Sign
Being a senior in college is a strange feeling. There is the usual thought of it only feels like yesterday when I was a freshman, and yet it feels like college has been such a long portion of my life as well. Although.. I might attribute that to all of those philosophy lectures... but anyways! There are many thoughts that have been crossing through my mind, as I am almost halfway done with my final semester, which takes us to the topic of the day: Signs.
Our passage is found in Judges 6:36-40
36 So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said— 37 look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” 38 And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.” 40 And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.
Now for those of you who are unfamiliar with the book of Judges, I'll give you a basic rundown. God's chosen people, the Israelites, go through a cycle where they fall away from God, get captured, God sends in a rescuer (called a judge), God's people repent, salvation occurs, and back to falling away. Judges 6 is no different, but our judge is named Gideon. Now Gideon is not very confident in his ability to lead and when told that he will be used for the rescue of Israel he begins to test God. This is where our passage takes place and our first point. He begins with doubt.
How many times do we feel called to do something, speak with someone, stand up for something, choose a different major, and yet we start out hesitant attitude. We immediately flood our mind with doubts and reasons that God must have gotten confused when He told us to do that. I'm not confident enough to go talk to them, why would God have me do that? I know nothing about that country, why would God call me to a mission trip there? Many of us do it, me included, and so we begin to ask God for signs.
Gideon's first request is a little weird, but God fulfills the sign to prove that He has chosen Gideon. Due to the already overwhelming doubt though, Gideon requests a second sign. Do we not do the same? How many signs does it take to get our attention? As I mentioned, I am a senior in college and with that comes a very real issue for lots of people, engagement. Is she the one? Is he the one? Are they interested in me? There is no way that someone like THAT could be interested in me. If there is an area of life that I myself and those around me have asked for signs in recently, this would be one of the largest ones. We ask God to guide us to that person, and sometimes when they are right in our laps we ask for even more signs just to make sure.
This doesn't pertain to you? Have you ever asked for multiple signs in the following areas:
- College Choice
- Career
- Major
- Friends
- Extracurricular Involvement
Gideon knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what God was calling him to do. He knew God was going to use him as the tool to save His people. Yet due to the doubts that Gideon began with it took two direct signs from God to convince him. Gideon's faith will even squander later on in chapter 7 as he prepares for battle.
So what do we take away from Gideon here? Well it appears to be simple. God has given you a call to something in your life, and I can't tell you what that is. IF you are confused on where to look, look no further than what you doubt. Often times the biggest tool that the devil can use to interrupt God's plan for you is self-doubt. YOU are a child of God who is loved and cherished and rest in the palm of His hand. God wouldn't call you to something that you weren't prepared for.
He doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called.
Thanks for reading and God bless.
-rcrawford
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