Week 13 (Days 085-091): Is it okay to test God?

Hey Bible readers, welcome to TBR Deep Dive. I'm Emma Daughter. I'm Kirsten McCloskey. And I am so excited for us to jump into these questions. Are you ready? I'm ready. All righty. The first one comes from day 88 and it is a little bit more of a general question from Joshua. Okay. But I'm going to read Joshua 24, 29 through 31 for us. It says, After these things, Joshua the son of none, the servant of the Lord died, being 110 years old, and they buried him in his own inheritance at Timnath-sur-ah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gosh. Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel. Now you might notice, we get a mentioning of the elders, but there's no identification of a future leader following Joshua. So the question, is someone assigned to lead the Israelites after Joshua's death, or does that job fall to the Levites now that they're in the Promised Land? Yeah. So the short answer is no, we don't have a record of a specific individual being raised up to lead the Israelites in the same way that we clearly saw God pass the torch of leadership from Moses to Joshua. So that was very clear from the Lord, Moses, you're going to die. I'm raising up Joshua to replace you as the leader. We do not have that. Which is interesting because a lot of people look to Joshua as this peak Old Testament excellent example of leadership. And some even argue that he was a better leader than David, which is interesting. I know. Shocking, right? No. But their point, whether you agree or disagree, is that Joshua uniquely and exceptionally upheld the Word of God through his leadership. Yeah. We don't get thinking about, yeah, the whole book of Joshua, we're not really getting bad examples from him. It's his success. Their success. Joshua had success. He took the land. Yeah. So, yeah, that's very interesting. So the next kind of leaders that we do see are the judges. And so we're seeing this in the book of judges where as a refresher, these judges are more like military leaders than courthouse judges. So don't let the name confuse you. And Joshua would have been a military leader as well. And with the interesting thing with the judges is that we don't necessarily always know why God chooses these specific judges. And they're oftentimes really deeply flawed. They aren't really necessarily the epitome of faith or obedience. But on the flip side of that, which I always find very interesting when reading the story of judges and then flipping to Hebrews 11, is that many of the judges are listed in Hebrews 11, which is, again, that Hall of Faith chapter in Hebrews. So there must be something about their faith that caused them to be. Yeah, that the author of Hebrews is hiding. Or they had faith as leaders. What do you mean by that? I mean, maybe their faith isn't what qualified them to be selected necessarily. Oh, right. But once they assumed the leadership role, they were marked by increased faithfulness. Yeah, potentially. I do think, though, yeah, it's just interesting. As you're looking at judges, right, as you're looking at judges, after we read through all of judges, then just read the Hall of Faith and see what you think. Can I jump in? Yeah, please do. Some people look at Joshua, yes, and see him as this excellent leader, Hall of Faith kind of guy, if you will. But we can also see some not great, some bad examples in the book of Joshua. And those who would say Joshua is a negative example or a poor example, look at this question. And they say, Joshua didn't choose a successor. There's a lack thereof. And they would identify that as his biggest failure. Now, we have to be clear because scripture is silent here. So is there a possibility that he had selected a leader and that leader failed? Maybe. But we would expect that if he had selected a successor, that that would be included in the book. Right, right. So we don't know why he didn't raise up the leader. Was that something that he should have done? Or maybe God told him not to. We don't know because scripture doesn't say. But if we just scan the situation and make observations, Joshua's behavior does seem to break with the pattern we see and how leadership is wisely handed down. Like we see with Moses handing the torch to Joshua and Caleb, we'd think, okay, maybe Joshua would now do the same. But the scripture is silent. We don't see Joshua passing the torch. Well, and the other thing too is that it looks like maybe God is actually moving Israel to a different kind of leadership that's more decentralized. And so that's kind of what we're seeing in the book of Judges that with this idea of the elders that you read in that verse, that it's kind of like the tribes are meant to lead themselves. Well, maybe. Or is it that because the people have deviated from God's original intention, now the Judges structure is a response to their moral depravity or a result they're of? Yeah. And I think what is important to remember about this is that God was supposed to be Israel's king. So even though Joshua for whatever reason doesn't appoint another leader, God was supposed to be the king of Israel. God is the true leader of this nation. They're a theocracy, which means that he's their ultimate ruler. So even though Moses and Joshua were chosen by God to lead, God himself was that ultimate authority and the ultimate leader of his people. And I think for kind of thinking about leadership today for us, I mean, again, maybe noting the principles that, okay, Joshua didn't have a successor. And what one of the possibilities is that that led to the downward spiral of the Israel like so that's something to kind of keep in mind for leadership today. Maybe that's a really important thing to bring before the Lord. But I also think that when we're thinking about leadership, whether it's in the church or in the world, God raises up leaders in a variety of ways, but our true allegiance