Based on Judges 6:1-16 (New King James Version)
“Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage; and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. Also I 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.’ Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!’ 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.’ Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?’ So he said to Him, ‘O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.’”
Albert Einstein said: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Many times, when things go wrong for us, we have a tendency to blame others or victimize ourselves. We typically have the “poor me” attitude, or the “why would you let this happen God” type of reaction. Our pride always pushes us to think that we have done nothing wrong, and that whatever is going wrong is not our fault. Now, careful! There are folks that think that everything goes right for them because they are so good and perfect, and that’s not the case either. As a matter of fact, if everything is going fine and there are fundamental issues that exist in your life, be even more careful. That may mean that God is not very concerned with where you wind up. For it is written: “But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” Hebrews 12:8. Unfortunately, there are folks that have such hard hearts that God is really not very interested in them, and He does not allow for pressure to occur so they can change. God loves absolutely everyone, but He also knows “intimately” who is who and what they are capable of, for better or for worse. So, this message is for those of us that not everything goes well, and to understand why things do not go well, in general.
Usually (not 100% always), but usually, things do not go well because we either did something wrong, or make a bad decision along the way. What is critical to understand is that not all wrong decisions yield the proper consequences right away. A wrong decision or bad habit may yield consequences in time. So, don’t think that because something bad didn’t happen right away, that everything is fine.
I’ll give you an example. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (in the US), “Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. Cigarette smoking kills more than 480,000 Americans each year, with more than 41,000 of these deaths from exposure to secondhand smoke. In addition, smoking-related illness in the United States costs more than $300 billion a year, including nearly $170 billion in direct medical care for adults and $156 billion in lost productivity.” You may not see a health problem after one month of smoking, but if you persist and carry on for years, the numbers show that something will happen. The unfortunate thing with smoking is that its effects will stay with you (and others), even after you quit. Your body may not heal from extended use. Now, there are much worse things than smoking that seem harmless to the majority of people.
So, common sense (a very powerful ally to the Holy Spirit) would dictate that when something goes wrong, there should be some sort of personal investigation. What’s funny is that we do that with pretty much everything in life, but we don’t want to do that with our own personal lives. We do more investigation when a toaster goes bad then when we have a bad episode in our lives! We are quick to cover up mistakes; rationalize errors; and justify bad decisions. That’s pride. But, will anything get fixed if we don’t want to see what is wrong? Albert Einstein also said: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Pride makes a lot of people do really insane things, over and over and over!
What is God’s main reason for allowing bad things to happen, especially if it is our own doing? For it is written: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; for whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.” Proverbs 3:11-12. As difficult as it may seem, God truly cares about you when He allows for things not to go well. He is either treating you as a son or daughter where a lesson needs to be learned; or He is very interested in allowing pressures to come to your life so you can look for Him and become His son or daughter. Either way, problems are meant to bring you closer to Him; so you can learn and do that which is right. God is showing you love when things don’t go well. And when you truly look for Him with all of your heart, He will be there for you.
So, have you been “feeling” some of God’s love lately, and are you coming closer to Him? Lord bless! John