God called Gideon to go against the Midianites but he was timid. He asked to set a test for God to see if He was truly calling him. He left a fleece out during the night and asked God to let the fleece be wet and the ground dry in the morning, and God did it. But Gideon was still afraid and asked for another sign. Gideon’s second request for conformation was the reverse of his first, a dry fleece but wet ground. Again, despite Gideon’s lack of faith, God obliged him with great grace. The next morning the fleece was dry but the ground wet. Gideon had a sign that even he could not challenge. It’s interesting that much later Jewish tradition says this fleece was fashioned into a vest that Gideon wore under his breastplate in battle. If this is true, it would remind him, and his men who might see it, of the Lord’s promise to save them, which would encourage them to trust, rely, and have confidence in the Lord.<\/p>\n
The lesson here is that God uses the weak. The Apostle Paul says:<\/p>\n
\nFor you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. (1 Cor. 1:26\u201327)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
God’s choices would not be our choices. Why? Why use the weak? What’s wrong with the flesh? God created man, but the flesh now represents selfishness, self-reliance, sin, and evil. Satan successfully tempted Adam and Eve to self-sufficiency, which brought separation between God and humanity. Therefore God wants weak vessels, and anyone who boasts in his own strength or ability God won\u2019t use. God follows this policy so that no flesh will glory in His presence. Because Gideon was a very weak individual, God choose him to deliver Israel.<\/p>\n
“LORD, we choose to be weak to our own ideas and plans and strong in You. Help us to stay connected to You today not relying on our own strength.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n
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Judges 6 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1<\/sup>\u00a0And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the\u00a0LORD: and the\u00a0LORD\u00a0delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel:\u00a0and<\/em>because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.\u00a0\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And\u00a0so\u00a0<\/em>it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.\u00a0\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude;\u00a0for\u00a0<\/em>both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the\u00a0LORD. 7<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0because of the Midianites,\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0That the\u00a0LORD\u00a0sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;\u00a0\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land;\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And I said unto you, I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice. 11<\/sup>\u00a0And there came an angel of the\u00a0LORD, and sat under an oak which\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>in Ophrah, that\u00a0pertained\u00a0<\/em>unto Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>from the Midianites.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0And the angel of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0appeared unto him, and said unto him, The\u00a0LORD\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>with thee, thou mighty man of valour.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the\u00a0LORD\u00a0be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the\u00a0LORD\u00a0bring us up from Egypt? but now the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0And the\u00a0LORDlooked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>poor in Manasseh, and I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the least in my father\u2019s house.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. 19<\/sup> And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>out unto him under the oak, and presented\u00a0it<\/em>.20<\/sup>\u00a0And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay\u00a0them\u00a0<\/em>upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. 21<\/sup>\u00a0Then the angel of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0put forth the end of the staff that\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0departed out of his sight.\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0And when Gideon perceived that he\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>an angel of the\u00a0LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord\u00a0GOD! for because I have seen an angel of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0face to face.\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said unto him, Peace\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0Then Gideon built an altar there unto the\u00a0LORD, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.\u00a0 25<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass the same night, that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said unto him, Take thy father\u2019s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>by it:\u00a0\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0And build an altar unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had said unto him: and\u00a0so\u00a0<\/em>it was, because he feared his father\u2019s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>by day, that he did\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>by night. 28<\/sup> And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar\u00a0that was\u00a0<\/em>built.\u00a029<\/sup>\u00a0And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.\u00a030<\/sup>Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>by it.\u00a031<\/sup>\u00a0And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst\u00a0it is yet\u00a0<\/em>morning: if he\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>a god, let him plead for himself, because\u00a0one\u00a0<\/em>hath cast down his altar.\u00a032<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar.\u00a0\u00a0 33<\/sup>\u00a0Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.\u00a034<\/sup>\u00a0But the Spirit of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abi-ezer was gathered after him.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a035<\/sup>\u00a0And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.\u00a0 36<\/sup>\u00a0And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,\u00a037<\/sup>Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor;\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>if the dew be on the fleece only, and\u00a0it be<\/em>dry upon all the earth\u00a0beside\u00a0<\/em>, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.\u00a038<\/sup>\u00a0And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.\u00a039<\/sup>\u00a0And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.\u00a040<\/sup>\u00a0And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
God called Gideon to go against the Midianites but he was timid. He asked to set a test for God to see if He was truly calling him. He left a fleece out during the night and asked God to let the fleece be wet and the ground dry in the morning, and God did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6288"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6288"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16083,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6288\/revisions\/16083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}