[Pastor Ralph]

Q2. (Judges 6:13) In what way does Gideon blame God for his troubles in verse 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?

[Helen Spaulding]

Gideon says if God is with them, why hasn't He done the things that He did in past times that protected His people?
No. Gideon ignores the fact that the people had stopped worshipping God and was worshipping idols and other evil deeds God had forbidden.
We blame God because we want an "out"! We don't want to think we are responsible for our turning from God to our own desires.
The danger is that we cannot turn our backs on God, ignore Him, and expect Him to protect and save us from the consequences of our actions.
Helen Spaulding
Author of: A Bruised Reed...
Life of Abe Lincoln's Grandmother

[Desiree]

Hi this is my first time here and I am looking forward to being a part of this wonderful study. I love bible studies and do them ofen. To go deeper into the word brings greater wisdom and understanding to me. I never thought of Gideon as a Prayer Warrior and since I love to prayer I am excited at looking at this concept through the Word.

Blessings

I believe that God is always with us.... some times we just don't see how He moves in our lives because we expecting Him to move in a certain way.

This resticts our view of how great He really is. I am hoping to have my eyes opened to see Him in a greater light and learn not to restrict Him in moving in my life by thinking He has to move a certain way.

[donmurray]

Gideon was seeing himself as a victim of circumstances. Victims always blame everything and everyone around them. This "point of view" requires us to shift blame from ourselves, since a victim cannot believe in his own choices. The principle of free will is a factor in our ability to see circumstances, and ourselves in the midst of these circumstances. (the word circumstance depicts that which "circles" us - with us in the middle)

The remedy is to see ourselves as God sees us - and not as we see ourselves - for God sees us from outside "those who circle us", and He is, in Truth, outside of that. We can "lift ourselves" out of our troubling "circle" by looking to God and choosing Him.

[jeanne]

Praise The Lord
I really enjoyed this part of the study. Has I pondered the question you ask. I seen how many times in mt own life .I was like Gideon.
Its easy to blame some one. You feel that it lifts you up away from the problem you don't half to answer for the it.
No ,his assessment was wrong. God speaks in his word he will never leave or forsake us. He also tells us he never slumbers.
A lot of us blame God because we have layed down our sheild of faith. We don't put trust in his Word. When we don't take it and eat of it ,then we have straved or spirit and we suffer because of it. Word is life to us.
God has given us a choice. Choose this day ,who you will serve ,for me and my house ,we shall serve the Lord. I have always kept that close to my heart. When I really made the choice and quit blaming God for my short coming.
A good Bible Study has you to look at your self. Thank you for such a wonderful gleaming.
I leave you with
Joshua 1:5
No man shall be able stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you:I will not fail you or forsake you.

[Lois Turley]

Gideon blamed God because he along with the other Israelites did not want to take responsibility for their own actions.

God had not abandoned Israel. Israel had abandoned God.

God had not abandoned Gideon. Gideon had abandoned God.

And when it seems I am left to flounder alone, God has not abandoned Lois. Lois has abandoned God.

May God forgive me and us and help us come to the real truth, that God is always there. It is our neglect, my neglect, to spend time with him that leads to all the problems.

[gripofhisgrace]

Gideon Blames God because Israel has fallen onto hard times and God has not rescued them like he had in the past.

Unfortunately, the people of Israel feel that they are under the Lord's protection because of heritage. They do not correlate behavior to divine relationship.

Israel behaved sinfully and turned from the Lord

We too blame God. It is easier to blame God than to accept responsiblity for our poor behavior, lack of relationship and failure to repent.

As I study more and guided more by the Holy spirit, I find that when I behave badly, I catch myself and condemn myself and ask forgiveness. This restores my relationship with God.

Susan

[David Maher]

In verse 13, Gideon places the blame on the Lord, ". . . But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian" (Judges 6:13). Gideon's assessment is not accurate. Gideon fails to acknowledge that the trouble was brought on the people by their own actions. The prophet told them what they were doing wrong, if only they would have really listened and reflected on what was said. They would have realized the fact that they had been disobedient and that this was the cause of their struggles.

Why do we blame God? That is a good question. I believe we are not willing to accept responsibility for our circumstances. I know that for years, I blamed everyone else for my problems, including God. I praise the Lord for finally showing me the truth. I know, early in my faith walk, that I was taught about the gift of salvation and not a lot about my responsibility as a believer. I believe the danger we face is to not ever experience the wonderful things the Lord has in store for us when we are obedient. Our disobedience seperates us from God. It forces us to work under our own strength and abilities, which are far from the Lord's. I never really knew what it meant to make God the Lord of my life. Now I know that God wants to be first in our lives. I have a relationship with Him daily, even though I still have a way to go to be where I want to be. I have come to understand that I am not perfect and that this is a journey. I desire to have a greater passion for the Lord. In order to stop short of the dangers in the future, I believe it is important for us to have that personal, daily relationship with the Lord. To call on him constantly, not just when we are at the end of our rope. The Lord is there and He wants us to have this kind of relationship with Him.

[Chris King]

How many times have we been in situations that we don't understand like Gideon was and can't see what really happened or what caused it but it caused Gideon to seek the Lord even though it took Him awhile to figure it out but when he finally figured it out He gave His all to the purpose of God.
This has happened in my life and when we finally let go and let God he can do His work either in us or through us.

