Then Gideon said to God, “In order to see whether you
will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said, I am going to lay a fleece of wool on the
threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the
ground, then I shall know that you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have
said.” And it was so. When he rose early
next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to
fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said
to God, “Do not let your anger burn against me, let me speak one more time; let
me, please, make trial with the fleece just once more; let it be dry only on
the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew.” And God did so that night. It was dry on the
fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew. Judges 6:36-40
Did I mention that Gideon has trust issues? But he is aware of it. When he says, “do not let your anger burn
against me,” he knows he should trust God, but he’s just not there yet. God is patient and gives him multiple
confirmations. We read this and may
think to ourselves, “I would trust the first time.” But would you really? Do you really?
I know I often don’t.
There were six years of confirmations before I responded to a call to be
a pastor. Gideon is a hero in my book
for going all out after just a few “fleece moments.” The reason someone wrote own his story and
another group of someones decided to include it in collection of books that
make up our Bible is that we can read this story and see that the Lord often
honors our fleecing. I’m guessing one or
two of you need to hear that today.
But you might bring up what Jesus said; “you shall not
test the Lord your God.” (Matthew 4:7)
Here’s the difference. Jesus was
talking to the Devil when he said that and the Devil was trying to get Jesus to
do something God didn’t want done.
Gideon asked God for a confirmation so that he could feel confident
about what God DID want done. Gideon
wasn’t asking for God to show him what to do; he already knew what God
wanted. But he needed more faith, and
God is always interested in helping people have more faith.
Having said that, let me qualify it a bit. God is always interested in us having more
faith, but sometimes there are better ways for us to have more faith than to
see God pass our arbitrary tests. Jesus
sometimes refused to give a sign when people were asking for it and then other
times, signs were given even before someone asked for them. So if you know what God wants you to do and
you’re having trouble moving forward in faith, by all means, put out a
fleece. But just know that God’s help for
you to trust him more may come in a different way. Sometimes the added measure of faith comes
through moving forward without confirmation and seeing God give you the
victory. The main idea here is that God
can be trusted to do what will increase your faith in the best possible
way.
Prayer: Lord,
help me move past my need to test you so that I may trust you to do what you
already said you would do. Amen.
Prayer Focus:
Pray for those who are still having trouble finding work and whose unemployment
benefits will run out soon.
Song: Plumb – God Help Me
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