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Welcome back to our study of the book of Judges, we're in week two, day three,
still in Judges chapter six, still looking at faith lessons from the life of
Gideon. Yesterday we talked together about the truth that we can have faith
because God will be with us in any circumstance. And I think as human beings,
one of the questions we have about that is, how do I know that God will be with
me?

I mean, I'm supposed to know what I know, but how do I know? I want you to know
that Gideon struggled with this. And because he struggled with it, first of all,
you know that you're not alone in your struggle.

There's other people who struggle with that same question. But secondly, you can
see through Gideon's life some examples of how you and I can know that God will
be with us. Gideon struggled with it and that he said to God several times, "If
you just give me a sign, then I'll know that you're going to be with me.

" In his grace, God has indeed given us signs to help us to recognize his call,
recognize that he will be with us. And the things that he does for Gideon here
in Judges chapter six, they help you and I to see the signs, see the ways that
he works in our lives to let us know that he is with us in every circumstance of
life. Three things happen in Gideon's life in this chapter.

God sent a prophet, God set a fire, and God sent a fleece. Let's look at each of
those. Number one, God sent a prophet, Judges six, seven to ten.

When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, he sent them a
prophet who said, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. I brought you
up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I rescued you from the hand of the
Egyptians, and I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors.

I drove them out before you, and I gave you their land. I said to you, 'I am the
Lord your God. Do not worship the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live.

But you have not listened to me. '" Now these verses that I just read, this
prophet that came, they come even before Gideon was called into serving God.
Even before Gideon was called, God had given him a sign by sending a prophet
that said, "Things need to change.

The hearts of the people need to change. God sees what is happening. God has not
turned his back on what is happening.

God knows. God understands. " Now this word of the prophet was the word of the
Lord.

So it's not too difficult to draw the parallel today to how you and I need to
hear God's voice, hear God's affirmation of his call. Because we have the word
of the Lord in the scriptures. You and I can pick up the scriptures, God's word,
and read the Bible and have God's call affirmed in our lives.

If you want to be useful to God, you've got to let God's word be a part of your
life every day of your life. Because the truth of the matter is, we're
surrounded by this world that makes us doubt our call, and the only way we
remain assured in that call is by listening to the one who called us. Now, you
can listen to God who called you through prayer, there's lots of ways to listen
to God, but the clear call in his word so many times will affirm what God is
wanting you to do.

The truth of the matter is, we oftentimes struggle with what God has already
revealed. We find ourselves asking, "God, do you want me to be a witness to that
person? " Well, of course he does.

The Bible says we're supposed to share our faith with anybody who will listen,
because they need the good news just as much as you and I needed the good news.
Or even when it comes to decisions that might hurt the way we lead and follow
God in our lives, like, "God, do you want me to marry that person who's not a
follower of you at all, who doesn't believe in you at all? " Well, of course
not.

The Bible clearly says, "Don't be unequally yoked. Partner with somebody who is
not a follower of Christ, because it's going to hurt your following of Christ. "
Now, if you're already married to somebody who's not a follower of Christ, the
Bible just as clearly says, "Stay married to them so that you can help them to
come to know and follow Christ.

" God has answers for this. Even ask questions like, "God, do you want me to
change this habit in my life? I know I'm drinking too much.

I know I'm involved in lust. I know that I'm involved in thinking way too much
about materialism and money. God, do you want to change that?

" You don't have to read very far in God's Word for him to give you the answers.
God has sent his Word into our lives, and one of the main ways you keep a
freshness about God's call and a reaffirmation of God's call in your life is by
listening to God's Word, one of the clearest ways. And you've got to make it a
part of your life every day of your life, like you are now by listening to this.

God sent a prophet. Secondly, God sent a fire. This is after God has said to
Gideon, "I want to call you.

I want to use you to bring victory over the Midianites. " Gideon replies, "If I
now find favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it's really you talking to me.
Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before
you.

" And the Lord said, "I will wait until you return. " Gideon went inside and he
prepared a young goat, and from an aphid flower he made a bread without yeast.
And putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and
he offered them under the oak.

The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread and place
them on this rock and pour out the broth. " And Gideon did so. And then the
angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the
staff that was in his hand, and fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat
and the bread.

And the angel of the Lord disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the
angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, "Alas, sovereign Lord, I have seen the angel of
the Lord face to face. " Now just very briefly, the angel of the Lord, you see
appear all throughout the Old Testament.

The angel of the Lord is the presence of God. So he recognizes in this moment
that he has been not just in the presence of some messenger, he's been in the
presence of God. And in the presence of God, he gives an offering and it's
entirely consumed by fire.

