Putting Out the Fleece without Being Fleeced

Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me.”
—Judges 6:17

When it comes to discovering God’s will for your life, reading the Bible and praying are highly overrated—or so it seems. You know what I’m talking about! You are facing a perplexing problem and really want God’s wisdom, so you look through the Bible and search for an answer. But the Bible doesn’t address the particular problem you are facing. You think, “So why not try plan B?” God speaks through prayer too. So you begin every morning on your knees, faithfully praying, “Lord, show me what You would have me to do.” And even though that prayer time relieves the anxiety you are feeling, when you get up off your knees, you are still confused. You still have no direct word from God about His specific will for your life. Well, if Bible study doesn’t do it, and if prayer doesn’t do it, then why not ask God for a supernatural sign?

That is the line of reasoning I used some years ago with disappointing results. Many years ago I was on the staff of a church. One day the pastor of a megachurch called and said, “Robert, I’d like you to come be the executive pastor of our church. You can run the church, be in charge of the staff, and do a lot of pastoral things.” I thought, This is a way to get me closer to my goal of being a pastor. So I flew to that city, met with the pastor, and he said, “We want you to come. I will be in contact with you after I work things out with the personnel committee.” Well, a few days turned into a few months. Still no word. One day we were in a staff meeting and I prayed, “Lord, I can’t stand this any longer. If You want me to go to that church, then I need a sign from You today.” We finished the staff meeting, and I went up to my office. There in my message box was a message from that pastor.

The message said, “Dr. So-and-so called while you were in staff meeting and wants you to call him as soon as possible.” So I dialed the number and this is what he said: “I didn’t have any particular reason for calling you today, but I just felt impressed that I was supposed to call you. I am still working out things, but you will hear from me soon.” I hung up and thought, Man, what could be more of a sign than that? I went home ready to start packing my bags to make the move. Well, the pastor did call back as he promised within a few days, but not with the results I expected. He said, “Robert, we are going through some turmoil in our church, and I don’t think it would be fair to bring you into this situation. In fact, I’m not sure how much longer I am going to be able to stay as pastor of the church.” As it turned out, within a few weeks he was gone as pastor of that church. Talk about being disappointed. Not only because I was confined to my present situation, but I thought, God, what kind of cruel trick are You playing on me? I asked You for a sign, You apparently gave me a sign, and then You pulled the rug out from under me. It was that experience, more than twenty years ago, that prompted me to start looking at the Bible to see what God’s Word says about supernatural signs and the will of God.

What does the Bible say about using signs to determine God’s will? We see that the Bible seems to indicate that God sometimes does use supernatural signs and circumstances to determine His will.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Putting Out the Fleece without Getting Fleeced” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2008.
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.