Read Judges 6:36-40
36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you save Israel by my hand, as you have said,37 behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” 38 And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” 40 And God did so that night, and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
When God called Gideon, God was sure of the call, and Gideon was not. This sound pretty familiar to many of us. We don’t see what God sees. When God called me to the ministry, I never thought God could use me in ways that I thought were reserved for the great ministers of history.
Keypoint #1: It doesn’t matter how you see yourself; what matters is how God sees you.
When you read through biographies of great Christian men and women, you wonder if God can use you the same way, when you read thru the Bible and see the signs and wonders and the harvest the early church had, you kind of wonder if this could happen to you.
Gideon had the same experience. He needed reassurance that God was choosing him. And he asked for something supernatural. This wasn’t just any easy sign but something that would require God to accomplish. Gideon asked twice, and God graciously answered his request, not counting it as doubt.
Keypoint #2: In times of doubt, go to God and ask for reassurance. Don’t feed the seed of doubt.
When you are in doubt, don’t feed on the suspicion; instead, ask God to show you His power and nature. God never fails to show up when we need Him the most!
Talk it over:
- Reading through Judges, how do you think God sees you? Do you ever struggle with how you see yourself?
- Share an instance when you were doubting God? What happened? How did you overcome doubt in that instance?
- With our lesson, share some ways you can fight doubt?