Fleeced!

"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'" (Judges 6:39).
We ask how much proof Gideon needed that God had his best interests in His tender heart? God had already assured Gideon of his success, but Gideon wanted to check, recheck and double-check. But perhaps we are unfair to Gideon; perhaps he feared he misunderstood God's intentions and he needed to be more certain of his own interpretation. Don't we all have such moments? Gideon never questioned God's power or purposes to save Israel. In his humility he doubted his own ability, just as did Moses when God tapped him for the job of leading the Israelites out of Egypt. God did not reprove Gideon for his request; indeed, He immediately granted it, knowing that weakness is more of nature than of faith, and physical rather than moral. It was in this very nature of doubt that Gideon asked God not to be angry with him. Gideon knew that he asked a double portion of proof, as we all do daily.

All great saints feel doubts. It's a part of nature to feel. Faith is the knowing that God is good and just and holy; the feeling of doubt creeps in when the circumstances just don't fit. Thoreau said, "Faith keeps many doubts in her pay. If I could not doubt, I should not believe." Doubt isn't always dispute. Indeed, the more we know about God, the more doubts we may have about ourselves, especially. This is meekness, a virtue God treasures.

We prove God every day by asking for new strength for new duties. We don't ask for miracles, for they abound anyway; we ask, as did Gideon, that our fleece be saturated with His dew: gratitude in our hearts and holiness in our life.