The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” Judges 6:12
It's amazing how a parent's presence instantly makes things better for a child. They can be crying, scared, mad, or sad, but things are instantly better when their parents come. Because of this, when a young child is crying, their parent will often say, "It's okay. I'm here." This is also true in our faith. When things are scary and frustrating, God promises His presence, and because He is with us, we can face anything.
Judges 6 tells us about the call of Gideon as one of the leaders, or judges, in Israel. During this time, the Israelites had been living for themselves rather than the Lord. As a result, God allowed them to be captured by the Midianites, who treated them cruelly for seven years. Finally, they turned to the Lord and asked for forgiveness for living for themselves instead of Him. God heard their prayers and appointed Gideon to help rescue them from the Midianites. An angel of the Lord came to Him, saying, "Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!" (verse 12). Before even giving the command to Gideon to help rescue Israel from the Midianites, God's message to Gideon was simple: "I am with you." What confidence this must have brought to Gideon!
Just like God promised His presence to Gideon before He gave him a command to help rescue Israel, God promises His presence to us as well. Yes, He calls us to do hard and difficult things, but He promises to be with us through it all. And the promise of His presence makes all of the difference.
Whatever you are facing today, you can have the utmost confidence that God is with you. You are not left alone to fight your battles. He is always there, and as our perfect Heavenly Father, He will help us and fight for us every step of the way, the good and the bad times.
Read Judges 6:1-12 (NLT)
The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. So the Lord handed them over to the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites were so cruel that the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, marauders from Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east would attack Israel, camping in the land and destroying crops as far away as Gaza. They left the Israelites with nothing to eat, taking all the sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. These enemy hordes, coming with their livestock and tents, were as thick as locusts; they arrived on droves of camels too numerous to count. And they stayed until the land was stripped bare. So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.
When they cried out to the Lord because of Midian, the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites. He said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of slavery in Egypt. I rescued you from the Egyptians and from all who oppressed you. I drove out your enemies and gave you their land. I told you, ‘I am the Lord your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now live.’ But you have not listened to me.”
Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”
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