Why? **

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  In the intrigues of life on this planet earth we have so many questions but the most vexing one is just a simple, “Why?”

When things make no sense to my human assessment of evil’s cruelty it’s time to allow the Holy One to take over and direct my thoughts. 

“Will you trust Me in the “whys” of life so I can take you to the greater things?”

The Holy Spirit leads me in this time of meditation back to His Word and the account of a man named Gideon.  In Judges 6-8 the story of Gideon’s life and purpose as a “mighty man of valor” begins with him threshing wheat in a wine press in order to hide it from the marauding bands of Israel’s enemies. 

Hard times and great fear had come upon his people.  The children of Israel lived under the continuous threat of being plundered and being left with no resources to survive so they took to life in the dens and caves of the mountains in the land of their enemies.  They had to thresh their wheat in a wine vat where no one could see or they risked the loss of their diet’s mainstay due to the thieving Midianites who came against them.

Judges 6:7-10 tells us that as the people cried out to the Lord, He sent a prophet to remind them of their illustrious history with the One True God and how the Lord had delivered them from the hands of all who had oppressed them. Then in Vs 10, we read, “Also I (The Lord God of Israel) said to you, “I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.  But you have not obeyed My voice”.

An angel then appeared to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you mighty man of valor”. 

Then began the “why” question; “Gideon said to him, “Oh my lord, if the Lord is with us why then has all of this happened to us?  Where are all His miracles that our fathers told us about saying, Did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt?  But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

For most of us facing hardships in life as Christians, we are wondering if not asking the same thing.  “Why, if you are with us, is all the heartburn hitting our lives?”  Where are the mighty acts of Divine intervention that we have read and been told about in Your Word for those who are called by Your Name? 

Gideon’s conversation with the messenger angel of the Lord continued and Gideon was essentially drafted into the Lord’s plan for the deliverance of His people.  Despite all his self-doubts, the Lord saw in Gideon what Gideon did not see in himself: a faithful warrior heart.

We read about the “fleece” of Gideon,  where the man wanted (and needed) more confirmation of the calling on his life at that moment  We will do well to remember that Gideon lived before Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to dwell inside of every believer's heart so a fleece was more of an acceptable way to discern and know God’s will back then

The interesting thing to my mind is that the Lord did not give an answer to the “Why” Gideon personally asked in the beginning but spoke to him about his part to play in the circumstances they were in.  I can see that when resolution comes to the problems I face, the “Why” questions fade in the Glory of God’s Divine intervention.

The mystery of Holiness waits for the “conditions” on the ground to be right for Divine intervention to be executed in resolution to our temporal problems. The nation of Israel endured and survived, by however a slim margin in their view, until Gideon was raised up to save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Once Gideon was convinced that his calling was from God, the Lord told him what to do and Gideon obeyed his commands.

It so happened that compromise was tolerated in the religious (Spirit) life of Israel.  Hard times for sin way back when, brought the consequence they were living and rather than seek the Lord they apparently dived into more idolatry and worship of other gods either instead of, or in addition to, seeking and giving worship to the One True God of their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Gideon’s first assignment was to tear down an altar of worship to Baal, that his father had erected and to replace it with an altar for their worship to the One True God.   For me, the reader of this story, I see the “why”, not in a direct answer but in what the Lord commanded Gideon do at the onset of his calling as a servant of the Most High and deliverer of Israel out of the hands of their enemy:  Take down the altar and stop the sinful worship of foreign gods. 

Idolatrous compromise had overtaken Israel and the Lord’s discipline of His people in allowing them to become a victim of the surrounding nations had them crying out for deliverance. There are interesting parallels of this story to our nation today. 

Judges 6:6 says, “So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites and the Children of Israel cried out to the Lord”.

For Believers in today’s world, who are followers of Christ Jesus, all the “why” questions we may ask are bound up in the eternal plan that the Lord has and they relate to His unique calling on our lives.  We are in the process of being made Holy.  We are being cleansed and purged of our unrighteousness and compromise is a flesh liability that we must not allow to corrupt our hearts and minds. 

It seems that in Gideon’s day, idolatry (Baal worship) was an acceptable practice and not seen as a problem until Gideon made his stand in obedience to the Lord.  

There is much to be gleaned from reading about Gideon and his calling and there is much symbolism to be applied to our lives today.  I find that I learn more about the mystery of Holiness when I stop asking “why?” and start asking the Lord, “what? …….do You want me to do with where I am today?”   

As He begins to show me and as I obey what I believe to be His directives, I see that following my Lord’s plan for me will eventually answer every “why?” or give me the peace to wait until I see Him face to face for the full and final answer.

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?