Judges 6:36-40 (New Revised Standard)
36 Then Gideon said to God, "In order to see whether you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 I am going to lay 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 deliver 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, "Do not let your anger burn against me, let me speak one more time; let me, please, make trial with the fleece just once more; let it be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew." 40 And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
Reflection
OK, I know it wasn't my fleece that Gideon used or even the fleece of one of my relatives, but it was a fleece. My fleece is what I'm known for. My fleece is used for clothing, bedding, rugs and many other things. My fleece is even warmer and softer than that ol wool fleece that Gideon used. After all, just look how cute I am. But to be fair to Gideon, he would have had to travel half a world to get hold of my fleece. Now that would have really been a test for God!
Maybe not, come to think of it. I suppose God could have picked up some of my fleece and taken it to Gideon to have him run a test on it. Gideon thought he was putting out the test to see if God would deliver Israel by Gideon's hand. After all, even I could believe if there was dew on the fleece and that rocky hard threshing floor was dry, but flip it around, now there's a test! So Gideon did and the fleece was dry and the floor was wet! Gid ol boy, you better get with it and surprise those Midianites!
God surprises me all the time. He created me and gave me a purpose with you in mind. With a little of your money and a bunch of your prayers for those in need, I can provide an income for people for twenty years or so. Together with "Good Gifts" we can respond to the test of love that God gave to Gideon, the Israelites and to you and me. You see when I think of all that God has done for us, what more of a joyful reason would we have than to love God by serving others. So, ol buddy ol pal... we better get with it and suprise a few people!
Your Warm Friend,
Alfred Alpaca
Prayer
Lord, may we serve and love all creation by loving others as you have loved us. --- Amen
www.elca.org/goodgifts
No comments:
Post a Comment