Where Is God When You Need Him? Judges 6.1-16
The New Zealand national bird is the Kiwi. The Kiwi, is a flightless bird, closely related to the extinct Moa. The Kiwi is restricted to New Zealand. It is about the size of a chicken and has short, stout legs, no tail, tiny useless wings, gray or brown hair like plumage, catlike whiskers, and a long, straight or slightly curved bill.
It is very shy and during the day hides rolled up in its burrow in the forest, venturing out at night. Its food is mainly insects and earthworms. It taps the ground with its feet to locate a worm burrow, which it then probes with its bill to extract the worm. Only the male sits on the egg during the seventy-five day incubation period.
The natives hunted the Kiwi for food but its relative the Moa was hunted to extinction - little wonder - the Moa was a formidable bird. While it appears to be shy, the Kiwi has survived by its alertness and sharp three-toed feet which it uses in defense against predators.
The Midianites oppressed Israel and challenged them even in their survival. We see the situation in Judges 6.1-6 (ESV):
The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 3 For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 4 They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. 5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in. 6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the LORD.
The oppression of the Midianites was so bad that the Hebrews had to go underground. They “bugged out” of their homes and hid in the caves from their enemies. This is actually going on in some places today. Did you know that Australia is forcing its citizens to stay in their houses? Helicopters fly overhead looking for people who may have gone out into their yards for sunshine or recreation. The people are essentially forced into hiding. Did you know the Canadian government has shut down churches and those churches and their Pastors have gone “underground”?
The Midianites were feeding off of the labor of the Israelites. In fact, like locusts, they took everything. They either ate it or destroyed it. Sounds a lot like today. Hard-working people are taxed to the hilt so that non-working people can devour their productivity on government handouts. Have you noticed that there are numerous businesses begging for workers? That’s because it is now more economically feasible to stay home on unemployment than it is to go to work. Who would want to work when you can have a living for free? The trouble is, that pool keeps growing and that Government black hole of taxation keeps getting larger.
Not only that, but look at the destructive riots of the past year. Mobs burned cities and looted stores. Just like the Midianites and the locusts, they devoured the land.
Thomas Sowell said:
“No society ever thrived because it had a large and growing class of parasites living off those who produce.”
Gideon would deliver Israel from the seven year oppression of the Midianites. He was more than he first appeared. Notice Judges 6.7-16 (ESV):
7 When the people of Israel cried out to the LORD on account of the Midianites, 8 the LORD sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. 9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 And I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”
11 Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” 16And the LORD said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
Normally wheat would be threshed outside on a hilltop in order for the wind to blow the chaff away. Gideon is hiding in a winepress, separating wheat from the chaff by beating it.
The angel of the LORD appears to him and declares God’s affirmation. He calls him, “Mighty man of valor.” Gideon doesn’t see himself this way. He shows his own inferiority complex, declaring his clan to be the weakest of his tribe and that he is the least of his father’s house.
God shows the real strength of Gideon in verse 16 when he says that He would be with him and his tribe. As one man they would strike the Midianites. On his own, Gideon could not win such a battle but with God the possibilities were endless.
If you remember the story, Gideon’s Army was pared down from 32,000 to 300 in Judges 7. Those few routed the Midianite army that was several times their size. This was done through the strategy and power of God. Over and over we read in scripture how God works through the few.
That should be encouraging to us in our current crisis. Sometimes I feel like we are outnumbered. There are so many who do not think for themselves and buy into the governmental propaganda. Marxists have in essence taken over every corner of our culture as a result.
We certainly see it in our education system. Our young people have been taught a revised history of God and America. They have been taught to hate the wonderful tenets of our nation. They have been taught to be ashamed of the country and ignore all of the good that has come through the people of this land.
It is just one area where we have lost the war. Preacher Kenton Lancaster said it like this:
“We cannot continue to send our children to Caesar for their education and be surprised when they come home as Romans.”
So, who is our deliverer in this time of chaos? We know ultimately God is the one to set order into chaos, but don’t forget, He placed the responsibility of action on us. With the help of God, we the people are the deliverers of our nation. We the people must step up and be counted with God for the biblical authority to re-establish our nation on the foundation of His word. We need a “new birth of freedom” as Abraham Lincoln said.
Gideon responds to God in his time of crisis like many of us have in ours, with a lack of clarity. In Judges 6:13 (ESV) we read of his confusion:
13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
Gideon had been informed about God. He knew the stories of the history of Israel like the Exodus; the wilderness journey; the conquest of Canaan; etc. However, he was had not been transformed and experienced God in his life.
