Putting the Fleece Out

In Judges chapter 6, Gideon isn’t entirely sure that what the angel has told him to do (throw down the false gods, upend the country) is what he’s really supposed to do.  So he asks God for a favor.

Gideon puts some fleece out on the threshing floor and says, “If I wake up and the fleece has dew on it but the ground is dry, I’ll know this is your will, God.”  God does just that.  So, the next day, Gideon makes one more deal with God, “Make the ground wet and the fleece dry.”  God does that, too, so Gideon does what God asked.

From that event, many people even today will use the phrase “putting the fleece out”, meaning (usually) that they are taking some time to determine what God wants for them to do in some given situation.  The guy with the middlin’ job tells the headhunter he might be interested in entertaining offers, the woman in the small apartment submits a bargain-basement bid on a house to see if the door to it opens for her.

While some people use the phrase “putting the fleece out” without being aware that it has a Biblical background, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that most people have a vague idea of the Sunday School edition of the story.  I’m also going to go out on another limb here and surmise that most Christians who use the phrase are also accompanying their fleece with prayers.  I know I have done that before, offering prayers along the lines of, “God, please clearly open the door you want me to go through and clearly close the ones I shouldn’t go through.”  I think God has answered that prayer on more than one occasion.

But I have never actually put out fleece.  I could blame it on being allergic to wool, but the reality is probably doubt.  Not a doubt that God could still work in that way, but a doubt that he does.  I mean really, Gideon was being called to turn his whole culture on its head … and not only that, God approached Gideon first.  That’s a little different than me asking God whether I should go for the car with the low price or the one with the low payments.

Still, I was recently at a long-building decision point in my life.  Literally, years and years of praying for something to happen that had not happened (and showed no signs of happening) in my life.  I knew—and know—I cannot control God.  And, to tell the truth, I don’t want to.  That wouldn’t be the “blind leading the blind”, that would be the “blind, deaf and dumb leading the person with all his faculties completely intact”!

Approaching the target of my prayers honestly, I had to admit that there was the possibility that God’s answer to my prayer was “no”.  It obviously hadn’t been “yes” and there was no indication that it might be “wait”.  That left “no”.

So, in the month of March (2014) I determined to put the fleece out.  While I didn’t use actual fleece, I—like Gideon—asked God for a sign.  Not just any sign, but a specific sign.  And I prayed and prayed, even more than I had been for the previous 30+ years, about the matter.  I spelled out not only my desire, but also my vow that, should the answer be “no”, I would accept that answer with thanksgiving.

I am convinced God answered me and that the answer was no.  I am keeping my word and praising God for slamming that door shut.  And you know what?  It’s not “grudging praise”.  I prayed and God answered.  How wonderful is that?  Did I get the answer I wanted?  Before March 31 I would have looked at an answer of “no” and said, “That’s not what I want.”  Now, I am grateful for it and realize it is the answer I wanted because it is God’s answer.  Not only that, but the time previously spent in pursuing my desire can be better applied to pursuing the things of God.

[If you keep watching this blog, maybe I’ll eventually tell those of you who haven’t already figured out what I’m talking about what I was praying about.]