God’s response to sin shouldn’t be a mystery. God gives the unsaved over to indulge in the depths of their sin so He may judge them and they are left without excuse (Rom 1:24, 28). He will, as the proverb says, Give you enough rope to hang yourself.
The saint, however, God gives over to his sin so he will turn in dependence and repentance to Him (1 Cor 5:1-5; Heb 12:6-11). Like the prodigal son desiring to eat the leftovers he’d fed to the swine and then remembering the goodness of his father back home, eating the full bitterness of our sins drives us to recall tasting that the Lord is good (Lk 15:16-18).
God’s judgment of sin always causes anger, disappointment, rebellion, and apostasy in the unsaved, but repentance and thanks in His child. He never lets His children sin with success. His goal as our Father is to make us like Jesus, and rewarding sin doesn’t fulfill that goal (Rom 8:29). Ignoring the gentle rebuke of Scripture means enduring the heavy hand of discipline.
Discipline teaches and restores, punishment destroys. Jesus bore our sins at the cross so our divine and deserved punishment would rest upon Him (Is 53:5-6; Rom 3:25; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 2:2).

I. The Persecutor (Judg 6:1-5). Four decades of political rest resulted in spiritual apathy, moral awfulness, and political anarchy again. The more things changed, the more they remained the same. And Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, though it was right in their own minds; so the Lord delivered His people over to correction by Israel’s enemies.
These enemies were not strangers, but were relatives! The Midianites were descendants of Abraham and one of his three wives (Gen 25:1-2; Num 25:31; 1 Chron 1:28-24), the Amalakites from Esau (Gen 36:11-12; Jud 3:13), and the Amorites from Noah’s son Ham (Gen 10:16).
God gave the land flowing with milk and honey to Israel, yet Israel fled the land because of these three nomadic tribes which swarmed like grasshoppers devouring everything Israel was ready to harvest. This is exactly what God said He’d do if the nation failed to keep His commands (Deut 28:29, 31, 38-40).

II. The Pain (Judg 6:6-7). It took seven years before Israel cried out in pain to the Lord. This cry wasn’t because of sin, but their circumstances. They’d become impoverished in every way.
People often cry out to God for reasons other than the sorrow of offending Him. We are often more concerned with the consequences of sin (getting caught, being punished, feeling embarrassed, or disappointing others) than giving up the sin God hates. Tears don’t indicate repentance; a heart and mind changed about our sin does!

III. The Prophet (10" class="scriptRef">Judg 6:8-10). Instead of a deliverer, God sent a prophet. Israel wanted God’s power, He gave them a preacher. They desired physical relief when they needed to understand sin led to suffering. They needed to know they’d sinned against God (Judg 6:1, 10).
Being right with God is more important to Him than us having the things we think are needful at the moment, and Christlikeness of more value than comforts (1 Tim 6:3-11).
A prophet brings God’s word. We don’t need modern prophets because Jesus is God’s Prophet to the world today (Heb 1:1-3), and we have God’s Word in written form which is all we need for salvation and the daily Christian life (2 Tim 3:14-17). Today our need is to be taught the Word of God.
Old Testament prophets often looked back to the Exodus as the example of God’s power, love, grace, and faithfulness to His people. Today we look back to the cross.
Israel’s future and God’s deliverance wasn’t due to Israel’s works or tears, but God’s faithfulness. He’d keep His covenant. When we turn to God and He receives us, it’s only because of who He is and the covenant He’s made in Jesus (Mt 26:26-29; Heb 9:11-15; 13:20-21); deliverance from sin is only by the grace of a gracious God.