July 02, 2022
Daily Devotion:
"God is Leading Us … "
Judges 6:39
New International Version
39 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.”
Perhaps you have heard someone talking about "putting out a fleece," What various people mean by that expression runs the gamut from genuinely seeking God's will in a matter of decision, all the way to throwing some important decision to the winds of fate or sheer chance. Gideon's famous fleece may not have been so much an act of faith as an act of doubt. Had Gideon merely been seeking confirmation from a God in whom he fully trusted, he only needed to put the fleece out once. When he insisted on putting the fleece out a second time, we wonder if there was more doubt than trust. Yet we mustn't be too hard on Gideon. How, indeed, do you and I know with any confidence what God's will is? Are we just supposed to take the first thing that comes along as our indicator of where God is leading us? What if it is only a coincidence? What if we too quickly seize on something that simply appeals to what we ourselves secretly want?
Gideon had good reason not to thoughtlessly seize the first possible indicator of God's presence in his life. Using what seemed to be common sense, Gideon in initially concluded that God must have abandoned Israel. What else would explain all the trouble they were in? Then realizing that his first assumption was obviously wrong, Gideon took on a healthy skepticism about how God acts. Crucially, it seems that God was not angry with Gideon for putting the fleece out twice. Instead of going off half-cocked, making doubly sure of what God wants may not be such a bad idea.
The question for all of us is: Even if I may not instantly or easily know which direction God is leading, do I at least stop, look, and listen?
