Immediately Gideon begins to question this, and this is how he responds, "But sir, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?'"

So two big questions are here in Gideon's mind. He is so despondent; he is so in despair when he is reminded of a fundamental of his faith, that the Lord Jehovah is present among His people. That was one of the things that was at the very core of the Jewish religion, that God lived among His people. That was one of the things which they were supposed to hold on to, whatever else happened.

The problem was this: they were beginning to look at their circumstances rather than at their theology. When you begin to look at your theology through your circumstances, very, very soon when the circumstances become difficult you begin to find that your theology gets changed. Have you ever noticed that? I've met people quite often who will say, "Yes, I believe certain things, and then their circumstances become rather difficult, and instead of looking at their circumstances in the context of what they believe about God, they allow their circumstances to change what they believe about God.

Gideon had to be reminded of this truth. "Whatever the circumstances are, Gideon, one thing hasn't changed, and it is this: The Lord is with you!" Now, I'm talking to people here in the sanctuary, and I know many of you; I know something of the circumstances in which you live, and I know that in many, many instances they are very discouraging circumstances. You live in very difficult situations, and I would not minimize these for a fraction of a second. But the one thing you must not do is change your theology about God to fit your circumstances, but rather see your circumstances in the light of who God is. Circumstances change; He doesn't! Make sure that is the orientation. Make sure that is your focus!

Now, of course, the language of people who begin to change their view of God when their circumstances change is to start asking questions like: "Well, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?" The reason that all these things have happened in this particular instance is not that the Lord isn't with them; it is precisely because the Lord is with them. He has told them all along, if you honor Me, there will be blessing in your life. If you disobey Me, things will not go well for you. So when Gideon says in effect, "What do mean the Lord is with us?" It is perfectly clear that he is either conveniently forgetting or totally misunderstanding what he has been taught from a child.

I'm not saying for a moment that those of you who are going through difficult circumstances are going through those difficult circumstances because of down-right disobedience, but neither am I saying that you're not going through them because of disobedience. The facts of the matter are this: very often our actions produce consequences that are very difficult for us, and sometimes the difficult things in our lives are directly related to the disobedient actions that we've taken. Sometimes bad things happen to us that are not directly related to disobedience on our part. The reason for that, of course, is what we call the solidarity of the human race.