Q2. Blaming God for our troubles.

[Kim]

1 He ask if God was with them why had everything happened to them.

He is lookong at the dear me nobody likes me side of life.Had the Isrealites just done as God instructed none of this would have happened.The people actually caused the oppression because of not following Gods orderes. God in turning them over to the Midianites was giving them a big wake up call .He was always there to be called on but they had to want to call. It is so easy to blame God when things dont go our way. A big lesson I had to learn was God does answer prayers but in his time and in his way.Sometimes its just easier to give up and become hard hearted, thats why we have to keep faith and be strong and keep on asking God for help. Sometimes thats all that gets us through. I have found that my church helpes me along when I dont feel like I can make it when I look around there is always someone in more need than me and that reminds me to Thank God for all he has done for me and look to see what He wants me to do.

First Day and Im looking deeper into my life I like this Study!!

[Glenn Bohlander]

Gideon says the Lord has abandoned his people.

This is not an accurate assessment because

they abandoned the Lord. We blame God so we don't have to blame ourselves. The danger of blaming God is that we won't see our own condition and we will center suffer the consequences of it. We can stop short of it by examining ourselves when we experience trouble.

Glenn

[Alice Blazier]

: Gideon was like a lot of us today, we ask God for answers or relief from troubles, but the troubles keep coming. We then say God if you are with us as your promises say, then why don't you do something. we fail to realize that sometimes our problems have been caused by our own ways. I say sometimes this is true. In Gideons case chapter 1:6 says AGAIN the israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

How many times those words were used about the Israelites and probably also about us. God is more concerned about our character than he is our comfort. Sometimes He gets our attention and lets us know we have missed the mark.

In Gideons case, and in other O. T. times after the Israelites troubles God would then again give them rest. Then the cycle would start again, Rest, Evil, Punishment, Rest.

[Julie]

Isarel was suffering in the hands of the Midians. Gideon could not understand how God could let this happen. So, Gideon pointed fingers at God and wanted to know why they had been forgotten, but, did they forget God?, did they worship Him? We

tend to blame God when we feel forsaken for we feel scared and weak.

But what i understand is that they were not worshipping God. We need to trust and keep our relationship with the Lord instead of slowing slipping away from Him as the

Israelites did, He never leaves us we leave Him, He will not force us to follow Him it is by choice and not a choice made one time a choice made on a daily basis to walk with

the Lord. If we even for one day decide to make our own choice we do not know the outcome, but if we remember to ask the Lord then we can always be sure that the outcome will be for the best, so we should not blame God, for our own troubles.

God Bless.

[Tom Gilbert]

There have been many excellent postings on this first question. Much of it has helped me. Particularly because it reinforces what we so rarely want to admit...that most of our troubles are of our own making.

One of the earlier posts I found especially poignant pointed out that the Israelites probably weren't going around consciously blaspheming God. Many of them probably took for granted that God was their God and would always take care of them. Hence, Gideon's concern why they weren't being "protected" like the days of old. Is there a lesson there for us? I think it points out that we can't be halfway committed to God. I, know for myself, that it's easy to become a victim and it's harder to stay faithful...but God has always shown that He is indeed faithful.

We must not blame God, or even other people, for our troubles (even if other people are to blame). Instead, we must take up our cross and strive to be "response-able"

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Living The Solution

[debs4jc]

Gideon's response centers on the circumstances that he and his people are going through. He seems to have been wallowing in self pity--why was I born in this crummy time when our enemies are oppressing us? Even if He himself was living righteously (which he probably was, else God wouldn't have chosen him) he had to suffer the consequences of everyon elses sin. That can certainly make it hard to have a good attitude--why to I have to suffer for everyone else's sins if I'm being good?

Gideon's assessment is, as so many of you pointed out, not entirely accurate--God has not forsaken them. God often uses times of suffering to chastize us so that we will turn away from sin. God ALWAYS has our best interests at heart.

I want to disagree with some of you who seemed to say that suffering is always the result of our sin or disobedience. I think that sometimese suffering is just a natural result of our fallen human condition. We may not have sinned and caused something bad to happen--Jesus didn't sin and yet He went through plenty of suffering and hardship. If Jesus learned obedience through suffering (Hebrews, I believe) than we should not expect our lives to be picture perfect as Christians.

