This is a journal entry I wrote a while back. I just happened upon it again, and was encouraged by its timeliness. I love that about God--the stuff that has been true remains true... and continues to apply to our lives in very personal and real ways.
“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 6:13-16)
What strikes me most about these verses is that God never directly answers Gideon’s question. It's the same question people have asked for millennia, and the same one we’ll be asking until Jesus returns: “God, if You are real, and You love me, then why does such and such happen???" God's response to Gideon's question was, "I am sending you, and I will be with you. You will have victory over your oppressors.”
Gideon had every human-way-of-thinking reason for doubting that God was with His people. They had been oppressed, plundered and exploited. In truth, God had left them to the severe consequences of their own choices. In his limited perspective, Gideon didn't understand this, and so came to his own conclusions as to what this must mean about God.
Gideon is a great inspiration and encouragement because he is both very human (doubting, fearful, and initially unconvinced—-needing plenty of evidence that God was really sending him) AND godly (full of conviction, resolve and faith-filled-boldness—once he became convinced that God really was in this).
How often do I question why things are the way they are, and not get the answer I'm looking for? How often do I desire and even ask God to change my situation, only to have it stay the same? It’s certainly ok to ask the questions; it’s part of the process God desires to take us through as we wrestle out our faith. God likes to test us. Not to mess with us, or to try to find out if we’re good enough (He already knows what He needs to know about us: we’re broken, imperfect and in constant need of His intervening and enabling grace!). Rather, He wants to teach us again and again to rely upon Him and His strength so that we can see the impossible (humanly speaking) become possible (because all things are possible with Him). Better than asking God, “Why are things this way?”, is to ask, “God, what do You want to change in me and do through me in the midst of my circumstances?”
When I ask that question, I set myself up to see the proof of God's abiding presence and faithfulness in my life--even when I forget what He's done in my past. Behold what I WILL do, He says, and in doing so, He answers, I am with you!