[DebChats]

This is wonderful! Amen to member number 118! And amen to many other posts as well!
It is obvious that Gideon is very afraid of the Midianites. Gideon had heard stories of a God that protected and secured His people and Gideon had never considered what these "forefathers" did to find favor with God. He is looking at himself and the people as victims and this gives a feeling and sense of abandonement. The bible clearly states that "He will NEVER leave us nor forsake us" and that means even when we FEEL He is not there ... God is there. Fear (being afraid) can blind us to our own faults and make us miss the miracles of God. Fear is a crippling mental disorder. Gideon's assessment of his (and his people) situation is one-sided. We might reach out and blame someone if we need to understand "why" yet do not seek a deeper understanding. Blaming can seem better than not knowing. Realize that we don't always HAVE to understand but that we DO have to trust and obey God.

[Barbara Momphard]

Gideon said God had abandoned them and gave them to Midian. No, they had disobeyed God and everyone was doing their own thing. Human nature to find someone else to blame. The danger is that when we make bad choices we turn away from God—it is our free will to obey God. We can study God’s Word and obey it.

[Omie]

Gideon believes that God has "thrown them away" (Liv.Bible). Gideon isn't walking in faith - but allowing feelings to provide his reason for the fear he has.

I don't blame God, I often wonder where He is. I have learned my time line is not His and this hard to understand and accept.

I am going to be more aware that my actions affect His decisions.

[Chris]

Gideons feelings on the surface would appear to be correct as in his eyes the Israelites had been abandoned by God but what he fails to realise is the fact that it was the Israelites that had turned away from God and begun to worship other gods. God never once stopped loving them - in fact it was the other way round and as He has allowed us freedom of will He could not help the Israelites unless they repented and turned to Him for help.

Just like Gideon we can all be too quick to blame God for so many things that happen in our life but the one thing that we forget is that it is us that abandon God at times in our life and not the other way round. We then feel as Gideon did that God has turned away from us when it is the other way round. When things go wrong in our lives I feel that we should sit and think as to why it may have happened instead of blaming God for all and sundry. Let us all ask ourselves the question of whether we prayed to God at those times and asked for his help or whether we just presumed that he automatically would.

God does love each and every one of us but we need to fully commit our lives to following Him 100% not just when it suits us - then and only then can we begin to have a proper relationship with God.

Please feel free to visit my Christian site at the url below:-

My Home Page

Chris

[gail m]

I think Gideon blamed God not just because he thought God abandoned him amd his people but because it was easier to blame God than to realize it was his own people's fault.

I think in a sense he was right in his thinking, since God handed them over to the Midianites..but he didn't understand it was for them to learn. Sort of the whole "tough love" senerio...

I think we tend to blame God because it's easy to.

How to not blame God...I don't know how I can tell anyone not to blame God for things..but in my own life I just have to remember that God loves me and wouldn't ever hurt me in anyway..

[Peggie]

I don't believe Gideon realized why God was allowing Israel to be chastised....maybe because he was to young? I don't know there.

However, God never abandoned Israel, they abandoned Him, thus the consequenses.

[Peter Huang]

Gideon blamed God for abondoning him and Israel.From his point of view it seems like the correct assessment but what he forgets is that the people of Israel have disobeyed God's commandment not to worship the God of the Amorites. In fact God had not really abandoned the people of Israel because when they cried out to Him for help he gave them a prophet to lead them out of their troubles.We tend to do the same thing in our lives because it is human nature to blame others for our misfortunes. We need to sit down and ask ourselves when that happens why the misfortunes have befallen on us Sometimes we can find the answers but more often we cannot and blame God. However we need to remember that God works in mysterious ways and we should always trust in his mercies.

[Johnson]

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The Lord was not with Israelites.
Gideon's assessment was inaccurate because, the God was always with them but they were away from Him. It's human tendancey to find fault with others for our misery.

[nelda huffman]

Gideon was discouraged because God hadn't done anything to protect them That God wasn't with them.

We all know that God is always with us and he does things in his own time, not ours. Right?

Hi I am Nelda and I live in Missouri and this is my first time with this Bible Study.

[Missy]

It seems we all agree that God had been there all along, but Gideon and the Isrealites were too self-absorbed to notice. They were focusing on the problems and how they could handle it, and not until they cried to the Lord, did He send them a prophet (v. 7-8). How easily we make props for ourselves, fooling ourselves into thinking we're self-sufficient. When that begins to happen, we quit focusing on God, because our pride tells us that we don't need to......we've got it covered. Sometimes (too often, I'm afraid) God needs to knock those props out from under us, so that we'll seek Him and His answers instead of trying to handle it on our own.

Gideon's situation reminds me of USA's September 11th crisis. We were all pretty much at ease in America, prior to 8:30 am that morning, and then WHAM! Many people asked, "Where was God?" As Christians, we can say with confidence, "God was right there." The churches were flooded for the next few weeks because people had had their props knocked out, but after a few weeks, attendance began returning to normal as the horror of that day faded, and people began rebuilding their props.

Please don't think I'm being judgmental. I'm as guilty as anyone in not praying about something because "I've got it covered, Lord. I'll call you when I need you." Constant reliance on God is a trait to be admired.

[Darleen Nelson]

Wow so many responses. I was on the board for the end of Luke and we never got responses like this. I think it is wonderful. Have a few comments although most of them are already covered. Gideon reminded the angel of the protection that God had always given to the Israelites and how he had helped them when they left the land of Egypt and of the care He had given them through the wilderness. They had food and protection and now they had neither one and he seemed to be blaming this on God. They were at the position of having nothing and he felt God had forsaken them. He was right in his assessment but put the blame in the wrong place. The Israelites had turned away from God and lost His proteciton. We must watch that we stay close to God and put our faith and confidence in His care and not in our own efforts. We must remember who our source is and obey Him. If we trust Him daily we will not be put in these dire circumstances.