Why . . . LORD? – Part 4

Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help. When the Israelites cried to the LORD because of Midian, he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.” Judges 6: 6-10, NIV.

Almighty God, we are here in Your presence to hear a Word from You. Please help us to listen carefully as You speak to us today, through Your Word. In the holy name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

Yesterday we talked about some of the reasons we have problems, and discovered, that oftentimes we bring these problems upon ourselves. Nevertheless, we ended on a very positive note, that “the reason for our suffering is not because God has left us[.]” With this thought in mind, we will continue to contemplate the infinite mercies of God, as He deals with His erring children.

Our Scripture for today reveals the depth to which Israel had fallen, they had become impoverished, as a result of the harassment of the enemy. At their first cry, God sent them a prophet. I never cease to marvel at the way God deals with His children, as they are able to bear. Remember when God appeared on Mount Sinai to give His law to the children of Israel how they responded? “When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die” (Exodus 20: 18, 19). So God granted the Israelites the desire of their heart. He sent them messages through the prophets (Hebrews 1: 1). But when the world needed a glimpse of the Father’s face, He sent His One and Only Son, Jesus, the Christ (11: 2)!

This is the way it was with the children of Israel in the days of Gideon – when the message of the prophet was not heeded (‘ But you have not listened to me.” ‘), He sent His Son, the Angel of the LORD! And He met them where they were, in a state of national poverty! In spite of our sinfulness, God’s agenda is to save us! His Word informs us:  “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3: 17)! God does not give up on us.

Their condition was so bad, that by the time the Angel of the LORD arrived, according to Scripture, He found Gideon threshing  wheat to hide it from the Midianites. They had to be hiding their own food in their own land! You see my friends, sin will bring us to poverty. I am not talking of merely material poverty; it can reduce an individual to a state of moral, intellectual, spiritual, as well as material, poverty. Jesus said it this way:  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10: 16a). It would seem, that in the case of Israel, they were suffering from every imaginable condition of poverty! The Adversary, the thief, had come and had left them impoverished!

And so it was, that in the midst of such a condition, Jesus came to offer them a solution, and to remind them, that “through it all,” He was, and would continue to be, with them! No wonder in the two-fold prophecy of Isaiah 65 we read the following:  “No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat.  .  .  my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands” (22). These were the plans that God had for ancient Israel, and these are the plans that He has for modern Israel. In the midst of our spiritual, and even, material bankruptcy, God offers us pardon and hope!

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10: 16). This is a promise from God; and all His promises are as good as gold!