Monday, October 16, 2007
By Faith... the Judges, Part 3 of 62
TEXT: "Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have said, -- look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is due 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.” 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 bowl full of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, and 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.” And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground" (Judges 6:36-40).
IDEA: Putting out a fleece is not a biblical way for determining what God wants us to do.
PURPOSE: To help listeners understand how not to misuse the Bible.
Do you believe that all the Scripture is written for us?
Do you believe that all the Scripture is written to us?
I. We can sometimes misapply the Bible by taking the stories that are descriptive and making them prescriptive.
What does that mean? How do we do it?
There are some stories that we wouldn’t think of applying to us. For example, Jephthah vows to make a human sacrifice to God if God will give him the victory.
After he has gained the victory, he sacrifices his daughter as a burnt offering.
Would you say that that is a valid way to get God to help you in some important venture that you’re undertaking?
Suppose you’re in the midst of a depression and your Bible reading for the day included the words “Judas went out and hanged himself.” Would that be a word from God to you?
II. There is an incident that comes in the life of Gideon which is sometimes used as a prescription when it is only a description, Judges 6:36-40 (above).
How is this incident sometimes used by Christians? To determine the will of God.
Do you know many Christians who have actually put out a fleece (literally)?
What does the fleece become when people are making those decisions? (circumstance, etc.)
What actually is taking place in Gideon’s story?
First, it is a response of Unbelief. God had already shown him what he wanted and confirmed it through miraculous power, Judges 6:11-21.
He is asking for two miracles.
So if we use this to find out God’s will, then we are not asking for coincidences but are asking for miracles.
The purpose of this story is to tell us about Gideon and his encounter with God. It is not given for us to have a way of having God direct us in our decisions in life.