is always to God himself first. And I think of that even in the church where we're not there because of this one pastor. We're there to serve and worship God. That's right. I think you can also get super practical for some of us today. So if you're listening to this and you're a leader, who are you passing your wisdom down to? Like who could step in if you moved on or the Lord called you away? How could you pour into that individual today right now? And in thinking about that, I also want to just hype up Terri Lee because the fact that we're here on this podcast is evidence of her leadership in investing in others. So she looked around and was like, who do I know? Who are my friends that God has gifted similarly? And how can I, one, provide an opportunity for them to exercise their gifts for the benefit of the kingdom into God's glory and then also coach them and develop them? So listeners, you don't know this, but every week our notes are reviewed by Terri Lee and other members of her team. And so it's really amazing to be under a leader who's saying, yes, this is my role. I am the leader, but I believe in you and want to help you and encourage you and train you to excel so that one day when I'm not here, you guys can run. So I'm really grateful and encouraged for that. Yeah, I love that. Thanks for sharing that. You know, foil to Joshua, Terri Lee. That's awesome. All right, let's move on to our next question. Let's do it. This question comes from day 85. And it's a little bit more of just kind of a broad question about the book of Joshua. So the question is, I'm struggling to understand why a good God would call his people to drive out the inhabitants of the land. Is God really good if he's calling them to kill people? It seems unfair to the land inhabitants. Can you help me understand? This is such a great question. And many, many people have been asking it for many, many years. And there's actually, I think, really clear answers to bring some clarity to the confusion. So helpful things to remember. The first would be God's character, who is God. He is holy, he is righteous, and he is just. We don't stand in judgment of him. He stands in judgment of us, Romans 9.14. So we've got to remember who are we? We're sinful human beings, all of humanity, who time and time again disrespect, disobey, and dishonor God. And he is holy, pure, and perfect. He stands in judgment of us. He has every right to do whatever he wants to deal with our sin. But then we've also got to remember the Lord's purposes for Israel. So we see this in Genesis 12, 3, and Exodus 19, 6, Exodus 19, 6, being where he sets them apart as a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. And the point was that Israelites would show other nations what God is like in a way that wasn't judgmental. They were to do this in a way that would invite them in, that they might be like, oh, these people are different. Like, who is their God? I want to know him. That was Israel's role. So Israel's role, evidence is God's heart and love for the nations. And OK, but we can't deny that he's still saying, go wipe out all these people. So that doesn't seem like, set the example and show them that I'm so loving. How do we make sense of this? Well, one, we've got to see God's grace through his delayed judgment. There's 400 years that the inhabitants of the land have, ever since Genesis 15, 12 through 16, 400 years where the inhabitants of the land could have turned to Yahweh. They could have, or just not been as crazy as they were. Let me give a helpful verse for that. So in Genesis 15, 16, God told Abraham, in the fourth generation, your descendants will come back here. So that's the land of Canaan. They will come back here for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. And so God was slow in executing his judgment on the sins of the people in the land of Canaan, but ultimately that judgment must come. But like you were saying, they had time. They had time. And so then, OK, what were they doing in that time? That's the wickedness of the inhabitants. So these weren't innocent, harmless people. They were practicing, I mean, just abominable practices, the chief of which was sacrificing children. So God's looking at this nation and he's saying, this is not OK. So the flip side of this question is, why didn't God do something sooner? If all of these nations were killing babies, killing young children, why didn't God intervene sooner? He's patient, but he's also just. He's also just. He's also just. He's going to deal with the sin. Right. And the goal of wiping out these people groups was to stop evil. Yes. And so Deuteronomy 20... A restrained evil. Yeah. It's helpful. Deuteronomy 2017 explains God's point of view a little bit in this way. So he says to the people of Israel, you must do this so that they, the people of the land, may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods. And so you sin against the Lord your God. So it was stopping the evil and it was protecting the Israelites who were going to be the kingdom of priests to the nation, protecting them from that idolatry. Yes. So some other things to keep in mind. God's heart. He does not delight in the death of the wicked. It's Ezekiel 1823, but desires for all people to know him. Second Peter 3 9. So we've got to remember God wasn't taking great joy in the Israelites driving out the Canaanites that does not bring delight to his heart. He hates sin and the consequences of it. But then we've also got to remember the Lord's judgment is impartial. So he would later send his own people into exile via another nation coming in and conquering them. So he's also fair. Like just as he sends Israel to go deal with the Canaanites crazy sin. He's going to send the Assyrians and the Babylonians to deal with Israel and Judah's crazy sin. He's fair. He's consistent with both people groups, which is really important. And that also shows us this