Judges 6:1-35
God promised Gideon, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive." Judges 6:16
Are you familiar with the expression "putting out a fleece?" It comes from the story of Gideon. It means asking God for a visible sign for reassurance or direction, asking God to guide us in some decision by fulfilling a condition that we make.
The Midianites, Amalekites, and some other eastern soldiers joined forces to create a vast army. They camped in the Valley of Jezreel, preparing to attack the Israelites. Gideon gathered his own army, but when he contemplated the upcoming battle, he got cold feet. He asked God for a sign that the Israelite army would be victorious. Judges 6:36-40 tells us the story, "Gideon said to God, 'If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised--look, I will place a wool fleece [a piece of wool] on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I 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, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.' That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew."
God knew His general needed reassurance, so He did as Gideon asked. There may be times for us when putting out a fleece is helpful. However, we have better ways to determine God's leading. Warren Wiersbe has this to say about putting out a fleece, "Putting out the fleece is not a Biblical method for determining the will of God. Rather, it's an approach used by people like Gideon who lack the faith to trust God to do what he said He would do.....Putting out the fleece is not only an evidence of our unbelief, but it's also an evidence of our pride. God has to do what I tell Him to do before I'll do what He tells me to do." Gideon should have simply believed God's word to him--God's promise of victory. That would have shown faith, while asking for a sign revealed Gideon's doubt.
Proverbs 3:5-6 instructs us to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding/ in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight." As we read God's word to understand His will, talk over the decisions we need to make with our Heavenly Father and ask for His guidance, then trust Him to guide us as He has said He would, we can walk with assurance that we are in the center of His will for our lives.
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