Gideon

"The Lord is with you, Mighty Warrior!" The Lord spoke to Gideon while he was hiding from the Midianites.

"If the Lord is with us...then why did all this happen to us?" Gideon asked in response. (My personal paraphrase.)

The Lord continued to remind Gideon over and over again. I am with you. The Lord is with you. God is with you.

How many times have I asked those same words that Gideon asked? How many times have I based God's presence in my life on life's circumstances? Too many I'm afraid. Maybe not in those words...but there is a definite internal struggle during difficult moments to believe that God is with me.

He is though. I know He is. Jesus told the disciples, "Lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age..." The word promises that as we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us.

I hear His words over my life afresh today..."The Lord is with you, Mighty Warrior."