“And Gideon said to him, ‘Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?’” (Judges 6:13)
When the angel of the Lord appears, He speaks encouraging words to Gideon: “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” But Gideon doesn’t believe any of it. He reacts skeptically. The circumstances do not show at all that God is with them.
It was different in the past. Gideon recalls the stories about God’s help back then. The Lord delivered the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. Then He did all kinds of miracles to protect the people and provide them with everything they needed: the Egyptian army chasing them drowned in the Red Sea; the people received food and water for free; God showed them the way and protected them. But that was all a long time ago. Gideon does not believe that God is with them even now. The past gives him no warranties for the present or the future.
Gideon’s question has been asked countless times in the history of the world. If God exists and if He has the power to intervene, why does He allow evil? Why do so many terrible things happen?
In Gideon’s situation, the Bible gives us a clue. God says, “You have not obeyed my voice.” What do you think, to what extent does this also apply generally, to the whole history of the world? And to yourself?