Peace Within Conflict
We notice our need for peace the moment it’s gone. When was the last time you had a sleepless night? The mind refuses rest when something remains unresolved, pressure presses in, or concern lingers.
What if this has been happening not for a few days, but for years?
Situation Before Peace
Judges 6 opens with Israel living under sustained threat. Raiders leveled fields and carried off livestock. What they could not take, they destroyed, leaving little behind for those who lived there.
Fighting back was not an option. The imbalance was overwhelming. Families found refuge in the mountains and caves where they learned how to survive by remaining unseen.
It is here that a man emerges who has known nothing else. His name is Gideon.
Salvation from God
Gideon is found at a winepress. But he’s not crushing grapes. He is threshing wheat. He works silently, using a place never meant for this task. The work is awkward, inefficient, but it’s hidden. The Angel of Yahweh came to him there.
As he labored, questions must have pressed in. Why must this continue? Where is God? Has He abandoned His people completely?
In that secluded place, the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said,
“Yahweh is with you, O mighty man of valor. (Judges 6:12)”
Gideon did not go to God. God came to Gideon.
Gideon didn’t build an altar to call for help or understanding. He didn’t summon the courage to fight, nor find a way to overcome fear. He was hiding, doing his best to survive.
Salvation begins with divine initiative, not human readiness. God steps into the place of fear before fear is overcome.
Suspicion and Scarcity
Startled by the presence and how he was addressed, Gideon replied,
“Please, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us?” (Judges 6:13a)
He continues,
“And where are all His miraculous deeds which our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not Yahweh bring us up from Egypt?” (Judges 6:13b)
And then concludes,
“But now Yahweh has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian (Judges 6:13c)
Gideon questions God’s faithfulness while assuming his own is not in question.
Yahweh turned to him directly, and said,
“Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do I not send you?” (Judges 6:14)
The command ignored everything Gideon had just said. No explanation was given for the years of oppression. No defense was offered against the charge of abandonment. Just a command to a man hiding his wheat in a winepress.
Gideon’s response came quickly,
“Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” (Judges 6:15)
Gideon doesn’t argue against God’s will. He disputes the practicality. God’s command is clear. But his clan lacks influence, his family lacks standing, and within that family, he is last. God’s plan requires resources Gideon does not possess.
For Gideon, the numbers did not add up.
Sufficiency
God’s answer? Presence, not power:
“But Yahweh said to him, ‘Surely, I will be with you, and you shall strike down Midian as one man.” (Judges 6:16)
The response doesn’t answer Gideon’s concern. God doesn’t say that the clan is stronger than Gideon thinks, or that his family position doesn’t matter, or even that hidden resources will become available. God offers something else entirely: His own presence.
The disproportion? It remains. What changes is who will be there.
Marriages often falter not in the midst of crisis but in the long struggle when resources are insufficient. A husband delays the hard conversation because he cannot find the words. A wife withholds forgiveness because the hurt still feels too large to release. Both wait for strength or clarity to arrive before initiating a move, but in that waiting, faithful oneness between husband and wife is deferred.
Scripture teaches something different. God does not remove Gideon’s inadequacy or change his family’s standing. He offers His presence instead. Marriage is sustained not by capability, but by faithfulness. Moving forward becomes possible because God, our Immanuel, is faithful.
Conclusion
At this point of the story, we pause to notice that nothing has been resolved.
The Midianite threat? Still there. Gideon’s inadequacy? Also still there. The imbalance of power hasn’t been shifted at all.
But God has spoken.
Just like Gideon, where are you feeling inadequate and helpless to face what lies before you? What conversation have you been avoiding because the cost feels too high, the outcome too uncertain? What step toward peace have you not taken because you just don’t see how it could work out?
The story reminds us that peace does not begin when outcomes are clear, but when God draws near. And God is peace, even while the conflict remains.
This article is part of the ongoing Names of God series, where we explore how God’s revealed names shape faith, marriage, and daily life.