Judges 6:7–10 (ESV) — 7 When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on
account of the Midianites, 8 the Lord sent a prophet to the
people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel:
I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. 9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand
of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their
land. 10 And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you
shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have
not obeyed my voice.”
NOTE: The Lord does
not always give reasons for our suffering, unlike this passage or the book of
Judge. There is a general explanation in Genesis that tells us that we chose to
rebel against God as our king and consequently are getting what we desired, ruler
ship of our lives and the unintended consequences of that decision. For God's
people, God does at time provide additional explanation, as in this case. God
tells Israel that the reason they are starving (the Midianites were raiding
their food supplies), was simple, "… but you have not obeyed my
voice." In this case, as in many other cases, God is trying to get their
attention. This is not how God designed life and this is not how God designed
Israel's existence in the land. But the people chose their own rules to follow
and disobeyed what God said. I certainly would not want to suggest that all
suffering is disobedience, but suffering should cause reflection. Suffering may
be just part of the evil which is in the world because of the original
rebellion, but it could be specific to an issue in our life, and it is worth
addressing directly with God. I like to use David's prayer:
Psalm 139:23–24 (ESV) — 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
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