So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east; they came up against them;
Now again, Gideon is still questioning his call of God, wants to make sure. So tell you what, I'm gonna put a fleece wool out on the ground tonight and in the morning let the ground be dry and the fleece wet. Then I'll know. In the morning when Gideon woke up he wrung a cup of water out of the fleece and the ground was dry.And he thought, "Well, maybe that was just, who knows maybe fleece gathers moisture at night when the ground doesn't. "Lord, let's reverse the process just to make sure. Tonight, I'm gonna put the same fleece out there on the ground. Let the ground be all wet with dew, let the fleece be dry." So in the morning he came out again and so the ground was all wet with dew, the fleece was dry and so he figured that it was the Lord.Now, because of this there are many people who seek to discern the voice of God by offering some kind of a fleece before the Lord. And so you've heard of a person offering a fleece before God. "Lord, if they call by ten o'clock tomorrow morning then I'll know" you know, and you set up some kind of a fleece before God, some kind of a condition for God to meet so that you'll know that it's really God speaking to your heart.I really don't know about fleeces today. I don't know how valid they are for us as the children of the Lord to seek to ascertain the will of God by a fleece. In the period of the Old Testament there were many methods by which they sought to ascertain the will of God. One of them was by casting of lots.And even carried over into the New Testament when Judas Iscariot died, Peter said to the disciples, "We've gotta get someone else to take his place and so let's cast lots to see which one God has chosen. Whether it be Barnabas or Matthias." And so the disciples cast lots to ascertain the will of God. But all of this was prior to the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the church. After the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the church we do not read of anywhere where they cast lots or where they used fleeces to ascertain the will of God. But it seemed that once the Holy Spirit had begun to direct the activities of the church, there was a greater certainty in the ascertaining of the will of God just by the direct leading of the Holy Spirit.So Paul said, "And it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and us. We were determined to go to Asia but the Holy Spirit forbade us. The Holy Spirit said separate unto me Paul and Barnabas for the work that I have called them to do."And the Holy Spirit was directing in such a positive way there seemed to be no need of setting up a condition for God to fulfill for them to ascertain or there was no need of casting lots or trying to discern the will of God in some type of an ambiguous way.Paul, after fourteen days on that ship driven in the storm on the Mediterranean, stood up and said, "Men and brethren, be of good cheer. Last night an angel of the Lord stood by me and told me that though the ship was gonna be wrecked there would be no loss of life." And the angel of the Lord directed Paul. It wasn't a fleece kind of a thing, it was a lot.So I don't about fleeces today. I know that some people set out, you know, conditions for God to fill and that I suppose is all right. But I just don't know about them. I personally don't try to fleece God. I'm just not certain about that practice. Though it was done in the Old Testament, I'm not really certain about it today. But each person, I guess, to his own. Whatever method that you have devised to really discern. The way I feel, if it works great. You know, whatever you've got as long as it works, that's tremendous. And people, we all relate to God in our own individual styles. God doesn't really, you know, follow patterns. You can't really set God into a pattern. And I sort of like it that you can't. I like the diversities with which God deals with people's lives because we're so diverse from each other.And so Gideon used his fleece to ascertain the will of God. I don't know if you would set out a piece of wool tonight. I would think in the morning that the wool and the ground would all be wet. Then whatta you do? You pray. "