Former Blackout Artist

Then the angel of the LORD came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the LORD is with you!” “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.” – Judges 6:11-13

Gideon’s question echoes the cry of every heart that has ever faced hardship: “If the Lord is with me, why has all this happened?”

Israel was in a dire situation. The Midianites had overpowered them, leaving them impoverished and living in constant fear. Gideon, like many of us, felt abandoned by God, wondering where the mighty acts of deliverance had gone.

But why was Israel in such a desperate state? The answer lies in their relationship with God. The people of Israel had turned away from the Lord and pursued other gods. They had abandoned the covenant, and as a result, God allowed them to face the consequences of their choices. In this way, it wasn’t that God had abandoned them, but rather they had abandoned Him.

This is a pattern we see repeatedly throughout Scripture, and a pattern that we see in our own lives, too. When we wander away from God, pursuing our own desires and forsaking His commands, we often find ourselves in difficult situations. We may feel like God is distant or has abandoned us, but the truth is that we have distanced ourselves from Him.

Yet even in our rebellion, God’s heart is for us. He doesn’t delight in our suffering, but He allows us to experience the consequences of our actions as a means of drawing us back to Himself. In the case of Israel, the oppression they faced under the Midianites was a wake-up call, designed to turn their hearts back to the Lord. Similarly, the hardships we face can serve as a refining fire, burning away our self-reliance and pride, and bringing us back to a place of dependence on God.

The pain we feel in these moments is not a sign of God’s abandonment but a sign of His love for us. Hebrews 12:6 reminds us, “The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” What may seem like punishment is actually God’s compassionate hand, shaping us, guiding us, and drawing us back into a right relationship with Him.

So when we, like Gideon, ask, “Where is God?” we must remember that He is right where He has always been – ready to welcome us back with open arms. Our trials are often His tools, used to bring us to a deeper understanding of His love and a more profound experience of His grace. We may not see His wonders immediately, but if we turn back to Him, we will find that He is still the same mighty God who is faithful to deliver us.