GOD IS WITH YOU

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 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. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

When the Israelites cried to the Lord because of Midian, 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. I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. 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."

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. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior."

"But sir," Gideon replied, "if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."

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?"

"But Lord , " Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."

The Lord answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."

Judges 6:1-16

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As Chapter 6 opens, we see a familiar story unfold.

Israel does evil in the sight of the Lord. The Lord sends them under oppressive rule for a certain number of years. Israel suffers through their oppression and ends up crying out to the Lord for deliverance. The Lord sends them a deliverer who defeats the oppressors and frees Israel, returning them to a certain number of years of peaceful living.

You would think Israel would figure it out sooner or later. How many times do they need to test God when they know what the outcome will be. And yet in this chapter, they once again repeat the errors of the past. And God does what He had done in the past as well.

I can’t help but think that we are a lot like the people of Israel. How many times have we failed to learn from our past sinful behavior as well, finding ourselves back in the same problems we went through in our past. Too often, we don’t learn our lessons either and find ourselves continuously having to cry out to the Lord for a deliverance and relief that only He can bring.

Getting back to the scriptures, Israel’s evil acts led them to be given to the Midianites who were so hard on them that Israel “prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds”, having to hide from their oppression. We read where “the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country”, …“camped on the land”…”and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza”. They didn’t “spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys”. Midian ravaged Israel’s land to the point where the Israelites became severely impoverished and it was then that they “cried out to the Lord for help”.

The Lord answers their cry by sending a prophet to them who brings a message from the Lord. The prophet reminds Israel of how God delivered them from their oppressors in Egypt and brought them to the land He had promised…a land where God commanded them not to adopt worship practices of the Amorites who followed false gods. But Israel didn’t listen and this is why they were in the state they were in.

So who would God raise up this time to deliver Israel?

Enter a man who is threshing wheat in a winepress under the cover of an oak tree so he might have some food for himself and family free from the Midianites. This man Gideon is visited by an angel of the Lord who speaks to him saying, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” And we read where Gideon responds by saying:

"…if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."

Gideon’s response might seem surprising at first but we need to remember all the difficulty that Israel has went through for the last seven years. There has been a lot of suffering and trial. So when Gideon begins to question whether God had really been with Israel, it’s because he is tired from all he and the people of Israel had to endure, even though their sinful actions had brought on God’s discipline.

I think we can relate to Gideon in our lives as well. For there are times when God disciplines us and we find ourselves in difficult circumstances because of our sinful actions. Sometimes, these difficult circumstances last a significant amount of time…and we find ourselves not only oppressed by our circumstances but questioning God as well, maybe even with the same questions that Gideon asked…questions like, “Why is this happening to me Lord?” or “Why don’t you work a miracle in my life like I Know you have worked in the lives of others?” or “Have you abandoned me Lord?”

Well, going back to our passage for today, we see how the Lord responds to Gideon’s questions and state of mind. For the Lord tells Gideon to, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" Notice where God doesn’t take time to explain Himself to Gideon. He had already sent a prophet to do that for Israel. No…God’s words to Gideon…Go and Save…were commands of action. God was telling Gideon…yes, I will deliver Israel from their oppressors and you are going to be the one who is going to make it happen.

This obviously surprises Gideon because he replies, "But Lord, how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." In other words, Gideon was essentially saying, “You have to be kidding. Me…save Israel. Don’t you know who I am Lord and where I rank amongst the people of Israel? I don’t even rank at the top of my family let alone rank at the top of a nation.”

Surely, if the people of Israel had been polled as to who would rise up to lead them against the mighty Midianites, they would have selected some warrior who had proven himself to be brave and proven on the battlefield. Gideon would not have even been a consideration given his low stature. And yet, he was the one the Lord chose and the one the Lord reassured when He said, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."

The key words spoken by the Lord to Gideon were “I will be with you.” Yes, Gideon might have been lowly when compared to the rest of the Israelites but in God he would become mighty…one who would deliver the Israelite nation from Midian.

And the good news is that God is ready to do great things through any of us as well. Never underestimate what God might call you to do, even when you doubt your ability to carry out His calling. We need not question Him because He is with us and it’s by His strength and power that we gain victory, not our own.

There’s one other important point to make from this scripture passage. For God will deliver us from hardship at His appointed time and will often require us to take action to get past our circumstances.

Israel was under oppressive rule and this had impacted every Israelite to include Gideon. God could have just wiped out Midian without using anyone to do it. But in selecting Gideon, God was saying, “You can get through this difficulty and escape your oppression but you are going to fight your way through it with my help.” As we will see, Gideon will deliver Israel from their poverty and bondage…as God helps lead and guide him every step of the way.

Question: Are you currently enduring some difficulty or trial in your life? Have you found yourself wondering whether God is absent…not caring about your circumstances? And given this, can you relate to how Gideon was feeling in the scriptures?

If you answer yes to any or all of these questions, know and trust that God is far from absent in your life so never cease to seek Him and His will for your situation with patient endurance. For in His appointed time, He will reveal to you how He wishes for you to take actions to move from your oppression to freedom and peace, just as He did with Gideon and Israel. Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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