Gideon - Part 5
Laying a fleece, twice
Judges 6v33-40
7th August 2015
Gideon knew that God had called him to action. At the Lord's command, he destroyed his father's altar to Baal and Asherah pole. The people wanted him killed but his father defended him and, in doing so, came back from idolatry to the worship of the true God. Gideon had made a stand for God, and the people noticed.
Somebody had to lead the fight for freedom from the Midianites and from false gods, and Gideon made a start. But this was just the beginning of Gideon's involvement in God's work:
Judges 6v33-35
Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in
the Valley of Jezreel.
Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.
He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they
too went up to meet them.
As he'd said in verse 15, Gideon was the least in his family, and his clan was the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh. He'd only done one thing for God - he'd destroyed his father's idols and sacrificed to God on the site where they'd stood. But now he was a leader in Israel. He blew a trumpet, and the people came to him. We learn two lessons from this simple sequence of events:
Firstly: a Christian leader is a leader because God has chosen him and because the Spirit of the Lord is on him to lead, not for any other reason. Not because he's been to Bible college, or because he's ambitious, or because he has money or education or anything else. Our only qualification for any minstry is that God has called us to do it.
Secondly: you're only a leader if people follow you. Of course some people who are not called by God to lead can attract a following. But if no-one is following, you're not a leader.
Judges 6v36-37
Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised - "
look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry,
then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.
Gideon had asked for a sign before, and the angel of the Lord had set fire to the offering he'd presented. Now Gideon was presented with a greater challenge - fighting off the Midian army was a whole different thing from destroying n altar. He asked for a second sign.
The first time Gideon had asked for a sign, he did so because he wanted to be sure "that it is really you [God] talking to me" (verse 17). But this time he asked for assurance that "you [God] will save Israel by my hand as you have promised". It's one thing to want to be sure that the voice we're hearing is truly God's voice. It's quite another to ask for a demonstration that God won't break His promise. Of course God means what He says! But before we judge Gideon too harshly, we should ask ourselves - do we doubt any of God's promises?
God is merciful to us, even when we doubt His word:
Judges 6v38
And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew - a bowlful of
water.
But Gideon wasn't satisfied. He still had doubts. He knew he shouldn't really ask for a third sign, but he did so anyway. The idea of fighting the Midianites must havereally scared him - it would certainly scare me:
Judges 6v39
Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the
fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew."
Again, God was merciful. He did what Gideon asked. He understood Gideon's emotional state, as he understands ours.
Judges 6v40
That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
God doesn't just give us what we ought to need, he gives what we actually need. And He doesn't just provide for our material needs, He also ministers to our emotions. God will give you what you need, if you'll ask Him.