"If the Lord is with us, then why is it that all this is happening to us now?" Gideon's complaint, in today's first reading is a recurring complaint in the Old Testa-ment. It is repeated in a number of the psalms, and it is a frequent complaint on the lips of even very holy Christians through the ages. And maybe we have even said such words ourselves in times of distress or anger or frustration. When sufferings or serious problems come, or when we try to understand how the God of love and compassion can "allow" evils and disasters and tragedies to happen in our world, it is maybe easy enough to allow ourselves to add in that little word "if" in front of a statement of faith - "if" there is a God, "if" God is love, "if" God cares or knows. In better moods, we know and feel that the Lord is with us, that He is our loving Father, that there is nothing conditional about His commitment to us. Let us then pray for a strengthening of this faith, so that we don't so easily begin to say "if". But at the same time let's not be discouraged when we cannot understand the ways of God, when (like Job) we may even find ourselves getting angry with God in our prayers. There is no "if" about God. Despite his complaint, Gideon came to recognise that truly the Lord was with him, that he was not going to die, and that the Lord was his peace.