{"id":497,"date":"2017-04-02T22:46:20","date_gmt":"2017-04-02T21:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=497"},"modified":"2017-04-02T22:46:20","modified_gmt":"2017-04-02T21:46:20","slug":"gideon-lays-out-a-fleece-judges-635-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=497","title":{"rendered":"Gideon lays out a fleece Judges 6:35-40"},"content":{"rendered":"

If people know one story about Gideon it will not be the one about him destroying the altar to Baal and the Asherah Pole and him sacrificing his father\u2019s prize bull to the one true God, the God of Israel. It will not be the story we will come to next week of how Gideon defeated the Midianite hoards who had been ravaging Israel for seven years. The story people will know about Gideon is the one where he lays out a fleece as a way for God to guide him. Many devout Christians, particularly those of the charismatic persuasion like I am, will talk about times when they themselves have followed Gideon\u2019s example and themselves have \u201claid out a fleece\u201d for God to guide them. And many will talk about the blessings they have received by being guided by God in that way.
\nThe problem with that is that the story of Gideon and the fleece is not actually about guidance at all. And when we read it in context and understand it properly, this story does not give us a good example to follow at all. On the contrary, what Gideon did with the fleece not once but twice is actually a bad example to avoid!
\nJudges 36 Gideon said to God, \u2018If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised\u201437 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.\u2019 38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew\u2014a bowlful of water.
\nThis is not a story about guidance. Gideon already knows what God is going to do. This is a story about doubting God. \u2018If you will save Israel by my hand.
\nIF? IF? Gideon might have questions, but those are put into perspective by his next words, as you have promised.
\nThe episode with the fleece was not about discovering what God wanted Gideon to do. It was about Gideon asking whether God was actually going to keep his promise. \u2018If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised. Prove to me, God, that you are going to keep your promise.
\nThat wouldn\u2019t be so bad if Gideon had just heard God speaking once and telling him to drive away the Midianites. But remember what we read a few weeks ago from the beginning of Judges 6.
\n11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, \u2018The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.\u2019
\nGod didn\u2019t just speak to Gideon in a dream. He didn\u2019t just speak to Gideon in an audible voice. God actually sent an angel to speak to him. Even Moses only got a burning bush! Gideon was rare in the history of God\u2019s dealings with humanity \u2013 Gideon had an angel appear to him! But then remember what the angel said. <\/p>\n

14 The LORD turned to him and said, \u2018Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian\u2019s hand. Am I not sending you?\u2019 <\/p>\n

At that point in the story it appears that it is no ordinary angel, but it might actually have been God HIMSELF who has appeared to Gideon. Either way, the message is clearly from God. Go in the strength you have. I know you aren\u2019t strong but my strength will be sufficient! Am I not sending you. Gideon knew that God was indeed sending him to drive out the Midianites. Even though he was only a poor boy, from a poor family. <\/p>\n

15 \u2018Pardon me, my lord,\u2019 Gideon replied, \u2018but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.\u2019 <\/p>\n

To reassure Gideon, God then gives him two more wonderful promises.<\/p>\n

16 The LORD answered, \u2018I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.\u2019 <\/p>\n

I will be with you! The presence of God is all anybody needs. If God be for us who can be against us?<\/p>\n

And then God says, \u201cYou will strike down all the Midianites.\u201d You will accomplish what I am sending you to do, because I will be with you! Yet we saw, after all those promises, Gideon still wasn\u2019t certain, so he asked God for a sign. <\/p>\n

17 Gideon replied, \u2018If now I have found favour in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.\u2019 <\/p>\n

God came and consumed by fire the offering which Gideon put on the rock before him. So finally Gideon was sufficiently convinced that he built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel and called it \u201cThe LORD is Peace.\u201d
\nThat night God came and spoke to Gideon a second time. As we saw last week Gideon put his house in order. He took the step of faith of destroying his father\u2019s altar to Baal and the Asherah pole, and sacrificing his father\u2019s prize bull to the Lord the God of Israel. This earned him the nickname, Jerub-Baal, \u201cLet Baal contend with him.\u201d And Gideon\u2019s fame obviously spread, because this is what happened next.
\n33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them. <\/p>\n

