Little Thoughts, June 25th, 2025

By Pastor Sammy Little, First Baptist Church of Stowell

  Judges 6 gives us the story of Gideon with fleeces. God had told him to fight the huge army of Midianites that had plagued, bullied, and robbed Israel. Gideon seemed very obedient before and after, but he had a time of doubt in the middle. He asks God, “If you will deliver Israel by my hand as you have said, behold I am laying out a fleece tomorrow, and if there dew on the fleece but the ground is dry, I shall know you will do what you said.” Why the test? Is this a good way to find God’s will today? Isn’t God’s word enough? I will say that this is the only place in the Bible where someone has heard the voice of God and still requests and receives a sign from God, so I would say it is not the normal way of dealing with God. And please notice that it didn’t prove that God wanted Gideon to fight. The way Gideon requested it was the way a fleece would normally be wetter than the ground around it. So Gideon requested the reverse to be true. And God did it. Gideon was going to asked to do a huge thing: whittle the army down to 300 so it would be evident to all that it was a miracle of God defeating Midian, not the strength of Israel. God can do fleeces, because He wants us to know His will, but generally He wants us to listen and obey and to walk by faith.