_ Judges 6:17: "Behold, I will put out a fleece of wool on the floor and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it is dry upon the earth, then shall I know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said."
I always get a little aggravated with Gideon when I read this. My thinking is something like this: "Where is his faith? Wasn't God's declaration enough?" Then I think again. The Midainites had conquered Israel and ruined their crops and houses. Now the vast Midianite army is about to attack again. The Israelites repented and God turned to Gideon to rescue them. I have to ask myself what I would do under similar circumstances? I would probably act like Moses and say "Why me?" Or I would probably pull a Gideon and say "Prove yourself to me." Taking on the Midianite army at that time in Israel's weakened condition would surely be a tough task. God proved himself to Gideon and, to make a long story short, under Gideon's leadership the Israelites prevailed. What is the moral of this story? When God calls upon us to serve Him, He wants us to do it by faith. He wants us to take Him at His word and trust Him. He will take our humanity into account and humor us, like He did Gideon, but it would be better if we would just trust Him. The Bible is full of God's promises to us about using His power to aid us in serving Him. We quote Philippians 4:13 so confidently: "I can do all things through Him (Christ) who strengthens me." Do we really believe it or do we lay out the fleece? When I really think about it, I'm not quite as aggravated with Gideon and his fleece. But I can pray that I will have the faith and courage to serve the Lord in any endeavor He calls me to. You can pray the same prayer. (More on Gideon on the next blog.) Bro. Joe
1 Comment
Andrew Hall
12/30/2011 02:02:25 am
Thanks for the good word about Gideon. Personally I fell like the Mids are ready to attack---We in the Church need to step up and get geared up so as to be ready. Lord, give us the faith of Gideon to to face this new year with the kind of courage he showed..
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