Guest Devotion: Gideon’s Fleece

Meet my friend, Brad Johnson.

It has been such a joy to come to know Brad and his family (wife Christina and four boys Sam, Luke, Matthew and Caleb) over the past 5 years. He is a light, a leader, and keeps everyone laughing. In addition to being a husband and father, Brad currently serves as the President of The Word is Out (thewordisout.com), and additionally he is an Affiliate Professor at Asbury Theological Seminary. Brad loves Jesus, his family, cycling, and tinkering on things around his home. I am grateful for Brad, and I know you will be blessed by his words today.

Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying 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 save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” 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. Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew (Judges 6:36-40, ESV).

Do you remember Gideon?

Isn’t it funny how, at the mention of someone’s name, one word often comes to mind. We say Noah, we think ark. We say Thomas, we think doubting. We say Jonah, we think whale. And when we say Gideon, we think fleece. Why is it that a singular detail in the account of Gideon -8 sticks with us more than any other? Perhaps it’s because we can relate. How many times have we found ourselves in a crisis or moment of indecision when—like Gideon—we have “thrown out a fleece” to discern how God would have us to act?

On the surface, throwing out one’s fleece seems like a relatively effortless and efficient means of getting an answer to a question or a solution to a problem. But when we stop and sit with the text, immersing ourselves into the reality that must have been Gideon’s, something a little different comes to mind. In antiquity, a fleece was the equivalent of our modern-day sleeping bag: a means of shielding our bodies from the discomforts of exposure. A night outdoors without a sleeping bag would be absolutely miserable. Hour after hour, moment by moment, as the temperature and dew fall, our bodies slip into a disquieting numbness that calls out for relief. Whether we call this a long night or a short night, it is an experience we all seek to avoid.

So what would it mean for Gideon to surrender his fleece, his sleeping bag, his comfort from the elements? It would mean a miserable night. It would mean exposure to the cold and the damp—hour after hour, moment by moment.

You see, God had called Gideon—a man whose clan was “the weakest in Manasseh” and who himself was “the least in my father’s house”—to an extraordinary task. And to be sure that Gideon both heard and understood properly, he sought confirmation by putting out his fleece—not once, but twice. And that cost him.

Your life may be following in the way of Gideon. You might be young in your faith journey, perhaps considered by some the “least” in your Christian circle. However, God may be calling you to “attempt something big” (to paraphrase Dr. Tim Tennent, President of Asbury Seminary)—”something so big that, unless God intervenes, it is doomed to fail.” While you are not facing hordes of Midianites too numerous to count, you may be standing face-to-face with an invitation to do something grand.

Will you say “yes”?

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