Without being too judgmental toward Gideon or ourselves, what is OUR level of relationship with God? Do we merely know about Him or do we KNOW Him? Paul said in Philippians 3:8 (ESV):
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
Did you catch it? Paul wasn’t hoping to be able to go to Sunday School class and learn a few stories about Jesus, he wanted to KNOW Jesus. He wanted the transformational experience of walking with Jesus.
You see, God has called us to this task. Yes, we feel less than adequate for the job because we keep leaving God out of the equation. We see our own weaknesses and the strength of the enemy and want to give up.
We need more than information, we need transformation to do this. That transformation comes from the presence of God Himself. The good news is that through Jesus we can BOLDLY come into His presence. Hebrews 4:14-16 (NKJV) reminds us of this privilege:
14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, . . . 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Gideon was asking one of the age old questions: “Where is God when bad things happen?” I asked it when my wife was dying. I asked it in church conflicts. I have asked it in the current crisis. Don’t we generally think that everything is supposed to fall into place for the people of God? But Gideon was ignoring what got them in the mess they were in. We can too.
Even Gideon’s father was guilty of idolatry. In Judges 6:25-27, God tells Gideon to tear down his father’s altar of Baal and the Asherah and build an altar for Him. Fearfully, by night Gideon and some of his men obeyed. This should have been a clear indicator to Gideon as to why they were in their crisis.
Would you say that we have followed a similar pattern as Israel in the book of Judges? We have been faithful and prosperous when we relied on God. Our prosperity caused us to look away from Him and He allowed the enemy to oppress us. The enemy is not Midian in this case, it is Marxists. Don’t think for a minute that the mask mandates and lockdowns are anything about your health. They are the oppression of the enemy to coerce submission.
Some Christians give government, even tyrannical government unlimited power through unlimited submission. Our submission to earthly leaders of any kind is to be within the boundaries God sets. Romans 13 tells us God intended for government to be for our good, not tyranny. It is important at times to remember the statement of the Scottish Reformer and founder of their Presbyterian Church, John Knox:
“Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.”
He knew what he was talking about because he experienced it!
After the American Revolution a committee of three was selected to create a national seal. The men on the committee were John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. The seal they came up with depicted the drowning of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea with God’s pillars of fire and cloud in the background. In a circle around the edge of the seal they adapted Knox’s statement. It read:
“Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.”
They identified with the ancient Hebrews. They felt oppression from a tyrannical, adversarial king. There came a time that they had to stand up against tyranny and defend their lives and families. All through the War for Independence, they chose to rely on God.
What is your reliance level with God? How long are you going to wait to choose whom you will serve? How much do you have to put up with before you take a stand and speak out with other like-minded people? In this process, we must have a “firm reliance on Providence” as our Forefathers did.
Our Founders met much opposition in their quest for our freedom as did Gideon. As you read the story, notice the levels of disapproval that came his way. However at the end of the story, Gideon and his 300 win. The victory was not because of their military prowess. It was because of their reliance on the God of providence.
So, let’s ask the same question that Gideon asked, “Where is God?”
First, God Is ABOVE. He Watches Over Us.
I read that some time ago there was a fascinating story on the Nature Channel. An explorer had made a tremendous accomplishment. He managed, for the first time in history, to record on videotape the birth of a panda cub in the wild.
The newborn cub was no larger than a gerbil. He could fit in the palm of your hand. The most amazing thing happened after this cub was born. In order to protect the cub from the elements, and to give the cub an opportunity to grow sheltered from the dangers of the outside world, she spread her enormous body across this tiny cub and did not move for twenty-eight days. Her massive presence remained steadily hovering over this tiny being. It has since been discovered that this is a common practice when the panda bear is protecting her young.
So it is with God, as His omnipotent presence hovers over us as a shield from the evil-intended circumstances in life.
God is aware of our circumstances even though we may think He is far away. We need to remember the promises He makes to His people instead of the lies of the enemy. God promises to never leave us as in passages like Hebrews 13:5 where He specifically states that truth. But notice again Judges 6.14 (ESV):
14 And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”
God often uses difficulties to get our attention. Charles Spurgeon, the nineteenth century “Prince of Preachers” said:
“The Lord’s mercy often rides to the door of our heart upon the black horse of affliction.”
That certainly applies to Gideon and Israel. It applies to us also.
Some of us have been trying to warn American Christians for years of exactly the kinds of things that are going on today. Yet, we have been labeled as “conspiracy theorists,” rejected, or largely ignored. It’s no longer a theory it is right out in the open for all to see – if they will. For some reason we typically don’t want to hear it from others, we have to see it for ourselves. So, God sends or allows the hard times to come just so we will pay attention. If we won’t “believe in order to see,” God will make it so we “see in order to believe.”
