GOD IS WITH YOU

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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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 our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As Judges, chapter 6 opens, we see a familiar story unfold for we read where the people of Israel do evil in the sight of the Lord and so He penalizes them, sending them back under an oppressive rule for an extended time. And as we have seen in the past, this oppression brought the Israelites great suffering, to the point where they cry out to the Lord for deliverance. This results in Him sending them a deliverer who defeats the oppressors and frees His people, returning them to a period of peaceful living.

Now, you would think that the Israelites would figure things out sooner or later. After all, how many times did they have to test their God when they know what the outcome would be every time? And yet in this chapter, we find them going back to the well again, repeating the same errors of the past. In response, the Lord once again sends His punishment.

You know, I can’t help but think that we’re a lot like the ancient people of Israel. For how many times have we too failed to learn from our past sinful behavior, finding ourselves right back into the difficult consequences the Lord had once delivered us from. It’s in the midst of those hard places that we find ourselves turning to the Lord yet once again for a deliverance and relief that only He can bring.

Getting back to the scriptures, the evil acts of Israel led God to hand them over to the Midianites who were so hard on them that Israel “prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves, and strongholds” so to try and hide from their oppression. Meanwhile, 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”. In this conquest, the scriptures tell us that they didn’t “spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys”. Indeed, 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”.

How did God respond?

We see in our passage where He sends a prophet who brings a message to them from Him. This prophet reminds Israel of how God delivered their ancestors from their own oppression in Egypt, bringing them eventually to the land He had promised…a land where God commanded them not to adopt the pagan worship practices of the Amorites who followed false gods. Unfortunately, the Israelites 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 we find 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. We see where this man, Gideon, is visited by an angel of the Lord who speaks to him saying:

“The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

To which Gideon replies:

"…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 had gone through over the past seven years that had brought them a lot of suffering and trial. So when we find Gideon questioning whether God had really been with His people, it’s because he’s tired and worn out from all that he and his fellow Israelites had to endure, even though they had brought God’s trouble on themselves through their sinful behavior.

Well, I think we can maybe relate to Gideon as well. For there are times in our own lives when we sin and then experience God’s disciple. This often places us in difficult circumstances of our own doing which can endure for a significant amount of time and in the midst of those difficult circumstances we can find ourselves possibly questioning the Lord as well.

“Why is this happening to me Lord?”

“Why don’t you work a miracle in my life like I know you have worked in the lives of others?”

“How much longer so I have to go through this hardship?”

or

“Have you abandoned me Lord?”

Well, going back to our passage for today, we see the Lord responding to Gideon’s questions and state of mind, saying:

“Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?"

Notice that the God doesn’t take time to explain Himself to Gideon. After all, He had already sent a prophet to do just that. No…the Lord’s words to Gideon were forward looking with “go” and “save” being commands of action. God was essentially 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.” It was a demand that obviously surprised 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 in response, “You have to be kidding! You want ME to 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.”

He wasn’t wrong, you know. For if there had been a poll taken of all the Israelites, asking them who they would pick to lead them against the mighty Midianites, they definitely wouldn’t have picked Gideon. Rather, they would have selected some mighty warrior who had proven himself to be brave and proven on the battlefield.

And yet, God had other things in mind and His man was Gideon who He assures saying:

“I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."

The key words here from 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 through God, he would become mighty…the one who would deliver the Israelite nation from Midian.

The good news today is that God is ready to do great things through believers like you and me today and so we should never underestimate ourselves when it is the Lord who is calling us to do something. We might doubt our ability and feel totally inadequate to carry out what He wants us to do but it’s in those moments that we need to realize we’re fulfilling His will by way of His power and not our own.

Before I close, there’s one more important point to make from this scripture passage. For through it, we’re reminded that our God can and will deliver us from hardship at His perfect time, often requiring us to take action in order to get past our troubling circumstances.

Israel had been under the oppressive rule of the Midianites and this impacted every single Israelite to include Gideon. In delivering His people, the Lord could have just snapped His fingers and immediately wiped out Midian without using anyone to do it but He didn’t. Instead, He selected Gideon and in essence was saying:

“You can get through this difficulty and escape your oppression but you’re going to fight your way through it with My help.”

Well, as we will see, God will use Gideon to deliver His people from their bondage and poverty but do so in a way that will show He and He alone was the One behind the victory as He helps and leads Gideon every step of the way.

Friends, if you are currently enduring some difficulty or trial in your life, maybe even wondering if God is absent or not interested in the midst of your hardship, you can relate to how Gideon was feeling in these first sixteen verses of Judges, chapter 6. My prayer is that you remember that God is with you and continue to call on Him, maintaining trust that He can and will take action when the time is right. This will most likely involve showing you what needs done to move on from the oppression of your situation so to find freedom and peace, just as He did in our passage today. Stay encouraged and keep the faith.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.