So far Gideon has had an angel appear to him. God has given him at least four wonderful promises. God has already given him one miraculous sign. Then God spoke to Gideon again on a separate occasion. And he has yet another spiritual encounter when \u201cthe Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet\u201d and the response to his trumpet and his messengers drew together a mighty army to fight against the Midianites and the Amalekites. Things were looking good!
\nSo it is a bit of a surprise, to say the least, when Gideon comes back to God and asks him for another sign. He knows exactly what God\u2019s plans are and what God wants him to do. But Gideon isn\u2019t sure God will keep his promise. Gideon starts the conversation and demands another sign.
\n36 Gideon said to God, \u2018If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised\u201437 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.\u2019
\n\u201cIF\u2026 you are going to do what you have already promised to do.\u201d But God is amazingly patient, and fulfils the weird sign which Gideon has demanded.
\n38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew\u2014a bowlful of water.
\nGod does what Gideon has asked. The fleece was soaking wet when the ground all around was dry. Only God could have done that. By this God guaranteed that He would do what he had promised and Gideon would indeed save Israel. That should surely have been the end to the matter.
\nBut it wasn\u2019t!
\n39 Then Gideon said to God, \u2018Do 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.\u2019 40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
\nI am amazed that God gave Gideon the sign of the wet fleece on dry ground. But I am lost for words that after that Gideon then had the cheek to ask for a second sign. And that God then gave him the dry fleece on wet ground. All to reassure Gideon that God would indeed keep His promise. As if telling him all those previous times had not been enough!
\nOn the positive side, this story does reassure us all of the amazing grace and patience of our God. God does not expect his children to become perfect overnight. God persevered with Gideon even though super-chicken still lived on in him. God did not reject Gideon but met his doubts with signs of assurance. Just as God answered all Moses\u2019s objections when he called him to go to speak to Pharaoh to set the Israelites free from slavery in Egypt. Just as Jesus made a special resurrection appearance just to answer the questions and doubts of the apostle Thomas. God gave Gideon the signs that he demanded, to reassure him that His promises would be fulfilled.
\nGod is patient with us. Somebody once wrote, \u201cAll that God expects from us is failure.\u201d God does not expect faith and obedience every time. Into his plans for our lives and for this world, God makes allowance for the times when we will fail. When we will not have enough faith. When we will disobey.
\nSomebody has written, \u201cFear of defeat had paralysed Gideon\u2019s faith. And that can happen in our lives as well. \tGod did not want Gideon to be fearful or discouraged or doubting. Instead of challenging or rebuking Gideon\u2019s fears, God gave Gideon the signs He asked for. And God will answer our doubts as well. Sometimes he will even give us signs when we ask for signs. But we should never mistake God\u2019s patience with Gideon as approval for the practice of \u201claying out a fleece,\u201d which Gideon did not once but twice. Gideon\u2019s fleece was not a spiritual way of seeking guidance. In reality it was a stalling tactic \u2013 a way of putting off or dodging doing what God had already very clearly commanded Gideon to do.
\nHere is an important point to make. Sometimes narratives in the Bible show us what will always happen, or what should happen. At other times they illustrate what might happen in our lives, but may not. And sometimes stories are there to give us a warning about what not to do. Stories record what happened \u2013 not \u201cwhat should have happened\u201d or \u201cwhat ought to happen every time.\u201d What happens in a narrative could be \u201can example to follow\u201d OR \u201ca sin to avoid\u201d \u2013 and the Bible doesn\u2019t usually tell us which! Narratives are recorded to achieve the author\u2019s purpose, not to answer our questions. NO Old Testament narratives were written specifically about YOU or for YOU! Gideon laid out a fleece. But just because it\u2019s what Gideon did, and God answered Gideon that way, doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s the right way for US to seek guidance! It definitely is not!
\nSo let\u2019s be reminded of the kinds of ways God does want to guide his children. In the Alpha Course Nicky Gumble gives us six aspects of God\u2019s guidance, all beginning with the letters C.S. We have been given the Bible, Commanding Scripture setting an Objective Standard for us to know God\u2019s General will for the world and His Particular will for our lives. We also have the Controlling Spirit giving us a Subjective Witness to His will in our lives, sometimes even through Prophecy, Dreams, Visions and pictures. We also have Common Sense. John Stott said, \u201cGod\u2019s promises of guidance were not given to save us the problem of thinking.\u201d We can be guided by the Counsel of the Saints. \u201cMake plans by seeking advice,\u201d says Proverbs 20: 18. We can look for Circumstantial Signs of Divine Providence. Sometimes God closes doors and sometimes God opens doors.\t God guides in all these ways and \u201claying out a fleece\u201d is not any of them.
\nWe may feel nervous or afraid of stepping out for God. The story of Gideon is an inspiration for us all because we see how God takes Gideon the super-chicken and shapes him into the mighty man of valour who would save Israel from the Midianites. And we have seen so far that that transformation was not instantaneous. It would take a number of little steps of obedience and little acts of faith before God could use Gideon as He purposed. But God doesn\u2019t give up on Gideon. God accepts Gideon just as he is, and changes him bit by bit. Gideon didn\u2019t just trust and obey in everything straight away. And God was OK with that! So this story is an encouragement to us all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If people know one story about Gideon it will not be the one about him destroying the altar to Baal and the Asherah Pole…<\/span><\/p>\n

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