[2nd in a series of devotional thoughts about Gideon; see part 1]
If you read Exodus and Joshua, you’d have to agree that God was totally engaged with the Israelites: he led them out of Egypt, he parted the Red Sea, he gave them the Mosaic Law, he brought them into the Promised land, and when they refused to take the land by faith, he still provided for them for all those years wandering in the desert. Then when it was time for Joshua to lead the people into Canaan, he gave them explicit instructions—he gave them a covenant to follow—he was totally engaged with them: you’re to drive the inhabitants out; you’re to break down their altars; you’re not to mix with them or make any covenant with them. And by the way, as you do this, I’ll go before you and give you success.
Even as you read about Israel’s disobedience in the early chapters of Judges, you find that God looks at them with kindness and compassion. He sees their distress, he hears their cries and he brings along these judges to rescue them. He’s engaged with their suffering, even when it’s self-inflicted!
When God first approaches Gideon (Judges 6:7-13) with the call to rescue the Israelites, Gideon responds with the prevailing thought of the day: “If the Lord is with us…” Israel perceives that God is no longer with them, yet we know looking through the window of Scripture that God was with them in a big way. Gideon just couldn’t see it.
Why is it that whenever we feel distant from God, whenever we feel alone, we assume God has backed away from us? I’ve felt that way at times.
I’ve wondered why I don’t sense the Holy Spirit prompting me to do certain things, say certain things, share my faith with certain people, like I very clearly have in the past. Like Gideon, I wonder why God isn’t doing the dramatic in my life like he used to, and I make the mistake of thinking that if God isn’t doing something big, he isn’t doing anything at all.
What I’ve consistently found, at least in my life, is that God is always offering to me as intimate a relationship as I am willing to accept. The problem isn’t God, the problem is me. God never moves away from us, we move away from God. God is always engaged with our lives.
