Where Is God?

Where Is God?

Text: Judges 6:13

13 And Gideon said to him, "Please, my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian."[1]

Intro:

· Why has all this happened to us if the Lord is with us? Where Is God?

The book of Judges is one of the most boring books in the Bible the reason why I say this is because if you read the first two chapters. The Children of Israel break their covenant with God; they worship idols.

God releases His hand upon them, an enemy comes in and occupies their land. They cry out to God for deliverance. God hears their prayers and raises up a judge to deliver them. When the judge dies, they break their covenant with God; God loosens up His hand, an enemy comes in to occupy their land.

They cry out for deliverance, God raises up a judge to deliver them, and when the judge dies, they break their covenant with God. God loosens up His hand an enemy comes in to occupy; they cry out to God; God raises up a judge to deliver them when the judge dies, the story starts again and again and again.

By the time you get to the 6thchapter, the story gets boring because these are some hard-headed, stiff-necked people you will ever see.

· They break their covenant with God, God loosens His hand of protection, the Midianites come in to occupy them, God hears their prayers, and He raises up a judge by the name of Gideon.

· The one thing about Gideon is that he is afraid of the Midianites.

· So much so when God is looking for him, he is threshing wheat in the winepress.

o He at the liquor store

· The irony of this is one does not thresh wheat in a winepress.

God shows up and tells Gideon that he is a mighty man of God because the context of our calling is not limited to our context. Because when God calls us, He sees something in us that nobody else has ever seen.

The angel of God shows up and tells him that he is a mighty man of God. The angel says the Lord is with you!

· Gideon's response is, (If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened?)

· Have you ever been there?

· You know that God has promised to be with you because Heb 13:5 says: I will never leave you nor forsake you.[2]

· God promised when you call on Him that He will answer.

But life has a way of delivering us into situations that cause us to have problems identifying God's presence.

The issue isn't that you don't believe that God is real:

· You haven't lost your faith

· You don't doubt His power

· You're not walking away from the church

· You haven't given up on the Bible

· You still pray

But if the truth be told, you wonder if God is with me, why is all this happening!

· If God is with me, why am I sick like this?

· Why is my month longer than my money if God is with me?

· If God is with me, why did I get a diagnosis until stage 3?

· If God is with me, how can the one that said I (I do) now says (I don’t)?

· Have you ever been there? When life makes you wonder where is God?

If God is with us, why are they shooting up synagogues?

· Why is there so much killing in our streets if God is with us?

· If God is with us, where is the justice we pray for?

· Where Is God!

· When the bottom of your life drops out, where is God?

· When your back is against the wall and your feet to the fire, where is God?

· When you don’t know where the next check is going to come from, where is God?

· Have you ever had wondered where is God?

I am not going to ask you to respond out loud, but I’ve been there!

· Gideon wants to know where is God.

· Because sometimes, what you are going through makes you wonder if God is going to be where He says he will be.

So, in order to prove to Gideon that God is calling him. God has to prove that he is with him.

· Yes, the Midianites are in the land

· Yes, you have oppression all around you

· Yes, Israel is going through some strains and struggles

· But let me show you where I am, that you will know that God is with you.

Can I show you where you can see God at any given moment in your life?

First:

· Gideon finds out that God is in the midst of the wrath that He has withheld

· If you really want to see the hand of God, you have to take note of the wrath that He’s withheld from you!

· When you read the book of Judges, you will see a repeated statement, (And the Children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord)!

· It’s one thing to do evil in the sight of the Lord, but that one word again makes it worse.

· Israel did evil again and again and again, and with their track record, God would have been justified to wipe them completely off the face of the earth.

And the word of God to Gideon is that I know things look bad, but I have never taken my hands off of you!

· I could have abandoned you

· I could have left you by the side of the road

· But I am too faithful to abandon you not because of what you have done but because of who I am!

The Children of Israel had continually found ways to disobey God, and likewise. I imagine someone you know really close has found ways to disobey God!

· Can I enlighten you about something? Everyone listening to my voice has done something to disobey God.

· Romans 3:23 says: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God[3]

· You mess up every day, and in spite of how much you mess up, you have never reaped everything you have sowed.

