Experiencing God's Presence #204

If the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about?

Judges 6:13

Gideon was focused on what God hadn’t done—at least what He hadn’t done recently. He hadn’t kept Israel from being oppressed by Midian, He hadn’t performed any dramatic miracles, He hadn’t delivered His people. Yet. So when God came to his cowering servant, Gideon did as any skeptic does. He asked if/then questions and assumed God hadn’t been with Israel.

That’s a common train of thought, but it isn’t a good one. And God’s answer to Gideon is the same one he gives us in our skepticism: “Go with the strength you have” (v. 14). He turns our focus away from what’s lacking and puts it on what we have. Just as the disciples saw a hungry crowd and Jesus saw two loaves and five fish, we tend to emphasize the evidence that God isn’t at work—or perhaps that He doesn’t even exist—while God emphasizes what He has done. In matters of faith, we have to have a glass-half-full perspective, not a focus on the emptiness that remains.

This is an essential truth to grasp if we want to experience God’s Presence. As long as we’re asking why He wasn’t there when that crisis happened or that mistake was made, we won’t see Him. But if we focus on all the reminders He gives us that He’s there, we’ll notice Him more and more. His Presence—along with His provision, miracles, and comfort—will become a regular experience. Faith chooses what to see and then sees it.

Refuse to look at all the ways you think God hasn’t been there for you. Instead, look at all the ways He has. Then you can go into your day in the strength you have, knowing He’s there to empower, deliver, and defend.

Lord, my perceptions haven’t judged You well. Thank You for all You have done, and help me now focus only on what You have said You will do.

From the book