Gideon sees this spectacular display of God's power. And you're thinking, "Yeah,
that's what I want to see. I want to have the call of God affirmed in my life
with this spectacular display.

" And every once in a while, God does that. Now it's significant to note here
that this spectacular sign for Gideon, it didn't bring out assurance at the
beginning. He says, "Alas.

" It brings out fear at the beginning because he realized, "I don't belong in
the presence of God. " For you and I, as we look at this, more than looking for
spectacular displays to understand what God wants to do in our lives, look at
what this fire represents. You can go all the way to the New Testament and see
when the church has begun in that upper room.

When it was begun, you remember, with the display of the Spirit that came with
the wind, with the speaking in tongues. But you also remember with the fire that
was on each person's head. Fire is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

This fire represents God's presence, God's Spirit. And God's Spirit works in
your life to affirm God's call in your life. God's Word works together with
God's Spirit to affirm God's call in your life again and again and again.

That's one of the ways that you and I discover and rediscover God's call in our
life is through prayer, listening, "God, what do you want to say to me today?
God, what do you want me to do next? God, how do you want me to follow you?

" God used a prophet, he used a fire, and then most famously, one of the
best-known stories in the Bible is here in the next few verses we're going to
look at. God used a fleece to affirm his call in the life of Gideon, beginning
in verse 36. Gideon said to God, this is right before the battle, by the way.

Let me set this up. So he's starting to doubt again. He's seen the fire, he had
faith, but now he's got the armies gathered right before the battle.

Gideon says to God in verse 36, "If you will save Israel by my hand, as you've
promised, look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. And if there
is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I'll know that you'll
save Israel by my hand, as you said. " And that is what happened.

Gideon rose early the next day, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew, a
bowl full of water. 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, but this time make the fleece dry and
let the ground be covered with dew. " That night God did so. Only the fleece was
dry and all the ground was covered with dew.

Hear this story about fleece, God's grace towards Gideon here, and I want you to
understand this is not a story about God's guidance. This is a story about God's
grace. Gideon already knew God's guidance.

He'd heard it from the Lord himself when the angel of the Lord met with him.
He'd had it affirmed by fire consuming an offering. He'd already heard God's
guidance.

He was just struggling with doubts. And God graciously used the circumstances of
Gideon's life with this fleece to help confirm the direction of his life. God
could have said, "I've already given you my word.

" But instead he graciously gave him assurance. He could have said, "I've
already consumed the offering with fire. What more do you want?

" Instead he graciously gives him assurance. Now will God give you fleece? Will
he sometimes graciously give you the assurance of his call?

Sometimes yes. Circumstances will oftentimes help you to confirm the direction
of God's word. But that is just his grace.

And you need to recognize that sometimes the fleece can be wet when you hoped it
would and you still know God is asking you to do the thing that he's asking you
to do. You still absolutely know that regardless of the circumstances, this is
how God wants me to act. Remember that also just because God gave you a sign in
your circumstances once doesn't mean he's going to do it every time.

Sometimes he'll do something for you in a period of doubt in your life or as a
newer believer that once you've matured a little bit more in your faith, he's
not going to do it for you again and again and again. Just like you as a wise
parent wouldn't keep doing everything for your kids in the same way as they
grew. You want them to mature, you want them to begin to see, God wants you to
begin to see guidance through his word and through his spirit and not just
through your circumstances.

So remember, we have more than a fleece. God graciously gives it to us
sometimes, but we have more than a fleece. We have God's spirit.

We have God's word. In fact, I want you to look back at verse 34, "Before the
sign of the fleece," look at what happened, "then the spirit of the Lord came on
Gideon and he blew a trumpet summoning the Abbeas' rights to follow him," and
they did follow him that day. In one sense, Gideon, he'd had the spirit of the
Lord come upon him.

He was asking for more when he already had more than he needed. And you might be
doing that right now. God's given you his direction through his word, through
his spirit, but you're asking for more when you already have more than you need
to know how to do what God wants you to do.

Let's pray it again. And Father, my simple prayer, our simple prayer is that
you'll give us the courage to follow you to the direction of your spirit and
your word. Help us not to ask for more when you've already given us all that
we've needed.

Lord, don't let us blame our circumstances in the way that they've gone or not
gone. Instead, let us look to your spirit and your word, and we want to be men
and women who follow you. That's what we ask for.

We ask it in Jesus' name, amen. Well, join us tomorrow. We're going to start to
learn from Gideon how to defeat an enemy in your life.