A really good thing about hardships is that God doesn’t just get our attention, He often uses our difficulties to make us better. Notice the Wise Man’s statement in Proverbs 3.11-12 (ESV):
11 My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline
or be weary of his reproof,
12 for the LORD reproves him whom he loves,
as a father the son in whom he delights.
I am probably a lot like you are. I do not like to be disciplined. I didn’t like it from my parents. I didn’t like it from my coaches. I don’t like it from God. I jokingly say to people sometimes that my motto in life is, “No Pain, No Pain” instead of “No Pain, No Gain.” The good news about God’s discipline is that it shows His love for us. It shows His presence with us as well. He can’t discipline us if He is not near us.
Not only does God use our difficulties to get our attention, He often uses difficulties to help us see Him. Job struggled with God in his misfortunes. He questioned and complained and eventually God showed Himself to Job in an overpowering way. Notice Job 42.1-6 (ESV):
Then Job answered the LORD and said:
2 “I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
C. S. Lewis once said:
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it’s his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
God does not save us to lose us. Think of all that He has done for us. His intention is to save us, not toy with us. He works with us and is patient with us to save (2 Peter 3:9). Look at what He has done for us in Romans 8:32 (ESV):
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Through God’s process He gives us all we need for our eternal salvation. This even means He send us the things we need to wake us up and draw us to Himself NOW. That eternal salvation begins NOW.
There is even better news. While all of the uncomfortable, attention-getting events happen to us, in the second place, God is near and with us. Judges 6:16 (ESV) reads:
16And the LORD said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
Jesus was referred to as “Immanuel.” This name literally means “With Us Is God.” As John 1 points out, Jesus existed in the beginning as “the word.” As the word He put on flesh and lived among us. He came to save, even when there are troubles. (Mark 10.45)
Have you noticed that even though He is present with us, He does not always give us the “why” for what is happening in our lives? How many times have you wondered why certain things are happening to you? Yet you have no explanations. You only have His presence and really, that is enough.
Someone wrote this:
“When life caves in, you do not need reasons -- you need comfort. You do not need some answers -- you need someone. And Jesus does not come to us with an explanation -- He comes to us with His presence.”
In His presence, He transforms our inabilities. In Judges 6:14-15 we have this scenario:
14 And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel?
Gideon asks the LORD, “How can I?” He looks at himself and realizes his incompetence. Have you been there? Have you felt your own inadequacies, especially in the light of the challenges you are facing? We ask, LORD, “How can I ______________?”
God’s answer to us, just like Gideon, is “Because I am with you!” Hebrews 13:5-6 (ESV) reminds us of His presence with us.
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
Not only is He above us and with us, third, He is within us. This is what God has always wanted. In Exodus 25:8 (ESV) He said:
And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.
This could also read “dwell within them.” Yes, the tabernacle was set up in the middle of the camp – in their midst, within them as a nation. Yet, He goes even further and lives personally within us.
Notice that He came UPON Gideon as well as certain others in the Old Testament. Judges 6:34 (NKJV) reads:
34 But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him.
Today He lives IN Christians both individually as in Ephesians 3:16 (ESV) where Paul writes:
16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
God also dwells within us collectively as in 1 Corinthians 3.16 (ESV):
16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
The “you” in this verse is plural. God lives in us when we assemble as well as when we walk alone with Him.
Just like His work with Gideon, He accepts us as we are with an eye on who we can be – He does not give up on us
God is Above; Beside; and Within – what more do we need? What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31, ESV).
You may remember that Federal Express once ran a commercial similar to movie Castaway, in which the main character played a FedEx worker whose company plane crashed, stranding him on a desert island for years.
The FedEx employee in the commercial goes up to the door of a suburban home, package in hand. When the lady comes to the door, he explains that he survived 5 years on a deserted island, and during that whole time he kept this package in order to deliver it to her when he was rescued.
She takes the package and thanks him. But he is curious about the contents of the package that he has been protecting for years. So, he asks to see the contents.
She opens it and shows him saying, "Oh, nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds."
In spite of the difficult and dangerous circumstances; in spite of doubts and fears, God used Gideon by His power and Gideon’s submission to deliver Israel from Midian. As a result, he is in the “Hall of Faith” of Hebrews 11.
I won’t make it in the pages of the Bible but I can become like the characters through whom God has worked and conquered. I simply need to be dependent on Him.
Keep the Light of Reliance of God Burning!