We do blame God wrongly at times though. Clearly there are times, as in this story, where our own actions (or at least our neighbors actions) have brought hardship upon us. Pride often keeps us from acknowledging our own part in contributing to the problem. God is always in control but He is also always looking out for our best interests. He can and does intend to work everything out for our good. Let us always trust in him.

I enjoyed reading all of your responses. This looks like it's going to be a great study.

[msnascar340]

GIDEON FEELS GOD HAS FORSAKEN HIM AND HAS CAUSED ALL THESE TROUBLES. GIDEON NEEDS TO REALIZE THAT HIS PEOPLE HAVE FORSAKEN GOD AND DO NOT DO AS HE SAYS. WE BLAME GOD FOR PROBLEMS, BECAUSE WE DO NOT WANT TO REALIZE WE MAKE THE PROBLEMS BY NOT OBEYING GOD'S RULES. WE NEED TO READ AND LISTEN TO GODS WORD AND ALWAYS REMEMBER HE WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR US. WE HAVE TO KEEP FAITH.

[Walter Ice]

Gideons response is very familliar. It seems that much time has passed since the generation of Israel's deliverance and Gideons current situation. He questions the validity of his forefathers faith and questions the prophet from that perspective. He feels that he and his people have been abandoned by GOD since they are under the cruel oppression of the Midianites. What I believe Gideon has missed is the "message" that GOD gave his people when he delivered them from Egypt. Gideon has not seen first hand the mighty works that GOD displayed before the people of Israel when he delivered them from Egypt and his faith is telltale of that alienation. But GOD set conditions for Israel when he delivered them from bondage..that was to forsake the idols of the land and to avoid the worship of those idols and the false religions they represent. Israel fell prey to the seductive influences of the peoples and their ways and turned from GOD to worship worthless idols. Kinda like our cars, houses,

big screen TV's and such that we worship today huh? Israel had fallen into a trance of sorts with the alluring call of the fleshly gratifying practices of the Moabites and Midians who frequently indulged in sexual practices during worship services. GOD's purpose was to bring them back to a place of need.

I see so many corellations to todays society that it is quite alarming. We may not have personally experienced any "miracles" lately but don't we have the Holy Spirit and his presence to guide us? We have also left our first love and allowed idol worship into our hearts..we simply call them by different names. I feel that in order for us to stop this incursion of idolatry in our lives we need to honestly consider what we are spending our time and our money on. If we look at our pocketbooks do we spend the majority of our wealth on "worthy" causes or "fleshly" ones? I noticed that Gideon begged the prophet to wait so that he could go and prepare a peace offering...a sacrifice if you will for his Lord.

I believe that this is where it starts.

[Wendy Reid]

Gideon thinks that God has abandoned him , and that God is unwilling to help Israel ou of their misery.

No Gideon's assesment is wrong. It was Israel who disobeyed God. God is a just God and could not allow them to continue in sin

We tend to blame God when things go wrong in our own life.

When we do this we are being disobedient, for God says we are to trust in Him.

By recognising that maybe its something we have done, or maybe God is testing

us , to make us stronger. To recognise that God IS with us and just to trust Him.

[Marjorie Knight]

Gideon could not understand, that if God was with him,

why was God allowing him to suffer. Gideon was right

in the sense that God was allowing them to be persecuted, to get their attention.

They had not been obeying God,

but still expected God to protect them and give them the desires of their hearts. Like us today.

We blame God when things go wrong for us.

We need to examine our hearts, and realize that all our strength and abilities come from Him.

Marge

[Denise]

Gideon say that if God is with them, why hasn't God done the things to protect His people? Gideon should not blame God for his troubles. He fails to realize that God had (and will always be) with him and had not abandoned him. It was the people who moved away from God. They had stopped worshipping God and worshipped other gods even though God had forbidden idol worship.

We need to accept responsibility for actions and the choices that we make. When we don't listen and do as God instructions us, trouble will come. We move away from God, not God. He does not change and His word says he will never leave us or forsake us.

God is always there.

[photobug]

They sinned against God .They had other gods before them .

[Joyce Hart]

Gideon recalled how God has brought them up out of Egypt, but he felt that now God had abandoned them and was no longer with them.

