Loving God of all answers, bless the soul of this dear reader in all that may be troubling to her or him this day; in Christ Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Our text comes from Judges 6: 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, "The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior." 13 Gideon answered him, "But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, "Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian." 14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you." 15 He responded, "But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." 16 The Lord said to him, "But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them." 17 Then he said to him, "If now I have found favor with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. ..36 Then Gideon said to God, "In order to see whether you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 I am going to lay a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said." 38 And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, "Do not let your anger burn against me, let me speak one more time; let me, please, make trial with the fleece just once more; let it be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew." 40 And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
We are funny people. We say we believe, then we doubt. We say we will, then we won't. We say we have strength, then we act weak. We say we will serve and we don't. We say we will give and we listen to fear. Why is it that when we're involved in spiritual work we seek more and more confirmation and proof? I'm guilty of that and I know that I'm not alone. We seek confirmation sometimes that what we're doing is either worth it or that we're the ones who are supposed to do it. Today's story is straight from the Bible, a judge by the name of Gideon. You might have heard of him, an organization dedicated to handing out Bibles and placing them in needed places gets its name from him. But he was asked by God to do a mighty thing and as you re-read the first verses of this passage again you see where God tells him through His angel that God is with him. He doesn't say, "Thank you!" or "I knew that!" He begins to whine about all that has happened to him. And the rest of the chapter is Gideon's search for proof and confirmation that he was doing what God wanted him to be doing. The final verses are the ones where we get the saying some Christians have when they're making decisions they'll say, "I'm laying a fleece out before the Lord." What they're really saying is, "I want proof! I want confirmation!" or even "I want YOU to make the decision for me!"
Look around. Listen closely. Listen quietly. Think deeply. Read deeply in the Bible. The answer you seek is right here; and you know what? It may have been right here all along!
PRAYER: Dear God as I seek so many answers and solutions to the challenges of my life, speak cleary to my heart, mind, and spirit that I may hear what it is that I am seeking. I thank You for not giving up on me, and forgiveness for those times when it seems I've given up on You. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
PS Prayer Request for Lucas and Samuel, two young men from Virginia who are hurting from physical injuries and need God's healing. Pray that God would heal and restore them. Blessings!
