Can You Have Peace Before Anything Around You Changes?

Gideon meets the LORD who is peace in Judges 6

By Pastor John Erickson

Have you ever prayed for God to change your circumstances, only to discover that the circumstances haven't changed at all?

The same problem is waiting for you when you wake up. The same conversation needs to happen. The same bills are still there. The same worry keeps finding its way back into your thoughts.

You might begin wondering, Where is God in all of this?

Gideon asks something pretty close to that in Judges 6. And the answer leads us to a name of God I love: Yahweh Shalom, "The LORD is peace."

A Mighty Warrior Hiding in a Winepress

The book of Judges tells a repeating story. Israel turns away from God, falls into trouble, cries out for help, and receives a deliverer. Then the cycle begins again.

By Judges 6, the Midianites have made life miserable for the Israelites. Their crops are stolen and their resources depleted. The people are afraid.

And that's where we find Gideon.

He's threshing wheat in a winepress.

Normally, threshing wheat is something you'd want to do where there is wind and plenty of room. But Gideon is hiding the harvest so it won't be taken.

So picture this man, squeezed into the wrong place, trying to do a job in the least efficient way possible because he's frightened of being discovered.

Then the angel of the LORD appears and says, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."

I'm sorry, what?

This is the mighty warrior?

The guy hiding in a hole?

I love the humor of that moment. God sees something in Gideon that Gideon certainly doesn't see in himself.

Gideon Asks the Question We All Ask

Gideon responds in Judges 6:13 with a question that feels remarkably familiar: if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened?

He's heard the stories of God's deliverance. He knows about the rescue from Egypt. But right now he's living under Midianite oppression, and the stories don't seem to match the circumstances.

I think we've all been there.

We read about God's goodness, but we see suffering. We hear that God is present, but we feel alone. We know Scripture calls us to trust him, but we're exhausted from trying to understand what he's doing.

Gideon doesn't hide the question. He asks it.

And the LORD responds by commissioning him to rescue Israel.

But Gideon immediately identifies another problem: he's from a weak clan, and he's the least in his family.

In other words, You've got the wrong guy.

God's answer is not a detailed speech about Gideon's hidden leadership potential. It is a promise: "I will be with you."

Peace Is More Than a Lack of Conflict

Eventually Gideon recognizes whom he's encountered and becomes afraid. God reassures him, saying he will not die.

Gideon builds an altar and calls it "The LORD is peace."

Notice when this happens.

The Midianites haven't disappeared. The oppression isn't over. Gideon hasn't suddenly become the strongest man in the strongest family. He still has a difficult assignment ahead of him.

And yet he names the altar after the peace of God.

That is a very different picture of peace from the one we usually carry around.

The Hebrew word shalom points toward wholeness, well-being, and things being rightly ordered. It's much more than a few minutes when nobody is arguing.

Sometimes peace is quiet, sure. I love quiet. I have a family. I understand the beauty of a house where nobody is asking me a question.

But biblical peace is not dependent on everybody around us cooperating.

Gideon encounters the God who is peace while his circumstances remain difficult.

The Presence of God Changes the Moment

In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus invites the weary and burdened to come to him and find rest for their souls.

He doesn't say, "Come back when you've figured out your problems."

He doesn't say, "Get your life organized and then I'll consider helping you."

He says, "Come to me."

That's the heart of it.

We often treat peace as a feeling we need to manufacture. If I can just get my schedule right, my finances right, my relationships right, then maybe I'll finally feel at peace.

But Gideon's story reminds us that peace begins with the presence and character of God.

I need that reminder myself. I have spent time lamenting that God feels distant or that I do not seem to hear His voice. Then comes an uncomfortable question: When did I last make room to be quiet with Him? When did I last stop long enough to pray and listen?

That is not a formula for making every anxious feeling disappear. It is an invitation I need as much as anyone: turn toward the God whose presence I am missing.

We may still have hard conversations. We may still need to get up and do something difficult. Following God didn't excuse Gideon from participating in Israel's deliverance.

But he could move forward knowing he wasn't alone.

Where Are You Looking for Peace?

Maybe you're living in a personal winepress right now.

You're doing whatever you can to get through the day. You feel small, uncertain, and not especially brave. And you're wondering why God hasn't changed the situation.

I won't pretend this story offers a simple answer for every kind of suffering.

But it offers something important: the God who sees Gideon in his hiding place and promises to be with him.

What if the first step isn't to figure out how to fix everything?

What if it's to bring your fear, weariness, and honest questions before the LORD who is peace?

Your circumstances may not change immediately.

But you don't have to wait for everything to change before you begin trusting the one who is with you.