Pardon me, but I think we're missing something..

"Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

 ¹⁴ The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

 ¹⁵ “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

 ¹⁶ The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”- Judges 6:13-16

I love this story! It makes me think about how often in my own life I catch myself thinking, "God did miracles back in the Bible times... but where is he now? And what is He even doing?" This is not to say that I don't trust God.. I do!! But more often than not it is easy to think that God has changed His way of doing things. This thought, of course, is absurd in the highest degree! GOD DOESN'T CHANGE! Even back in BIBLE TIMES people like Gideon were thinking that God was changing His way of doing things and had moved on from doing miracles. Not so much. God did quite a few different miracles before Gideon's eyes and Gideon worshiped God. 

Now, why is it that even though God speaks to us.. we ask Him to prove Himself?  The fact that I have joy in difficult situations.. that is totally evidence of God!  When things are hopelessly lost and we pray that God will show us where to look and we find them.. that's total evidence of God. When the sun rises or sets and casts epic wonderful colors all across the sky... that's total evidence of God. And the list goes on. God does things before our very eyes and we are amazed... until we forget about it. And then we sit there and ask God where He is and why He's not doing anything.  

You know, we are all constantly asking God, "where were you when..?" "Why weren't you there when...?" "Why did you let... happen?"

I have come to wonder if God is asking us the same questions like, "why weren't you looking when I healed that sick person?" "Where were when..?" "Why weren't you there when..?" Like.. where is your heart? If your heart is far from God... then how are you supposed to know when God is doing stuff. Where was your heart when God reached down and stopped that car from smashing into yours? Where was your heart when God reached out and kept your foot from slipping? Where was your heart when God painted you an epic sunset? Where was your heart when God caused the weather to be warmer than is considered normal for winter? Why weren't you thankful when...?

Yes.. it would be so easy to guilt ourselves into thinking about how much we've failed at noticing God or realizing His presence. But so often we are overshadowed by discouragement and we just honestly can't seem to see God no matter how hard we look for Him. God is not disappointed in you for this. God does not hold you guilty for this. What He really wants you to know about that is that He still really loves you a lot. When you can't see Him.. He sees you and He is SO proud of you! He is just crazy in love with you and wants to spend every moment with you! 

if the LORD had not been on our side
   when people attacked us, 

 they would have swallowed us alive
   when their anger flared against us;
 the flood would have engulfed us,
   the torrent would have swept over us,
 the raging waters
   would have swept us away -Psalm 124:2-5

God is always there for you, even in the storm..how else do you think you could have survived it?

So... if God is doing miracles and pulling us out of sticky situations and difficult times.. where is our faith? We pray as if God has better things to do with His time. Like "Dear God, uhmm.. it would be really nice if you let ____ happen." 

:/ I find myself doing this right now. Ya see.. my self and a couple 6 other people are planning on flying to Brazil on Saturday to spend a week serving at an orphanage in Fortaleza. In my heart I know that God can do ANY thing and nothing is impossible for Him. But, I'm looking at my worldly time span.. It's Tuesday.. that is 4 days from scheduled flight. The visas and passports are not yet in our hands.. WHAT AM I THINKING! God can do a LOT in 4 days! Heck.. God can do a lot in a couple of seconds! I think of the story in Matthew 14 where Peter was walking on water and all the sudden he chickened out. It says "Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” -Matt. 14:31

That is a good question, why do we doubt? Why do we have so little faith even after we've seen God do great things over and over and over? Because we are humans and we are ALWAYS under attack by our enemy. Christ tells us over and over and over to stand firm. To stay on our guard and to be aware that our battle is not against flesh and blood but "Against rulers, against authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms"-Eph. 612

So, when in doubt, trust Jesus. Sounds kinda silly.. but it's true. God knows exactly what He is doing all the time and we needs only to be still and Trust Him with our everything. AND! The bestest part is that we get to experience the joy of letting Him surprise us with His answer to our prayers. While His response may not always be the one we first imagined was the best thing we could get.. we always get an answer that turns out to be way better than our shallow minds could imagine. But while we wait.. we trust. And while we trust, we have joy. What is not in *our* hands are in God hands. Which is a good place for them to be.