07/28/20 HOW DOES GOD SEE US — Judges 6:11-14 (CSB) The angel of the Lord came, and he sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12 Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.” 13 Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the Lord brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” 14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!”

Israel had disobeyed God and worshipped false gods. So, for seven years, God had sent the vast Midianite army to punish the Jews. They had consumed and/or destroyed all the food in Israel, plant and animal. In order to save what little food he could scavenge, terrified and desperate, Gideon is hiding in his winepress, threshing a little wheat. The angel of the Lord shows up out of nowhere, assures Gideon that “The Lord is with you,” and calls Gideon “valiant warrior.” What?! Perhaps a more apt description would be “You disobedient, cowardly infidel!”

Gideon points to the clear evidence that, in fact, God is NOT with him! (Just WHO is this “angel of the Lord”? Verse 14 calls Him “The Lord.”) The Lord commissions Gideon to destroy Midian and deliver Israel. He assures Gideon that His presence is ALL the strength he will ever need. God knew that since He would be there to support him, Gideon, indeed WOULD BE a Valiant Warrior!

These days surely lots of Americans (at least) are asking, like Gideon, “I thought God/Jesus promised He would never leave us or forsake us. Considering all this pandemic, political hatred, rioting and violence, where is He?” God sees us as we COULD be and WOULD be when and if we surrender ourselves to His Plans, Purposes and Power for us. Then maybe He would address US as “Valiant Warrior”, too!