Gideon's Fleece

Judges 6:1-40

God called him a mighty warrior. Gideon was hiding in a winepress.

The Midianites have devastated Israel for seven years — stripping the land like locusts every harvest. Gideon is secretly threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it. An angel appears and greets him: The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. Gideon's response is pure skepticism: If God is with us, why has all this happened? God gives him a mission: save Israel. Gideon asks for signs — first one way with a fleece and dew, then the opposite. Both times God indulges his doubt. Gideon tears down his father's altar to Baal by night because he's too afraid to do it by day. God chooses him anyway.

• Doubt
• Calling
• God's Patience
• Unlikely Hero