One of my favorite OT heroes is Gideon. The Midianites had oppressed the Israelites for seven years. It was so bad they were living in the mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever harvest came, the Midianites invaded the country and ravaged the land. One day an angel of the Lord appeared to a man named Gideon and addressed him with a strange proclamation, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
That proclamation of mighty warrior was given while Gideon was hiding in the winepress threshing his grain out of sight of the Midianites. I love Gideon’s response: “But sir, if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us?” [Judges 6:1-13]
Oh my, ever uttered those words? I have. Maybe not using the exact same words, but definitely using the exact same meaning. How come if God is with me all this is happening to me? If God loves me, why is He allowing me to have all these problems?
Some people think God causes problems. I don’t. (But I think He’ll use the ones that are plentiful around us.) There are enough problems to go around all by themselves—circumstances, other people’s choices, our own rebellious ways, and bad choices, in other words, life. If God gave us free will, we are certainly going to experience the problems free will brings.
To get a correct answer, you must ask a correct question. The question really is not “if God loves me, why do I have all these problems?” The correct question is, “Can God see me through my problems?”
And the correct answer is, “yes.” How do I know that is the right answer? Because God already took care of our biggest problem, the problem of sin and separation from Him. Romans 8:32: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” [NIV]
If He resolved the biggest, He is certainly able to help us resolve the rest.
