The Spirit and the Fleece

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

THE SPIRIT AND THE FLEECE

Judges 6:33-40

33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them. 36 Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— 37 look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said." 38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew — a bowlful of water.   39 Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew." 40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

NIV

Here is the fleece test, and God did not disappoint, for he passed the test. Of course, God would pass any test we could even conjure up because he is pure wisdom, power, and glory. We wonder why Gideon needed God to prove He was with him, or that God was truly capable of that power. Had Gideon ever seen the LORD perform any miracles? Surely he knew all the stories of Moses, Joshua, and even more recently of Deborah and Barak. But had he ever seen any of the power of God firsthand? So the test was to ensure God is real and that He would fight with Gideon against a strong foe. Gideon has already blown his horn, summoning other tribes to come to fight. Although the fleece test is a great story, and once more, it proves to us that God is the all-powerful and compassionate One, who answers the requests of his people. The LORD is the one who called Gideon. It was the Angel of the LORD who came to Gideon and called him, “Mighty Warrior,” telling him, “The LORD is with you”. We can also see the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and that is when he blew his horn, or shofar, which is a curved ram’s horn. Although we could ask the LORD anything because He told us we could and He would do it, we believe the best part of this narrative is when we are told the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon. That would be our top priority, to have the Spirit of the LORD come upon us. Of course, we have faith. Of course, we live with the assurance of our salvation, and wait with patience and courageous endurance, and enthusiasm  for his return to take us where he is. Yes, we have the Spirit dwelling within us, and that should be like the Spirit of the LORD being upon us, but we believe that there is a difference between having the indwelling of the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit, or having the Spirit of the LORD come upon us. When that happens, we believe we will be so full of God, we must blow our horn. However, full of the Spirit of the LORD, Gideon was, he still needed God to prove He would be with him. We do know that the LORD has been with us many times throughout our lives, and there has been times when the Spirit has been upon us and we have obeyed his command, but not by our attributes, talents, skills, education, or anything else of our abilities, but only by the Spirit of the LORD. That is our desire, to have the Spirit of the LORD always be upon us, so that we move and breathe according to His will, just as Gideon did when the LORD told him he had too many men when he only needed the Spirit of the LORD upon him. We will see it wasn’t Gideon who defeated the enemy, for it was the LORD, or the Spirit of the LORD was upon him. Spirit be upon us, move upon us, fill us to overflowing with your power and glory that we might be your mighty warrior.