Laying a Fleece Before the Lord

36 And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,
37 Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.
38 And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.
39 And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.
40 And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. "

Judges 6:36 - 40

Gideon wasn't very sure of himself and his situation, was he? "God, I know you said I'd beat these guys but howse about I put this fleece out, just to doublecheck?"

and God answered.

"Uh, ok, look I'm gonna put this fleece out again, keep it dry this time, okay? Just once more, God, I promise!

and God answered.

and Gideon did what he had to do.

I had to ask God if He existed. I couldn't 'believe' without reason. Many people can, and more power to them. I had to know!! Does God exist? If He does, is He loving, or is an asshole? or does He just not care, and let the chips fall where they may?

The first question of existence had to be answered before the second could even be considered. So I 'laid a fleece before the Lord.' "Are You there? Are You real? or are you just a made-up crutch? What are You? Where are You? If You're real, prove it. Show me miracles. I'm small change, I don't need anything fancy, just show me. Show me something I can't write off as coincidence."

& odd things happened. Small, odd things. I believe 2 or 3 happened before I really realized it . . at some point in the day I realized I'd been thinking "hmmm, that's odd" quite a bit. A jacket I'd left in the living room was in the kitchen. A previously empty matchbook had 2 matches in it. I had puzzlement within, but began to sense a growing irritation from outside. "Look, chick, you're pushing it. Don't waste My time."

oh God.

So is this objective, measurable, repeatable proof of the existence of God? Absolutely not. If you want to know, you will have to seek Him for yourself.

I would actually caution a person against taking this particular approach, at least saying don't ask a question if you don't want to hear the answer. Your heart must be open and you must be prepared to live with the answer. Be careful.

I'm so afraid some smartass will read this and say "Haw haw yuck yuck, hey Beavis, wanna see a miracle?" Such a prayer will not be answered, and may even put a barrier between you and God that will be hard, if not impossible, to tear down. Please be careful. If you don't believe, or don't want to believe, then don't. If you're truly searching, search honestly, inside your own soul and out.

And remember:
Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Peace