Have you ever wondered why something has happened or why something doesn’t stop happening? If so, the conversation Gideon is having with God included below will resonate.In the passage, Gideon reminds me of conversations I have when things around me aren’t going the way I think they should go. It’s like the conversations we have with God wondering why he hasn’t answered prayers we have been making for what seems like forever.
It also can apply to current events, when we wonder how anything can improve in the world with all of the violence we see or hear about daily.
We can be reminded of what God tells Gideon…”I shall be with you.” God doesn’t really ramble on and on like Gideon. There’s just a firm, I will be with you.
With Gideon we also see that it’s ok to express our doubts to God, maybe that’s the first time we become conscious of our doubts ourselves. It’s possible that makes us better able to recognize the answer when the answer reaches us. God answers us, but often not as blatantly as Gideon. Wouldn’t that be nice?
The answer may come from a family member or a friend. It may come in a snippet of a conversation we hear when changing channels, or it may just be a feeling of peace like we have arrived at a destination– where once we felt uncertainty and chaos, we now feel the calmness of a resolution. If we haven’t arrived there yet we can take comfort knowing “The Lord is with you, O champion!”
“The LORD is with you, O champion!”Gideon said to him, “My Lord, if the LORD is with us,
why has all this happened to us?Where are his wondrous deeds of which our fathers
told us when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’
For now the LORD has abandoned us
and has delivered us into the power of Midian.”The LORD turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have
and save Israel from the power of Midian.
It is I who send you.”But Gideon answered him, “Please, my lord, how can I save Israel?
My family is the lowliest in Manasseh,
and I am the most insignificant in my father’s house.”“I shall be with you,” the LORD said to him,
“and you will cut down Midian to the last man.”an excerpt from Judges 6
