Just Keep Swimming

“If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all His wonders?…The Lord has abandoned us.” -Judges 6:13

There was a time when the Israelites were so oppressed, they were hiding in caves just to make some grain. This is where we find Gideon; hiding, just trying to survive and make a little food for his family. An angel appeared to him here and said “The Lord is with you”.

What if that happened to me today? What if an angel showed up while I was feeling scared and small and said ‘God is with me’? I think I’d be ready to listen! A visible angel and an audible voice? Isn’t that what we always pray for, “Lord, just tell me what you want me to do!”

But that’s not what Gideon did. Instead, he said replied with Judges 6:13, basically saying, “oh really? If God is so “with us” why are we in this situation in the first place? Where has this “God” been?” Essentially, asking the age-old question “why do bad things happen to good people”.
It’s safe to say Gideon was feeling pretty low.

I’ve been there. You probably have too. What’s interesting is the angel’s response – he didn’t argue, disagree, or provide evidence to the contrary. Instead he simply replied with some instructions and said “Go in the strength you have.”

All Gideon had to do was go, in whatever little bit of faith or strength he had left. Just keep doing what he knew God wanted him to do, despite the fact that he felt weak, that his faith was weak, and that he had doubts.
God didn’t ask him to be strong or feel confident in order to carry out his day, he just asked him to go in the strength he had. So he did. And as a result, Gideon won a huge military battle to help save the Israelites from oppression.

I find it encouraging that this man who is listed in the “Hall of Faith” and saved the Israelites from oppression felt weak, just like I feel weak. And he asked the same questions I ask – why is this happening God?

I also find it encouraging that he acted anyway, and the result was victory.
James 2:17 says “Faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead.”
In this life, the emotions we feel are always allowed. But doing this life isn’t about how we feel, it’s about what we do, in spite of how we feel.

So whether you are facing a rough day at work, a scary doctor’s appointment, an unending pile of laundry and dirty diapers, a rocky marriage, unanswered questions about your child’s future, depression or loneliness, or just plain tired of the mundane sameness of every ordinary day, whatever it is – it’s all hard. It all brings hard emotions and questions feelings of weakness and God is ok with all of that.

But despite how you feel,
Go in the strength you have.
No matter how much or how little that may be, do in with what you have.
Keep doing what God has called you to do today, and you will experience victory!