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“And Gideon said unto God, If Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as Thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor” (Judges 6:36-37).
Perhaps you are already familiar with the expression, “Putting out a fleece.” The expression comes from this passage, where Gideon wants a little more assurance about what the Lord wants him to do. It was not that Gideon did not trust the Lord or have confidence in the Lord’s power. Rather, Gideon just found it hard to believe that the Lord was going to use someone like him to do this great work.
For this reason, God did not rebuke Gideon for putting out the fleece. Gideon actually did it twice, if you read to the end of the chapter. Once Gideon asked that the fleece be wet with dew, while the ground was dry, and once he asked that the ground be wet, and the fleece dry. God did what he asked, and Gideon was confident that the Lord would use him.
Usually the Lord was not pleased when people kept asking for special signs, but here it was Gideon’s lack of confidence in himself that was the problem, and the Lord honored his request and gave him a sign.
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