A sign from God

https://odb.org/2026/07/14/cant-explain

Judges 6:36–40 (NIV): 36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised—37 look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” 38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” 40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

Jay owned a Gideon Bible, yet his analytical mind didn’t permit him to accept its miracles. One thing haunted him, though: the genuine faith of his friend. So Jay offered a strange prayer. He told God, “If you want me to believe in You, then do something I can’t explain.” One day, something drew Jay to look for his Bible. It was gone. How could that be? He never lost track of things.

He drove in the rain to his teaching job at the University of Zurich. Stepping out of his car, he spotted a Gideon Bible on the wet pavement. That’s strange, he thought. Picking it up, he noticed the Bible was totally dry despite the rain. Something he couldn’t explain!

Gideon Bibles are named for an Old Testament hero of Israel. When God chose Gideon to lead Israel into battle against a vast army, Gideon had huge doubts. He told God, “I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece . . . , then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand” (Judges 6:37). God answered Gideon’s challenge not once but twice (vv. 39-40). (Tim Gustafson, Our Daily Bread 14th July 2026)

Gideon asking for a sign is perhaps the most famous account of a mighty man of God seeking something supernatural from the LORD to confirm his calling. Our human nature tends to make us doubt, rather than believe and trust blindly, especially when it comes to life-changing decisions. Gideon of course asked for more than just a confirmation of his calling but also the success of God’s calling that he will indeed lead Israel to victory.

In the case of Moses, he saw a burning bush with fire but the fire did not consume the bush. That’s the supernatural reality of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. YHWH will go to great lengths to prove that He is God. Even in the case of Paul, Jesus appeared to him in a vision on his way to Damascus and later brought him up to the third heaven and Paul heard inexpressible things. Jesus also to teach him the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.

2 Corinthians 12:2-4 NIV I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.

If we have been in Christ for some time, we will know that the supernatural is never an impossibility in the faith. It is one of the ways God reaches out to man to do His will and to fulfil His plans and purposes for man. But what I like to highlight here this morning is that the LORD will go to great lengths to convince us His calling for our lives. If we were to ask for a sign, chances are He will oblige. I recall more than 40 years back a young pastor fresh out of seminary was sent by the Methodist church to pioner an outreach in my small town in Pasir Puteh, Kelantan. I asked Pastor Chiam how he confirmed his calling to go full-time for God. He told me before going to seminary he asked the Lord to show him 3 signs. I forgot what those signs were but he saw all three! It proved that His calling was divine and Pastor Chiam later returned to continue his service in Penang and I heard that he only retired a few years back, after many years of full-time service in His church.

If God has placed in us a burden to do something for Him or to go into full-time ministry or to be a missionary in a far land or just a calling to serve Him in some way, you may ask for a sign to confirm and afford your calling. With the supernatural confirmation, we will have the courage and boldness to step out in faith into an unknown future safely in the shadow of His migthy wings!