Judges records many individual experiences, but just because one person or a group in the Bible has an experience doesn’t mean it’s normative or to be repeated. Israel refused God’s command to defeat her enemies (Judg 1:24), the Holy Spirit empowered Othniel to wage war (Judg 3:10), Ehud murdered a king (Judg 3:21), Shamgar killed 600 men with a donkey’s jawbone (Judg 3:31), and Jael murdered a man by deceit (Judg 4:18-21). These are not examples for us to follow, nor must we pray that God repeats them in our lives. If the example in Scripture is one for us to follow, God will specifically command us to do it. Copying, or expecting to repeat a Biblical experience is the sin of presumption. So it is with our passage today.

I. Gideon’s Request (Judg 6:36-37). Gideon asked the Lord, If, You will save Israel by my hand as You have said …. Gideon was empowered, literally clothed, by the Holy Spirit, yet he didn’t believe the word spoken to him by the pre-incarnate Jesus (Judg 6:16). He suffered from a low view of God and His word.
After asking God for a sign earlier and receiving it (Judg 6:17), Gideon asked for a second, fresh sign. He would set an animal skin on the ground overnight. If God was truly with him, Gideon asked that the fleece be wet with dew in the morning but the ground dry.
Gideon was NOT seeking to know God’s will, he was seeking assurance that God was truly with him to deliver Israel. Nor did God endorse Gideon’s sign-seeking. Putting out a “fleece” to discern God’s will is not taught in this passage nor is it an example for us to follow.

Gideon’s Sin (Judg 6:37-38). Gideon’s request for a second sign evidenced three sinful weaknesses. First, a lack of trust in God.


II. Faithlessness is sin (Gal 5:22). Second, it was prideful, demanding God bend to Gideon’s will before he’d believe and obey. The first sign didn't build Gideon’s faith (nor will the second or third). Miracles don’t create or build faith, it is God’s gift He gives and grows through His Word and testing (Rom 10:17; Eph 2:8-9; Jas 1:2-3; 1 Pet 1:7-9). Third, sign-seeking showed spiritual immaturity by looking for and following signs but never following the Saviour.
God’s grace and the Spirit’s presence didn’t create obedience. In salvation, God receives us as we are, but He immediately begins changing us from glory to glory through sanctification, whereby He deals with our sin and weaknesses, conforming us to the image of Jesus, so we learn to trust and obey Him rather than trust and obey ourselves.

III. God’s Leading (Judg 6:39-40). To make sure God’s second sign was not a coincidence, Gideon asked for a third sign: a dry fleece upon wet ground. He wanted more than a sign, he wanted a miracle. A miracle is God’s suspension of natural laws and processes, like the earth stopping its axial rotation (Josh 10:12-14). Miracles are very rare events. God often leads His people by providence, which is God working His will through natural laws and processes, like in the Book of Esther.
By Scripture, God fully reveals His divine will for saving the sinner and sanctifying the saint, for our faith and our practice, for our life and godliness (2 Tim 3:16-17; Heb 1:1-3; 2 Pet 1:3-4). We must be very careful that our own sinful hearts and deceitful minds don’t lead us astray (Jer 17:9), we don’t listen to false prophets or follow lying signs and wonders Satan uses to deceive (2 Cor 11:13-15; 2 Thess 2:9).
Gideon’s words show an awareness of his faithlessness, who like us, didn’t need a sign but needed strength to obey God’s revealed will (Ps 143:10). The text never tells us that Gideon believed and obeyed because of the signs. The signs didn’t convince Gideon, but rather worked to prove and convict him of unbelief (Mt 12:39; 16:4; Mk 8:11-12; Lk 16:31).
Judges demonstrates again God’s grace despite Gideon’s sinful failure. He was patient with His servant, remembering the creature’s weakness (Ps 103:13-14) and pointing us to Jesus (Rom 8:26; 2 Cor 12:9; Phil 4:13; Heb 2:18; 4:14-16; 12:1-4).