Is God With Us Or Not? (Judges 6:1-16)                                                                                      2009.02.01    Pastor Richard Yu

Israel’s new oppressors are the Midianites, semi-nomads from the desert. Their goal was not political control, but rather economic exploitation. They plunder Canaan of all its food each year near harvest time and left the Israelites in a state of complete poverty living deep in the mountain region. IN this story we see God takes the initiative to do three things for the Israelites.

I. God sends troubles into the life of His people when they again disobey Him (vv. 1-6). Israel’s repeated, persistent sin patterns have again brought about their own consequences.For seven years God gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Their economic troubles were part of God’s plan for them, to shake them up, to cause them to be remorseful in order to bring them into repentance.

II. God sends a prophet to the Israelites first before He sends them a judge/deliver (vv. 7-10). God’s first response to their cry is not to send a judge/deliver, but to send them a convicting message seeking to convict them more deeply of their sin, through the preaching of the prophet. The prophet comes and helps them to understand why they are in the trouble they are in, why idolatry is so wrong. He reminds them who God is and what He has done for them in the past. Their history of fast relapses is strong evidence that their “crying-out” was merely “regret” but not genuine repentance.

The Bible makes a clear distinction between true repentance and mere regret (or remorse). Both are characterized by very deep sorrow and distress. But they are completely different. One, regret does not produce any real change while repentance does. Regret is sorrowful over the consequences of a sin, but not over the sin itself. If there had been no consequences, there would have been no sorrow. Two, regret stays regretful, while repentance removes all regret about the past. True repentance will enable us to realize and accept the fact that God has forgiven us because the punishment of our sin did not fall on us but fell unto Jesus; and the punished we so deserved would never come to us if we turn from the past and turn to God in Christ Jesus.

III. God sends His own presence to deliver the Israelites (vv. 11-16). God graciously goes forth to recruit and prepare a judge/deliver, Gideon, for Israel, even though there is no indication yet of any real repentance. In this section we see three contrasts that highlight the grace of God in that He Himself is seen as the power behind Israel’s deliverance from their oppressors.

The first contrast concerns Israel’s situation. Gideon’s assessment is that God was not with Israel, and God abandoned them. But we know that God put them into the hands of Midian because He had not abandoned them. It was intended to be an “awakening” to revive them. Don’t we make similar mistake? We are often quick to interpret our troubles to mean that God has left us, He has forgotten about us or forsaken us, instead of thinking that God is working in us through the troubles for our good.

The second contrast concerns what Israel needs in order to be delivered. Gideon’s assessment is that they need great acts of wonders from a deliverer like Moses. But God says to Gideon, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" What can we learn from this? When facing troubles we are often waiting for God to do something to us or for us, instead of in us. We may be saying, “Lord, why don’t You remove this problem” instead of “Lord, make me the kind of person that can handle this problem.”

The third contrast concerns Gideon’s ability to do God’s bidding. Gideon thinks he is nothing, but God calls him a “mighty worrier.” From God’s perspective, He is sending Gideon, He will be with Gideon. If only Gideon is willing to go with whatever ability he has in him, the knowledge of God’s calling and fellowship would make him the champion.

Are you now experiencing some kind of trouble in your life? Do you know whether it is the natural consequence of your willful sin, or it is something God had sent your way to awaken you? Are you aware of the works of the Spirit in quickening your mind to repent of your willful sin? Are you aware of the fact that God is working in you through the trouble to cultivate a stronger faith in Him, and a deeper love for Him? Are you sensing God’s call in your life to be of service to Him and to others? And how is God preparing you to be about the works of service in His kingdom? Can you say for sure that you know, in an experiential way, that God is with you, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is with you until the end of the age just as He has promised? Why don’t you pray and ask God to reveal these things to you.