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 6:13)
The first time I read this, I was thinking that Gideon was very brave to make such comments openly. Didn't he believe in God - the omnipresent and omnipotent God? I was thinking that I surely wouldn't dare say something like "If God is with us"... But after further thoughts, I realise that these murmurings are actually quite commonly made. Often for very small things we will be made to believe that God is not with us. We like to hold on to the thought that if He is with us, things must definitely run smoothly.
But often, trials and sufferings happen because God is trying to call us back to Him. God allowed certain things to take place, hoping that we might remember about Him and call upon His name. This was exactly the case with the Israelites during the period of the judges. They had to be subjected to the enemies before they remember about God's deliverance and cry out to Him. God simply hope that we can learn the lesson of relying upon Him. And all these are for our sakes, not His.
Sometimes, it makes me wonder why God even bother about us when we are the ones who forget Him and turn away. Yet He never gave up, even to the point of death on the cross. He had to painstakingly draw out this salvation path for us so that we may still enjoy eternity with Him at the end. He had to watch us fall away after He had delivered us out from Egypt (the sinful world), and then wait for us to return back to Him when meet with troubles. And when we sincerely repent before Him, He will deliver us once again from the hands of the enemies. To me, this is like why go through all the trouble mannn....
God is love. This is probably the most equal, most balanced equation that exists. If you think you know love, let me ask you, do you know God?
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