Faith and The Second Guess
Faith and The Second Guess
Judges 6:39-40
Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
If Gideon’s initial request was humorous in its pettiness, this inversion of it is downright hilarious. But the funniest part is that Gideon knows it. Notice how he keeps apologizing to God in every phrase, self-aware of the fact that his hesitancy is now taking an embarrassing turn. For that reason, I think Gideon’s underlying problem here isn’t actually a spiritual one but a psychological one. He doesn’t second-guess the LORD’s ability to keep His word; rather, he’s second guessing his own methods, wishing he’d chosen a more fail-proof test from the beginning. He’s like my OCD friend who washes his hands three times because he’s afraid that the first two washes didn’t take; or like me as a child, when I prayed the sinner’s prayer a hundred times, because even though I believed in God’s power to forgive, I felt afraid that I hadn’t quite gotten the words right.
Friend, how many times have you second guessed God’s will for your life? How many times have you questioned whether you made the right decision for the college you attended or the career you chose or the spouse you married or the land you purchased? Perhaps if we’d get better at seeking the LORD beforehand, before we take that job or move cross country or say “I do,” if we’d earnestly desire and pursue clarity even to embarrassing lengths, then those doubts that inevitably encompass us down the road won’t overtake us. Because we’ll always be able to look back over our shoulder and recall the season of testing—the days where we laid out our fleece in every which way before the LORD—and He made His way clear.
James writes in James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously to all without reproach,” and, funny as it sounds, maybe that pursuit is always best done with a fleece and bucket.