“‘Excuse me, sir,’ answered Gid‘on, ‘but if Adonai is with us, then why is all this happening to us? And where are all his miracles our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Didn’t Adonai bring us up from Egypt?’ For now Adonai has abandoned us and handed us over to Midyan.’”-Judges 6:13
The Angel of the Lord tells Gideon the Lord is with Him.
But Gideon isn’t having any of it.
“Oh yeah homie, if God is with us, then why are we suffering such terrible oppression” Gideon shoots back.
There was obviously a slight communication breakdown happening here.
Gideon thought he was being told the Lord was with Israel.
But that wasn’t the case.
Gideon was to be strengthened and empowered as an individual first so he could be used as a divine instrument in the Lord’s hands to free Israel.
But Gideon didn’t quite grasp that yet.
He kept railing on against the Angel of the Lord.
“So where the heck are all the miracles our ancestors experienced when God rescued them from bondage in Egypt?”
Gideon was obviously bitter about his countrymen’s bleak circumstances.
He continues on…
“Why has our God YAHWEH allowed us to become slaves to the Midianites?”
Now you know what?
Gideon does have a good point.
And I’m pretty darn sure you’ve thought the same thing about your own life.
I know I have.
For example, whenever I’ve struggled financially, I’ve cried out to God in frustration and asked Him why doesn’t He bless me so I can help out those I love?
Or why didn’t He give me supernatural power to control my outta control porn addiction?
However, much more than that, I’ve wondered why is the Bible filled with such astonishing events as the parting of oceans, the appearance of angels, an enemy army suddenly being destroyed, and prophets of God raising the dead and curing the blind but we see zero evidence of such miracles in our lives?
How do you explain this huge discrepancy between our mundane 9-to-5 lifestyles and the dazzling excitement portrayed in the Scriptures?
I know atheists in their bitter cynicism just looooooooove to point out these discrepancies and use that to mock God’s Word and say with sneers on their faces that the Bible is just a bunch of mythological made up nonsense that no modern man of science should take seriously.
But honestly, I get where Gideon was coming from.
And if you’re honest with yourself, I’m pretty sure you’ve had similar thoughts.
In fact, I’d say a good majority of those who go to church or shul deep down inside feel the same way.
For them, church or synagogue is nothing but a Saturday or Sunday social club where they just go to hang out with friends and family.
They’re not necessarily expecting amazing miracles, supernatural healing or anything of that sort.
So again I get where Gideon was coming from.
He was simply looking at his surrounding circumstances and asking God…
“If you’re with us, why are we being trampled on by these gentiles?”
In our own words, we might say something like…
“God, if you’re us, why do the unbelievers mock You and get away with it?”
Little did he know, Gideon answered his own question when he said…
“For now Adonai has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”
Gideon hit the nail right on the head when he said that.
For sure, God was still around.
But He had turned His back on Israel because of their disobedience.
Gideon was right about that point.
But where he was very wrong was that that he blamed the Lord for Israel’s predicament.
He should have blamed the people, not God.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
Many thanks sir
Shabbat Shalom Abraham.