Let me speak for myself: There have been some things that God should have let happen to me, but God held it back. He’s a merciful God!

· God gets His hands dirty with us but refuses to wash.

· That in spite of the dirt you bring to God, he never releases you out of His hand because He is too faithful and merciful, and God will not release you from His goodness.

The Word of the Lord to Gideon is that the blessing is not in the blessing that you have received but in the wrath that I have withheld.

· See, the good news that we preach in the church is not only that when you receive salvation, but you will also be spared from going to hell

· But that God spared us from His wrath while we are still living!

· The shout is not only am I going to heaven but that God never releases his hand and gives me all the wrath I deserve because He is too merciful!

· The real blessing of God is in the blocking; God blocked some stuff that had your name on it.

Every now and then, you need to praise God for the things that He withheld!

· I know it's hard to praise God for something that did not happen because it didn’t happen

· How do I know if it didn’t happen?

· That’s a good point, but you do know what you did!

· You do know how you fell

· You do know how you cussed somebody out

· You do know how you went where you were not supposed to go

· You know how you did what you were not supposed to do

And yet you woke up the next morning because God meets us with brand new mercies that kept back what should have happened

· I should have been dead

· I should have been laid out

· But mercy kept me!

· Is there anyone who knows you should have been taken out, but God’s mercy kept you!

Where is God?

· In the wrath that He has withheld.

Second Point:

· You will find God in the assistant He has assigned to our lives

· We miss the presence of God because we think we can live life on our own

· Everybody needs somebody sometime

God knows when you need assistance, and He assigns people to come into your life to help you when you needed it the most

· Paul had Barnabas

· Moses has Aaron

· Mary had Elisabeth

· Jesus had Peter, James, and John

We all need somebody, and when we accept the people that God has placed in our lives, life will be made a little better because God has assigned the people who are there.

· When people show up, and they help you

· They prayed for you

· They blessed you

· They picked up the phone and said you were just on my mind, and God told me to call you and see how you are doing

· Those are people God has assigned

· You should thank God for the people that God has partnered with you to help you in your worst season

· Who has God assigned to your life?

· People helped you out and had nothing to gain from it

· You should never ignore the Holy Spirit sending you to someone’s life; you could be the only God that they encounter

Gideon, where am I? I am in the wrath that I withheld.

Third Point

· God is in the promises that He has proclaimed

Gideon asked, where is the Lord?

· The angel said you will defeat the Midianites

· Gideon asked where is the Lord; the angle response was you are going to win the battle

· Gideon questions God’s presence God’s answer is to declare a promise

· If you really want to see where God is, it’s in His promises because when His promises are fulfilled, His presence is verified.

Whenever the promise is fulfilled in your life, God’s presence is right there

· So, when all things work together for God’s good… God is right there!

· When the weapon that was formed did not prosper… God was right there!

· When weeping only endured for a night, but joy showed up in the morning… God was right there!

· When all your need was met according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus… God was right there!

· When what they meant for evil worked out for you good… God was right there!

· When God showed up in the nick of time and told you not to grow weary, because they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength… God was right there!

· When the wicked tried to take you out, tumbled and fell… God was right there!

· When healing came in your body… God was right there!

· When the money showed up… God was right there!

· You have to learn how to identify God in the promises that He has fulfilled!

This is how you know that God is fulfilling His promises in your life:

· Although you lost your job but, somehow, your bills were paid

· When you didn’t have the money for food, but somehow you got some groceries

· You don’t know what’s going on with your children, but somehow, they come home every night

· If you haven’t figured it out, you just missed God he is your somehow

· Somehow, the bills got paid

· Somehow, I am still in my right mind

· And if you ever have a somehow, stop right there and lift up your hands and say:

· It must be,

· It has to be,

· It can’t be nothing else but God in my life

· Is there anybody here who has had a somehow in your life

· Somehow, He made away

· Somehow, He kept me

· Tell someone that God is your somehow

· God is my somehow!

The old saints used to say: I know the Lord will make a way somehow

· I don’t know when

· Don’t know How

· But He’s going to do it

· I know the Lord will make a way… SOMEHOW!

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jdg 6:13. [2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 13:5. [3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 3:23.