Why Is All This Happening To Us?

Text
“Sir, Gideon replied, ‘if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites” (6:13, NLT).

Insight
You can tell a lot about how a person thinks by listening to the questions they ask. Gideon’s thinking and perspective was a byproduct of having grown up knowing neither God nor the great things God had done for Israel (2:10). His understanding of God was influenced more by the world around him than out of a personal knowledge and experience with Him.
“If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?” This is a great question and one many ask today. However, it is predicated on a non-Biblical worldview. It assumes this: If the Lord is with us… bad things won’t happen to us. The truth is: God is with us and desires to bless us. However, He has given us the ability to choose and free will to walk out our decisions. God had not left Gideon and his generation; rather, Gideon and his generation had left God (6:1). What was happening to them was the due consequence of their evil choices.
“And where are all the miracles our ancestors talked about?” Gideon seemed to believe that if God was with them, He would miraculously fix their problem. So, if the problem wasn’t miraculously fixed… Either the ancestor’s story is false, God doesn’t do that anymore or God is absent and we are on our own… none of which are Biblical conclusions. The angel of the Lord clarified the issue putting the responsibility right back on Gideon saying, “Go with the strength you have and rescue Israel” (6:14). The problem was not that God didn’t have the power; rather, Gideon didn’t see the potential he had in God to go and rescue… do something about himself.
May we develop a Biblical worldview through knowing and acknowledging God and experiencing His greatness in our lives.

Prayer
Father, open my eyes to how the world around me has influenced my thinking. Guard me from non-Biblical thinking. Help me to be transformed by the renewing of my mind. In Jesus name, AMEN.