13 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 (NKJV)
Yesterday, we saw that God is with us at all times, and He wants us to be aware that He is with us. We must become more aware of His presence and maximise His presence in our lives daily. But, Gideon heard this same statement that God is with him, but he had a different reaction, just like many of us must have heard several times. Gideon asked the angel for proof that God is with him. He asked about the miracles the fathers spoke about, he wanted physical evidence of God’s presence.
This is the very same way we look at all the things happening in our lives, around us, in our family, in the church, and we begin to wonder, if the Lord is with us, why are these things happening? But these things are not the litmus to check if God is with us or not. The presence of God in our lives is actually a constant as a believer. It is the effect of God’s presence in our lives that varies. What does this mean?
Do you know that it is possible for two people to have the same opportunities and end up with different results? It is always a question of what they did with the opportunity that matters. So also, God’s presence in our lives does not automatically mean that everything would just be on ‘auto play’ in our lives. The outcome of our lives is still very much dependent on how much we engage His presence. This is why we all end up with different outcomes. Also because there are many other variables in our respective lives that we may not account for.
The main point of this is to say that God’s presence must be engaged in our lives to see results. The Israelites were reaping the consequences of their rebellion and disobedience, and that is why they were living in such a situation. But God’s presence now demands that they repent and call upon Him. Now, God’s response to the Israelites was this conversation with Gideon. Meanwhile, Gideon was tracking backwards. We would understand this better in the next verse tomorrow. However, the highlight here is to ensure that we engage God’s presence in our lives, as that is what brings about a change in our situation.
PRAYER
Father, I thank you for your presence in my life. Thank you for always being with me. I choose to engage your presence in my life always, and not complain about things not going as I expect. Draw me closer to yourself, that I will fully be a product of your presence.
