I can vividly remember laying out a “fleece” before God, though I can no longer remember what the burning question was.

Young and determined to hear some answer from God, I carefully set my trap one night.

My bedroom was beside the kitchen so I had easily selected and snuck out a large plastic bowl for my test. I had found one of those large yellow sponges in dad’s junk closet – the kind with the big pores, like for washing cars, to use as my fleece. It must have been the closest thing to the picture in the Sunday School handout.

I remember feeling partly nervous that I was testing a holy God, and partly excited that maybe He would answer little me and somehow I was becoming some giant of faith like the warrior Gideon. I don’t remember how well I slept that night, with my self-imposed Christmas Eve, but somehow I snatched that bowl in the morning before everyone else woke up to save any embarrassment.

It was exactly as I had left it.

God had not miraculously spoken, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t learn anything.

 

There may not have even been a real life question I needed to know other than, “Will You wet this and show me You hear me?”

Does this kind of curiosity end when we grow up?

Are we still putting out fleeces and then driving ourselves crazy to read the results?

 

 

With Gideon, we don’t know that he was right in testing God like he did, or like we sometimes copy, but it doesn’t mean that God can’t show up or surprise us with an answer anyway. Gideon may have been silly for asking, but God still responded to him. Twice.

It is possible, but how likely is it?

It’s funny how we can take an untested way of getting an answer or confirmation and then place a lot of hope in it. If “putting out a fleece” had been our normal conversation or way with God then we would have some instant confirmation when our “sign” happens, right?. But even if it does, we are confused. “Ok, I asked this… and this happened… but was I right to ask?” Again, we are paralyzed with uncertainty. 

We often want to pick an odd or unscientifically possible way, like Gideon’s, and then plague ourselves with whether we can interpret the results or not. We set ourselves up to be bad test-readers because we didn’t pick something that was already working for us or that we’d seen often.

I’ve done it too, and then drove myself crazy trying to read every change in the wind or tiny sign in case it was God answering me on a smaller scale.

 

God’s Will? 

I had phases in college when I wanted so much to be led by God that I wanted to see everything as pre-determined.

“Ok, when I open my closet door, whichever shirt my eyes land on first, is what I’m supposed to wear today.”

“The next missions trip that someone brings up to me is the one I should go on.”

This method left God’s will up to my remembering to think this way throughout the day, or doubting if I had walked the right path to class and therefore altered my entire future.

It also severely slowed down my day as I stood in anguish when un-matching shoes fell out of my closet. Was this God’s Will for me? (Please laugh along with me at my youth.)

And then there was the stunt of asking, “If You want me to date this guy, please let us have classes together?”

We shared an ECON class that semester. We also did not get married. Was the Registrar to blame for this mis-interpretation of the Lord’s best for me?

 

After college, I heavily relied on “Found: God’s Will” by John MacArthur who expounds on 5 verses about God’s known will for you. His premise is that if we are following these principles – that are for everyone – we should be able to trust our inclinations because we are living in main obedience and good decisions will come out of that place. I am definitely in agreement with living according to these “…for it is the will of God” verses, but feel this leads to relying on a works-based relationship that downplays the Spirit’s leading role in our lives. It’s on the right track but sounds more like a formula and did not lead to a deeper daily faith.

 

So wherever you are at in the journey, I would suggest that however we try through trial-and-error to get to know the Lord and His voice – and I think He is patient with us – all of it can be something we learn from – the sure answers, the uncertainties and the NO’s. Our untested ways can start to become tested ways as we log our experiences.

You could begin a list in your journal of “I asked God this… and heard this…” looking for patterns in life, holding them to agreement in God’s Word and testimonies from those you trust. You may be beginning a tested way of getting an answer if you see Him working some way in you. Whatever happens here, you may be starting to learn more about how to ask answers from God and trust what you can move forward with.

Now, as a parent, how can we apply this to help our children?

What were the conclusions from my own childish fleece test?

• • • blamed myself for somehow not being worthy of an answer
    • doubted the Lord of the Old Testament interacts with men (or 8 year old girls)
    • felt ashamed that I made a silly request without great reason 
    • shrugged it off and just assumed we can’t ask God for much

 

Do these sound like the voice of the Lord? I assume these conclusions are pretty typical, considering we have a universal deceiver who wants to insert doubt wherever he can.

1. So, in light of these conclusions, it is important that we are asking our kids what they are learning about at church or school so that we can spot any correlation in their questions or behavior. I don’t continue to hold these beliefs, but those could have been some pretty negative conclusions to carry. 
2. If we are aware, then we can help them process and learn from their “tests” of God. We may be able to help steer some of their conclusions and shepherd their heart to overcome the voice of doubt that wants so quickly to meddle and shake their young faith.
3. We could start a “journal of faith” for our family, keeping track of when we know God was leading us or we saw an answer to a specific prayer. This could be the legacy we write as a family for them to reflect on as they grow up. In our house, we have a jar where we jot these praises down throughout the year and read at the end of the year or when we just need to be reminded. 

 

I don’t want to write a definitive list of “how to discern God’s will”. I’m still too naive and lack faith too often in seeing what the Lord is trying to tell me to write a prescription for others.

But I will pursue:

• • • asking the Holy Spirit to bring to mind any beliefs that oppose God so I can surrender them; that my thoughts might be coming one with Christ’s  and obedient to Him (Phil. 2:5, 2 Corin. 10:5)
    • having my desires be in line with God’s kingdom and not my personal pursuits that I may more know His will (Matthew 6:33)
    • continually ask and bring everything to Him even when I’m unsure of the answer because my answer always lies in Him (Psalm 62:8) 

Through this, I will continue to write down for myself what I’m learning, what I’ve gained or what I’m sensing is from Him or decidedly not from Him. It’s what I can model for my kids as they have to work through their own faith too as we each learn to “walk in step with the Spirit”. (Galatians 5:25)