So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.” Judges 6: 15, 16, NKJV.
Merciful God, as we continue to wrestle with Your Word today, may Your Holy Spirit remain with us throughout the study, and teach us lessons of eternal life! In Jesus’ name we humbly pray. Amen.
Yesterday we began our study based on Gideon’s question to the LORD, ” “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us?” A very valid question. In God’s care we expect to be protected. We do not believe that we should be at the mercy of our enemies if God is with us, do we? So even if we do not agree with Gideon’s question, we can at least understand where it is coming from.
God did not answer his question, but explained to him that he, Gideon, could be the solution to the problem that Israel was facing! “Then the LORD turned to him and said, ‘ “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you” “Do something about the situation Gideon! You have the necessary zeal to bring about the change. After all, it is I who am sending you!” Gideon was not expecting that answer. Like most of us, Gideon wanted to talk about the problem. But problems do not exist in God’s sphere. This is a truth that I am working very hard to make my reality. If God can convince us of this, many suppressed immune systems would be revitalized! Hypertension would become a thing of the past! Depression would be unheard of! When we give God a problem, it ceases to be a problem! God does not harbor problems – He solves them!
When God offered Gideon a solution, Gideon had another question for God: ‘“O my Lord, how can I save Israel?” ‘ “Gideon, God just told you that you had what it takes to make a difference! Why are you asking Him if you can do it, when it is He who is sending you? But we do the same thing don’t we? The human race has been telling the Creator all that we cannot do, in His power, from the very beginning. This is just a glimpse of the way it was with Moses:
“So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, ‘ “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ‘ And God said, ‘ “I will be with you” ‘ (Exodus 3: 10-12b).
“Moses said to God,’ “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them? God said to Moses, ‘ “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you‘ ” ‘ ” (13, 14).
“Moses answered,’ “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you? . . . ‘ “This,” ‘ [the sign I gave you] said the LORD, “is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you” (4: 5)
“Moses said to the LORD, ‘ “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” The LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD ? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say” ‘ “(10-12).
Now compare it to Gideon’s behavior:
“And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!” Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites” (Judges 6: 12, 13).
“Then the LORD turned to him and said, ‘ “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you” (14)?
So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man” (15,16).
Beloved, when we take our problems to the LORD, it is not just to talk about them. After we have given Him our problems, let us be still; then let us look, and listen. He is getting ready to give us the solution!