“The Lᴏʀᴅ is with you, you mighty man of valor!” Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lᴏʀᴅ is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about … But now the Lᴏʀᴅ has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” Judges 6:12–13 ɴᴋᴊᴠ God chooses His instruments carefully and uses His own standards in doing so. One criterion He uses is whether a servant considers not only himself but the whole company of God’s people among whom God has placed him. Gideon is an outstanding example of this. Gideon is told, “The Lᴏʀᴅ is with you, you mighty man of valor!” He immediately responds, “If the Lᴏʀᴅ is with us, why then has all this happened to us?” While alone in the winepress, away from his people, Gideon’s heart was occupied with them, not with himself. He had doubtless heard the Lord’s rebuke through the prophet and had been giving serious thought to it. How could the Lord be with him and not with His people? Why was the Lord not doing miracles like He had done when He brought Israel up out of Egypt? Why? Why? Surely the Lord must have forsaken His people! The Lord appreciates a person who thinks like this. Believers today too are more than mere individuals. As Christians we are members of the body of Christ, of the bride of Christ, of the house of God. Each believer today should realize that he or she is a small part of the Church of the Living God, and is affected by the ruin that has come into it through human unfaithfulness. Weak as he felt he was, Gideon was told, “Go in this might of yours … Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites” (vv. 14, 16). May the Lord find us of like mind, usable for Him! Eugene P. Vedder, Jr. Sing aloud to God our strength; He is with us where we go;Fear we not the journey’s length, Fear we not the mighty foe. T. Kelly https://gbv-online.org/calendar/773/date/2026-08-17