Where We Put It, Is Up To Us….

Faith is to be placed in God, and no where else. But in order for faith to be placed in Him, it first must be given to us to place. What I mean by that is God gives us faith, where we put it, is up to us. We ask God to prove Himself in order to give into our reservations of doubt. But think of it this way. God proves Himself over and over again, not that He has to, for He knows His abilities. He proves Himself to us so that we can learn about ourselves, our weaknesses and inabilities. God works miracles to show us where we stand in our abilities to trust Him. If a miracle doesn’t change you, what purpose did it serve? God doesn’t have to prove anything to Himself, He does it to prove us to ourselves. We are all weak, fragile, and insecure. And it takes God working in us, answering our prayers, allowing us to suffer, in order for us to see who we really are. Gideon witnessed God working three different times (twice here). Some, when they read this, will think, “Gideon has little faith”, but God knew exactly what needed to happen for Gideon to “get it”, to prove to himself, he was qualified to fight for his people. It’s called being human. So the next time you read a story or hear of someone asking God for a sign, know that’s part of being human, it’s necessary for those who don’t know themselves that well. It’s God’s way of showing us we can do it, proving it to ourselves. Gideon needed this boost of confidence. Look what he helped accomplish afterwards.

33 Soon afterward the armies of Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east formed an alliance against Israel and crossed the Jordan, camping in the valley of Jezreel. 34 Then the Spirit of the Lord took possession of Gideon. He blew a ram’s horn as a call to arms, and the men of the clan of Abiezer came to him. 35 He also sent messengers throughout Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, summoning their warriors, and all of them responded.36 Then Gideon said to God, “If You are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as You promised, 37 prove it to me in this way. I will put a wool fleece on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning but the ground is dry, then I will know that You are going to help me rescue Israel as You promised.” 38 And that is just what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a whole bowlful of water.39 Then Gideon said to God, “Please don’t be angry with me, but let me make one more request. Let me use the fleece for one more test. This time let the fleece remain dry while the ground around it is wet with dew.” 40 So that night God did as Gideon asked. The fleece was dry in the morning, but the ground was covered with dew. Judges 6:33-40