No, Gideon's assessment was not an accurate one because never abandons His children even when we forget or abandon Him. He may give us some breathing room and a chance to repent and return to Him but He does not abandon.

I don't blame God and I do get impatient with those who blame God for all the bad things that happen in their lives.

Sometimes bad things happen to God's people, but He has not abandoned us nor is He the author of the bad. We need to ask "Lord, what lesson may I learn from this or what good things can come from this bad thing. It may be simply that we can learn to trust Him more in our time of adversity and suffering.

The danger in blaming God is that we can turn away from Him, be angry with Him and refuse to believe in or trust Him.

We just need to "Trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not unto our own understanding."

[Jewell Gilpin]

During the time that Gideon lived during the time of Judges, and there really

wasn't any law, but they seemed to rule themsleves within a tribe.

When Gideon saw the angel, and heard what he had to say, he asked a question of

him saying: If God is with us, why has all these things happened to us.

Why has the Lord abandoned us, and put us into the hands of the Midianits?

[John790]

. In what way does Gideon blame God for his troubles in 6:13?. Is

Gideon's assessment accurate? Why or why not? Why do we blame God?

What's the danger and how can we stop short of this in the future?

Gideon says that God has left them abandoned. Instead of looking within himself He wanted to pass the blame on to God.

Today this is still happening, when some tragic happens the first question they ask, where is God? then Why has He allowed this to happen.?

People, Christian and non Christian often look outside of themselves for the blame instead of looking within themselves and seeing how they have contributed towards what has happened.

[steven smith]

Gideon blamed God for Israel's troubles without considering the years of falling away from God's favor. Gideon did not recognize God's judgement for their actions. He was shortsighted and without understanding by asking the angel about the lack of miracles as their forefathers knew. It may be that God will allow "bad" things to happen, but I need to look to my relationship with the Lord, and my reaction to the things that happen with God's promises in the forefront. God's people follow in His ways and hear from Him, these along with obedience to his direction will serve us well in our walk.

[luminosa]

Gideon blames God for his troubles by questioning why the Israelites are being oppressed by the Midianites. He wonders where are God's wonderous acts of deliverance spoken about by elders. He states that God has abandoned them.

Gideon's assessment is inaccurate.

Israel has disobeyed God's command not to worship idols. They have forfeited their right to God's protection.

Although God's love is not conditional, many of His promises are.

The danger in this viewpoint is that we fail to take responsibility for our actions and we alienate God with our disobedience.

It's important for us to examine our hearts and actions because we are the ones who are in error and not the Lord.

Luminosa

[rese]

Wow. I just signed up for this Bible study tonight and I have loved reading all of your responses to this first question. I think pretty much everything's been covered. I think it is an interesting passage in helping me to understand that we humans tend to focus on the negative aspects of a situation instead of the positive. I am currently reading a book entitled God at Ground Zero and in one part they point out that while over 2000 people died as a result of the attacks on the World Trade Center, over 25,000 people escaped. Praise God!

I think Gideon's story will help me to look for how God is using my situation for his Glory rather than how I am being oppressed.

God bless you all!

Rese

[Mario Angel]

In what way does Gideon blame God for his troubles in 6:13? Is Gideon's assessment accurate? Why or why not? Why do we blame God? What's the danger and how can we stop short of this in the future?

He blamed God because the Jewish people were suffering in the hands of the Midianites, they also were oppressed by the Amalekites and other eastern peoples who had invaded their country. Gideon's heart was saddened by the suffering of his people and couldn't find an answer for his questions. But he obviously didn't take in consideration all the evil that the Israelites had done in the eyes of the Lord. They went astray after other false gods, they had closed their ears towards the Lord and were paying for that. Gideon's assessment was not right due to his lack of understanding that what was happening to the Israelites was a result of their sins against God.

We often blame God for the evil that come upon us and many time we forget that many of these problems were created by our own sinful nature.

Many times we also forget that our life in this earth is just temporary and that we have a home awaiting for us in heaven, also many times we let the devil to deceive us shifting the blame from him unto God.

The danger of attitudes like Gideons is that we don't accept our responsability in front of God for our disobediences and sins. We must try harder to no be so quick to blame God and to learn the lessons that God is trying to teach us even in the middle of our worst adversities.

