Word and ignoring his commands. That’s not always the explanation for suffering, of course, but perhaps it is more often than we think.
Gideon’s other questions expressed his own insecurities, his humility (15) turning into an obstacle as he became preoccupied with his own issues instead of fixing his eyes on God (15,16). God proved very patient, if determined, with this fledgling leader. God really doesn’t mind being asked “Why?” providing that we’re careful to listen to the answer.
Apply
Reflect on the times you have asked God “Why?” for yourself or others. What explanations, then or since, did you reach? Is God to blame as much as people think?
Closing prayer
Heavenly Father, I acknowledge that You are in charge of all things. Sometimes I forget that and focus on what is going on around me. Lift my eyes to see Your sovereign power.
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