Gideon's Fleece

Judges 3:36-40

Then Gideon said to God, “If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, prove it to me in this way. I will put a wool fleece on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me rescue Israel as you promised.” And that is just what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a whole bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Please don’t be angry with me, but let me make one more request. Let me use the fleece for one more test. This time let the fleece remain dry while the ground around it is wet with dew.” So that night God did as Gideon asked. The fleece was dry in the morning, but the ground was covered with dew.

Devotional

Something you will notice in the Bible is that every time the people of Israel (Israelites) follow God, they prosper, but when they start to forget about Him and do their own thing, they don’t do so well. The Israelites would worship other gods and did whatever they felt was right, rather than seeing if God thought it was right. As a result, they were not doing so well. People of Midian (Midianites) were stealing crops and animals from the Israelites, which meant they had no food. But God was there even though they were messing up. The Israelites cried out to God for help and He chose Gideon - someone from the weakest clan of Israel who is tasked to defeat the Midianites.

I don’t know about you, but that makes no sense because wouldn’t you want a strong clan to take on this challenge? Why would God pick a person from a weak clan? Gideon was not sure either. So he came up with the idea of using his wool fleece to be sure that God was serious about using him to rescue Israel. He tested God not once, but twice.

There are a lot of tough times in life. Sometimes you wonder if God is punishing you or He doesn’t care about you. Be honest when asking Him, just like Gideon, and let those thoughts out. There are times when we want to be 100% sure of an outcome, but we want God to give us clear signs. However, God wants us to trust Him with all of your worries and needs. He wants you to remember the promises He made you and that He will carry them out. Just like He did for Israel again and again. You are more valuable to God than anything on this earth. So take a chance and trust in Him alone.

Reflection

Do you find trusting God very hard? Why or why not? Think of something in your life that you can fully trust God with.

There are times when we feel like we’re doing the right thing. There are times when we feel like we make a better god than God. But even with our mistakes and troubles we get ourselves into, God is there to help you. What you have intended for harm, but God intended it for good.