Death is not worse pain than an empty life. -- Lun Tha

"Why?" 

Why is this happening to us?   Why did God abandon me?  Why didn't this happen when I thought it should?

Why why why why???

We ask this question of one another and occasionally of God.  Why?  We always want to know WHY?

I think it's a cop-out question.  Seriously.  If you ask another person why God did this or let that happen or hasn't fully explained his meaning to them, then you're setting up a level of response that they cannot reasonably meet.  And when this level is not met, then you allow yourself to say that the thing that happened was then arbitrary, since the other person doesn't have God's own answer for it.

And then you are free to disbelieve in God's power to act, willingness to act, love for someone, even his very existence. 

Right?  Sure.  I see it every day.

Asking another person is easy. It's an excuse for disobedience and unbelief that will not hold up under final  judgment.  Just in case you were wondering.

What takes guts and real intestinal fortitude is confronting God himself and waiting for his answer.  Gideon pretty much did that. 


Now, in my experience, if one is hearing from God or one of his messengers, it is a time for real concern. And sure enough, Gideon had reason to be concerned.  An angel came and called him HERO.  Warrior.   Mighty fighter.  And he was just ... this guy!  I mean, with some training, sure, but he was not a king or battlechief.  He was a guy.

Which is what God wanted.  The whole tale of God's choosing Gideon and using him to lead Israel is an example of God choosing the unlikely to accomplish the impossible.  For HIS glory, not the fame of the chosen one.

What does Gideon do?  He asks the "why" question.  "Why has all this happened to us?"

Now, please pay attention to what he gets as an answer: 


Does this mean God is avoiding his chosen warrior's question? No.  But unless someone takes the time to get to know  God, it might be very easy to think just that.  What God is doing in this passage is pointing out to Gideon that the "why" isn't the issue.  The issue is "What do I do now?"

And the answer is "Watch God do something amazing, even in the face of your disbelief."

But God... Gideon could have said.  You didn't answer me.  You didn't give me my WHY! 

God says here:  You say you've been handed over to the Midianites and you sit there with your "woe is us" face on and wonder why I allowed it to happen when things were "easier" in the past.   Did your people appreciate it? No.  So I had to remind you of the dominion I hold over you and over all the world. But watch, Warrior.  Watch how I will show you a miracle such as your forefathers have told you.  Watch and be amazed.

Now, there's more to the account, certainly, but I'll just pause it here. 

Folks ask God the WHY question all the time. Or, rather, they ask others that question instead.  But when one asks of God, and is willing to wait for an answer (for we don't all of us get visited by angels!) then God will answer you with a "what you should do now to see how I love you" kind of response.

Because, in the end of the book, the WHY is always because God is seeking a relationship with his creation. We will never ever understand, as finite, linear-brained human beings of minute comprehension, the real WHY behind everything, and the heartbreak of God when sin affects so many in so many ways.   We'll never get it. Ever.  But the WHAT we can do:  To learn to watch God working right in front of us and to be amazed.