A Wet Fleece and a Dry God: Gideon's Hesitant Faith Text: Judges 6:36-40
Introduction: The Tangible God
We modern Christians have a tendency to over-spiritualize everything. We have our faith neatly compartmentalized in the realm of abstract principles and theological frameworks. We believe in the sovereignty of God, the authority of Scripture, and the power of the gospel, and so we should. But we often live as though God is a distant, philosophical necessity rather than a living, acting, intervening Person. We are, in many ways, functional deists. We believe God wound up the clock of the universe and is now watching it tick, but we get nervous when someone suggests He might reach down and move the hands.
The Old Testament saints did not have this problem. Their world was thoroughly enchanted, not with pagan spooks, but with the potent reality of Yahweh. God was not a concept; He was a consuming fire. He spoke from burning bushes, He parted seas, He toppled walls with a shout. And when He called a man to a task, that man knew he was dealing with a God who acts in the dirt and dust of the real world. This is the backdrop for our text today. Gideon has been called by the Angel of the Lord. He has torn down the altar of Baal, an act of brazen, public courage. He has gathered an army. The Spirit of the Lord has clothed him. But now, on the precipice of war, with the combined armies of Midian and Amalek spread out before him like a locust swarm, Gideon needs one more thing. He needs to know, in a way he can touch and see, that the God who speaks is also the God who does.
The story of Gideon's fleece is often treated in one of two erroneous ways. On the one hand, it is held up as the gold standard for determining God's will. "Putting out a fleece" has become Christian jargon for seeking a supernatural, tailor-made sign before making any decision, from choosing a spouse to buying a car. This is a mistaken and dangerous approach. On the other hand, Gideon is often chastised for his weak faith, as though this were a moment of pure, sinful doubt that God begrudgingly tolerated. This also misses the point. What we have here is not a prescription for how to live, nor is it a simple failure of faith. It is a description of a gracious and sovereign God condescending to the weakness of His chosen instrument, confirming His promise in a tangible way to a man buckling under the weight of an impossible calling.
This is a story about the intersection of God's unshakable purpose and man's shaky faith. It is about how God, in His kindness, is willing to meet us where we are, not so we can stay there, but so He can lead us to where He is going.
The Text
Then Gideon said to God, "If You will save Israel by my hand, as You have spoken, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have spoken." And it was so. Indeed he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece. And he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. Then Gideon said to God, "Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground." And God did so that night. So it was dry only on the fleece, but dew was on all the ground.
(Judges 6:36-40 LSB)
A Stated Condition for a Settled Promise (vv. 36-37)
We begin with Gideon's initial request:
"Then Gideon said to God, 'If You will save Israel by my hand, as You have spoken, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have spoken.'" (Judges 6:36-37)
Notice how Gideon frames his request. He is not asking for new information. He is not saying, "God, I have no idea what your will is, so please show me." God has already made His will abundantly clear. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, "The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior" and "Go in this your strength and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?" (Judges 6:12, 14). God has already spoken. Gideon acknowledges this twice: "as You have spoken."
This is not a man casting about in the dark. This is a man standing in the light who is afraid to take the next step. His request is for confirmation, not revelation. His faith is not absent; it is simply weak. He has faith to believe God's word, but he is struggling to apply that word to his own precarious situation. He is looking for a tangible anchor for his trembling soul. The promise is solid, but his grip is failing.
He is not testing God in the sinful sense of demanding that God prove Himself, as the Israelites did at Massah (Ex. 17:7). He is not saying, "If you are really God, then do this." Rather, he is saying, "Because You are God and have spoken, please condescend to my weakness and help my unbelief." It is a humble request, not an arrogant demand. He is asking for a sign that confirms the promise already given. He is asking for a physical manifestation of a spiritual reality.
And the sign he proposes is brilliant in its simplicity. Dew forms naturally when the ground cools at night. For a fleece, which is designed to hold moisture, to be soaked while the ground around it is bone dry is a minor, localized miracle. It is a supernatural alteration of the natural order, a sign that the God who controls the dew is the God who will control the outcome of the battle.
A Gracious God and a Bowl of Water (v. 38)
God's response is immediate and generous.
"And it was so. Indeed he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece. And he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water." (Judges 6:38 LSB)
God does not rebuke Gideon. He does not say, "My word should have been enough." He simply does what Gideon asked. Our God is a Father who knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust (Psalm 103:14). He is not looking for an excuse to disqualify His servants. He is looking to equip them. God is not a brittle, insecure deity whose feelings are hurt by our weakness. He is a sovereign Lord who works through cracked pots.
