We don’t need no stinkin’ wet fleece! Live by Faith

Scripture: Judges 6:36-40 says, “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.”  And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.

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. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew.” That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

Observation: Gideon lacked faith. Call it what you want, but he needed more than hearing the word of the Lord. Just a few verses earlier God said, “The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.” But Gideon needed more confirmation, so he tested the Lord. However, God was ok with it and answered Gideon’s request to perform some small miracles to prove that God was real and serious.

Application: Have you ever heard someone say they will “put a fleece before God?” What that means is that we are looking for something to confirm something we feel God has asked us to do. I use to say this all the time. I would wait for God to prove that what he said was true before I would step out with faith. But faith is “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” If we need something other than faith before we follow God, is that faith at all? I would say no. We can second guess our faith all day long, we can tell God that we’ll believe him when he “proves it” but the reality is that we are now in a time where God is asking us to live by faith in the Son of God and to step out by faith. So what is the fleece for us as we live by faith? 3 things: First, did you feel that God placed it on your heart? Second, is what He is asking you to do contrary to His written Word? Three, did you ask some other strong Christians who you trust to pray with you and seek their wise counsel? If you did those three, step our on faith and stop waiting for a dry fleece. Just do it!

Prayer: Thank you God that you are building in me a faith that can move mountains. Please continue this good work and make it stronger today!