Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Then Gideon said to God, "If You will deliver Israel
through me, as You have spoken, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the
threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the
ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as You have
spoken." And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed
the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. Then
Gideon said to God, "Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may
speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece, let it
now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground."
God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all
the ground. Judges 6:36-40
A Divine Confirmation
Sometimes
discerning the will of God in our lives and making sure we heard Him clearly
before we head off in the wrong direction can be much more unnerving and scary
than even being lost in the dark, in a strange city. Signs help to keep us from getting lost. They
give us direction and let us know we are on the right path; we are headed the
right direction. Gideon asked God for a sign because he wanted to be sure that
God was really going to use him. He wanted to know if he had heard God clearly.
Our lives would be so much easier if we could know with absolute certainty that
we are moving in the direction God wants us to go and doing the exact things He
is calling us to do. He does give us signs and confirmations, but sometimes we
miss them, or we ignore them, or Satan tries to distract us, so we make the wrong
turn. Sometimes we don’t believe we are able to do what we know God is telling
us to do, so we don’t do anything except stand in the same spot questioning Him
over and over again.
Gideon was
not a “valiant warrior” in the eyes of those who knew him, yet God gave
him the title and job of a “valiant warrior”. God sent an angel of the
Lord to him to tell him he was to save Israel from Midian and Gideon had already
asked for and received a sign that it was truly God who was speaking to Him.
Now he is asking for another sign that God would really do what He said He
would do – use Gideon to save Israel.
We all have insecurities and suffer
from lack of confidence sometimes. Even
the most powerful people you know suffer from insecurities, even though they
may hide it well. Gideon, feeling a bit insecure at this point, spoke to God
and basically said, If you are really
going to do what you say you will do, then prove it by causing dew to pool only
on the fleece I am throwing down on the threshing floor. Make the floor all around the fleece
dry. Then I will believe you. Gideon put God to the test and God came
through. He caused the dew to be on the
fleece only with completely dry ground all around, and underneath the fleece. There you go – that should be enough for
Gideon to sound the battle cry and lead everyone into battle. But Gideon still doubted God’s promises were
true.
Gideon then asked God for another
sign! This time Gideon asked God to let there be dew all over the ground around
the fleece but that the fleece itself would remain dry. Once more God did just what he had
asked. The fleece was perfectly dry with
dewy wet ground all around it. Gideon had his signs from God. Now he had every reason to be confident and
encouraged that God would use him to deliver Israel.
God’s words to us should never
require outward confirmation. Gideon’s
requests were not acts of faith. This
was not about determining God’s will – God had already told him exactly what to
do. These requests of proof were signs
of doubt, fear and lack of confidence.
But lucky for Gideon, and us, that our God is a patient and long-suffering
God. He understands our fears and
insecurities. He knows us inside and out
and wants us to choose to obey Him based on our faith in Him. But He still
understands our human heart and He waits patiently - sometimes for a long time -
for us to finally be ready to trust Him with our lives and obey Him in all
things.
Are you putting out the fleece for
God? Are you hesitating like Gideon, waiting for some divine signal to motivate
you to move on down the road God has set before you? God can give us all the confirmation we need,
but if we refuse to step out in faith and believe, none of the signs He sends
will matter. God wants us to have faith and trust Him even when the enemy army
looms enormously ahead of us. He wants us to take Him at His word and trust Him.
For that, He has already given us the only sign we need – the one that hung
above His Son’s cross that said Jesus of Nazareth, The King of The Jews.
His sacrifice for us on the cross was the only sign we need to know that He
loved us enough to give His life for us so we can trust Him with every step of
our lives.
It is the
LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not
leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.
Deuteronomy 31:8
Lara Cook