And the sign is not ambiguous. It is not a "maybe" or a "sort of." The fleece is so saturated with dew that Gideon wrings out a full bowl of water. God does not do things by halves. When He gives a sign, He gives a sign. This is an overflowing, abundant confirmation. The message is clear: "Yes, Gideon, it is as I have said. My blessing will be poured out on you, my chosen instrument, in a way that is undeniable and supernatural." The wet fleece represents the concentrated blessing of God upon Israel, personified in their leader, Gideon, while the dry ground represents the Midianites, who will be left out of this blessing.
One More Time, With Feeling (vv. 39-40)
One would think a bowlful of water would be sufficient. But Gideon's fear is deep-seated, and so he presses his luck.
"Then Gideon said to God, 'Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.'" (Judges 6:39 LSB)
Now, this is where we really start to squirm. The first request was understandable. This second one feels like he is pushing it. And Gideon knows it. His preamble, "Do not let Your anger burn against me," shows that he is fully aware that he is on thin ice. He is approaching the line between humble petition and presumptuous testing.
Why does he ask again? Perhaps he thought the first sign could have been a fluke. A fleece is absorbent, after all. Maybe there was a freak atmospheric condition. So he reverses the conditions to something even more unnatural. For a fleece to remain perfectly dry while the ground all around it is wet with dew is a more striking miracle than the first. It defies the natural properties of wool. He is asking for an even clearer sign of God's supernatural intervention.
This second request reveals the depth of Gideon's insecurity. But it also reveals something glorious about our God. Look at the response:
"And God did so that night. So it was dry only on the fleece, but dew was on all the ground." (Judges 6:40 LSB)
Again, no rebuke. No thunder from heaven. Just quiet, patient, powerful condescension. God does it again. He reverses the miracle. The fleece, representing Gideon and Israel, is kept dry and separate from the judgment (represented by the dew this time) that will fall on the surrounding nations. God graciously gives him the second sign, sealing His promise with an exclamation point.
This is not a license for us to be perpetually hesitant and demanding. We live on this side of the cross and the resurrection. We have the completed Word of God and the indwelling Holy Spirit. We are not to seek signs and wonders in this way. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for seeking a sign, calling them a "wicked and adulterous generation" (Matt. 16:4). Our fleece is the empty tomb. Our sign is the risen Christ. That is more than enough.
However, this story is a glorious display of God's patience with His people. He did not choose Gideon because he was a paragon of unshakeable faith. He chose Gideon, a man hiding in a winepress, a man full of fear and hesitation, and He patiently nurtured his fledgling faith until it was strong enough for the task at hand. God's calling is not conditioned on our strength, but on His.
God's Strength in Our Weakness
So what do we take from this? We do not take away a methodology for decision-making. Putting out fleeces is a terrible way to discern God's will. It is an invitation to superstition and it sidesteps the means of grace God has actually given us: His Word, prayer, and the counsel of the saints.
What we do see is the character of our God. He is a God who is sovereign over all things, including the dew on a piece of wool. And He is a God who is tender toward His struggling children. He knows our weaknesses, our fears, our hesitations. And He does not despise them. Paul tells us that God's power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). Gideon is a case study in this principle. God is about to whittle Gideon's army down from 32,000 to 300 men, precisely so that no one could mistake the victory for anything other than a work of God.
The fleece episode is part of that same process. God is stripping Gideon of any reliance on his own senses, his own courage, his own strength, and forcing him to rely utterly on the bare word and miraculous power of God. The God who can keep a fleece dry in the middle of a wet field is the God who can defeat 135,000 Midianites with 300 men carrying trumpets and jars.
The gospel works in the same way. God does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called. He finds us weak, fearful, and hiding from our enemies: sin, death, and the devil. He speaks His promise to us in the gospel. And when we, like Gideon, say, "I believe, but help my unbelief," He does not turn away in anger. He condescends to us. He gives us tangible signs of His grace, not fleeces, but baptism and the Lord's Supper. These are God's visible words, physical confirmations of His spiritual promise. In the water, He says, "You are washed, you are mine." In the bread and wine, He says, "My body was broken for you, my blood was shed for you."
Like Gideon, we are called to go to war. We are called to fight against sin in our own hearts and to advance the crown rights of King Jesus in the world. The odds look impossible. Our resources seem laughably small. And so we look to our God, who controls the dew and the destiny of nations. We look to the cross, our ultimate sign, and we see a God who is not only willing to condescend to our weakness, but to take that weakness upon Himself, so that in Him, we might become strong.