[Mike Dickinson]

In what way does Gideon blame God for his troubles in 6:13? (see exposition). Is Gideon's assessment accurate? Why or why not? Why do we blame God? What's the danger and how can we stop short of this in the future?

Gideon believes that contrary to God

[Donald Henhawke]

It seems that Gideon feels that God is to blame for all the woes that they are currently experiencing. I dont believe is a very accurate assesment. The very reason for the exchange of divine words/ conversation tells me that, like today man continues to be slow to learn or slow to accept concenquences of not obeying the word and worship of God.

The unfortunate side of free-will and the lack of spirtual discernment allows us to freely blame God for the troubles of this world, some harbour resentment and anger for many years which envelops into a cold and very unhealthy spiritual relationship. The danger of such is aforementioned the ability to change is possible through a deeper more meaningfull relationship with Christ and asking for the gift of discernment.

peace.

[bjcollin]

In what way does Gideon blame God for his troubles in 6:13? (see exposition). Is Gideon's assessment accurate? Why or why not? Why do we blame God? What's the danger and how can we stop short of this in the future?

Gideon basically feels that if the Lord is with them, why then are all of the bad things happening to them? Gideon ultimately blames God for abandoning them. This is a very inaccurate assessment on Gideon's part. We usually blame God when there is nobody else that we find to blame or when we feel that God has treated us unfairly or poorly. We simply fail to understand that it is us who have strayed, not God. We are not willing to stand up and take the blame that is ours and truly repent before God. There was a time in my own life that I was bitterly angry at God for allowing a certain thing in my life and also for not allowing a certain thing in my life. I look back on it now and see that God's plan was there for me all along and I was just to immature and just plain stubborn to see it back then. The danger is that we will stray from God as Israel had done in our reading and that we will not be able to hear from Him or even recognize Him as Gideon does further down in our reading. The way we stop is to repent and turn back to God. What worked for me was a couple of scriptures:

Psalm 84:11-12 "For the LORD God is a sun and shield;

the LORD gives grace and glory; no good thing does he withhold

from those who walk uprightly.  O LORD of hosts,

How blessed is the man who trusts in You!"

Jeremiah 29:11 "'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."

I had to repent of the thought that God didn't have my best in mind and that He had abandoned me. The Truth is that He is there all along and that He loves us and desires to have us prosper.

[Natasha]

Gideons response was to ask where the Lord who made a promise to the Israelites was and why he had now abandoned them. He was actually balming God for what was happening to his people.

His assessment was not correct but he seemed not to be aware of that. He seemed to genuinely think that God has actually abandoned his people. God has told them not to worship the idols of the Amorites and they had just gone and done that out of disobedience.

We end up blaming God to cover up our sins, weaknesses and disobedience many times even our guilt.

The danger of balming God is that the "spirit of rpide" takes over our hearts and we begin to distance ourselves from God in our relationship with him by thinking that "we know it all".

We can stop by

- obeying God

- Not compromising in our christian walk

- Keeping in the word

- Total surrender to the Lord

- Trusting God and leaning on Him.

[Natasha]

Gideons response was to ask where the Lord who made a promise to the Israelites was and why he had now abandoned them. He was actually blaming God for what was happening to his people.

His assessment was not correct but he seemed not to be aware of that. He seemed to genuinely think that God has actually abandoned his people. God has told them not to worship the idols of the Amorites and they had just gone and done that out of disobedience.

We end up blaming God to cover up our sins, weaknesses and disobedience many times even our guilt.

The danger of blaming God is that the "spirit of pride" takes over our hearts and we begin to distance ourselves from God in our relationship with him by thinking that "we know it all" and that we can manage on our own

We can stop this in future by learning to

- obey God

- Not compromise in our christian walk

- Keep and study the word

- Totalally surrender to the Lord

- Trust in God and lean on Him.

[Margaret Lane]

In what way does Gideon blame God for his troubles in 6:13? (see exposition). Is Gideon's assessment accurate? Why or why not? Why do we blame God? What's the danger and how can we stop short of this in the future?

God had put them into the hands of the Midianites because they turned

from God and did evil by worshiping other gods.