1The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.3Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4They 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. 5They 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. 6Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.
7When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian,8he 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. 9I 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. 10I 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.”
11The 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. 12When 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 Lordbring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” (Judges 6)
Thoughts: Gideon said (vs. 13), "If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are the wonders? Gideon had the view that too many have- it is a view that lacks real faith. This is the view that if things are going well, God is with us. But if things are going poorly- God is not with us. It is true, as verse one points out that "the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord." What was their evil? They had watered down their power of God- saying He could do nothing, and were starting to follow Baal and Ashtoreth. Really, they lost their faith in God- doing all kinds of evil- and then Gideon had the gall to ask, "Why isn't God with us?" We do the same thing today. I heard it after 911. Why isn't God with us. But we are in the midst of a great falling away- a rebellion against God. God still wants to be our God if we will quit trying to placate those who have no faith- and just believe and claim our joy and hope. God is with us if we will cry out to Him with faith, looking to Him. As we live on the edge of war- let us stop trying to be comfortable and cry out to God for mercy and help.
Prayer: Lord, we need your help. Be with us- and help us to be with you!
No comments:
Post a Comment