Who Has Forsaken Who?

Do you find yourself looking at the bad state of the economy around the world and thinking to yourself: “Lord WHERE are You? Lord WHY is this happening?”
Or perhaps you are looking at all the suffering, the killings and all sorts of strife that are happening and somehow it’s very difficult to convince an unbeliever that God exists – or sometimes you are trying to figure out what God’s overall plan is through the chaos that goes on around the world.

Judges 6:13 NKJV
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.”

Gideon had doubts about God’s love and God’s good intentions towards the children of Israel. Gideon had witnessed so much suffering amongst his own people that he just felt that God had forsaken them and that God didn’t really care about them anymore.
Gideon looked at the state of the children of Israel and the poor, miserable and hostile conditions they were living under because of the Midianites.

The truth is this: It’s NOT God who had forsaken the children of Israel, but it is the children of Israel who had forsaken God by worshiping other gods and doing evil.
Judges 6:1 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

The children of Israel did such evil as worshiping idols and other gods like Baal. (Exodus 20:1-5) God had already told the Israelites that they shall worship only ONE God but they didn’t listen; God had already told them that they shall not make for themselves a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, but they did not listen; God had already told them that they shall not bow down to idols but they did not listen; God had already told them that He was a jealous God who refused for them to worship any other God, but they did not listen to the ONE TRUE GOD.
SO WHO WAS FORSAKING WHO? Gideon got it wrong – the Lord had not forsaken them – but they had forsaken God and then God allowed the Midianites to overpower the children of Israel temporarily – at least until some of them realized that they need the ONE TRUE GOD and not Baal to save them from the Midianites.
Judges 6:7-8 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…

So Why Do We Experience Suffering?
Sometimes when we see suffering, chaos whether in the economy or socially or spiritually – we must ask ourselves – “Who has forsaken Who?” The type of suffering that the children of Israel were experiencing during Gideon’s time was NOT primarily caused by God, but it was caused because the children of Israel did evil in God’s sight AND also because the Midianites had no respect for the Israelites and their well being.
If EVERYONE loved his neighbor as himself – then there would be no strife and killings against one another. If EVERYONE was focused on being a blessing to other people then may be the social and economy situation around the world would be in better shape because NOBODY is being selfish.
Yeah right!!! Don’t be so simplistic!!! Only in a perfect world!!!  – you might say.
That’s why EVERYBODY NEEDS JESUS. That’s why EVERYBODY NEEDS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. It’s the perfect solution.
God already promised that He will never leave or forsake us.

It is the duty of every Christian to speak to unbelievers who do not know God or who have forsaken God and bring them back to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
It is the duty of every Christian to make disciples of all nations in the name of the Father, the Son & the Holy Spirit.

What a wonderful place it would be to be in a place where EVERYONE is a child of the Most High God.