isn't about the fact that the inhabitants of the land were Canaanites or their nationality or ethnicity. This is about God dealing with sin and he's going to deal with your sin and he's going to deal with my sin. Just like he dealt with the sin of the Canaanites and the Ammonites and all of theites and he dealt with Israel's sin. But then I think there's another way of looking at this, which is Joshua's use of hyperbole language. I don't know if you encountered this when you were studying it, but the text would be Joshua 1040 and Joshua 2312 through 13. And some scholars do believe that God's instruction is hyperbolic to drive out all the inhabitants. Now this view, it is a little bit less commonly held, but it's held by reputable scholars. And these theologians would say, hey, I look at these instructions for God to drive out the inhabitants of the land. And then I also see some other instructions that don't seem to add up. So they observe things like God says, drive everybody out. But then God also says, don't marry the inhabitants of the land. Don't interact with them in these specific ways. And they're like, hang on, hang on. Yeah, like why would he have to say that? Drive everyone out and kill them is very extreme instruction. And God also says, don't marry them and interact with them in these ways. And if you've driven everybody out and taken care of them, why would you need that instruction? Yeah, okay. So those scholars do respond to these texts that seem gruesome, if you will. And they'd say, no, it's hyperbole. Now personally, I think that is not the view I hold. But I can see the merit in it. The flip side of it would be to say, hey, God foreknew or foresaw that his people wouldn't perfectly obey and expected that because the nose were broken and provided instruction in light of that potential for disobedience. But either way, we can come back to the reality that there will be a day of final judgment where everybody's going to have to give an account for how they lived and how they treated others. Whether they were obedient or whether they were disobedient. And we're all going to have to stand before God and he will deal with the sin. Yeah. And he will deal with our sin very differently in that day than the sins of people that don't know him. And so we can definitely be encouraged by that. And I do think if this is hard for you, I totally understand, totally get it. And it comes back to God's character. So let's just end with that, that the character of God is perfect. He's holy. He's just. He's good. And a helpful verse for me in thinking about this is actually comes from Deuteronomy 30 to 4. And it says, as for the rock, his work is perfect for all his ways are just. So we can trust that he is a reliable God. He is never unjust. He is always fair and he's always upright in his ways. That's right. The next question comes from day 90, judges chapter four versus four and five, which read, now, Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lapidoth was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. And the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. So our question about Deborah. Love it. Deborah, an example of female leadership that we can extend to the modern day church. Mm hmm. Okay. So short answer. There's a lot of opinions about this. That is an understatement. Yes. So short answer, a wide variety of opinions. Some people would answer with a resounding yes. Others with a resounding no. Others may not have ever thought about this before. And also just to kind of caveat before we get into talking about some of these different viewpoints, it's important that we don't just cherry pick verses or stories or people from the Old Testament and bring them forward to us and just instantly apply them to our lives. So we just want to make sure we're understanding the context as we go into this. So in the story of Deborah, we see that she was a prophet and she was judging Israel. And so some people think that Deborah stepped up to lead Israel because there were no competent men to lead. So they would view her leadership as a necessity because of the lack of leadership, but they would see it as an exception. So this view also kind of sees her leadership as God's judgment on the weak-willed men of Israel, like it should have been a shameful thing to them, that she was judging the people. So those that hold that view wouldn't necessarily hold that women shouldn't be in leadership positions in the church, but they would be cautious maybe about what that looked like. So for instance, they would say Deborah's example doesn't directly correlate with being a pastor. They would see her leadership as a judge and as a prophetess as being different from what we think of with modern-day pastoral rules. Others view this as an example of one of the many ways God uses unlikely people. And he just kind of works outside of the norm of what culture expected at the time. And so they would see Deborah's role as more affirming that God desires women to be involved in leadership. All right, so I've got two other alternative views. One would be that scholars, faithful believers, some will look at this text, the story of Deborah and conclude that there is a logical precedent for females to serve in the role of pastor or elder because of Deborah's example. So some do say, alternatively, that women can serve in the role of pastor. So those who hold this view, how do they get there? They look at Deborah's role, her job. They describe her as a prophet and judge, which I think is fair. Judges 4, 4 through 5 describes Deborah as a prophetess, the wife of Lepidoth, who is judging Israel. As a prophetess, she spoke on behalf of God, delivering divine revelation, a spiritual leadership role. That's the key that they identify. She had a spiritual leadership role. And then as a judge, she exercised authority and discernment over Israel's disputes. So some see this, but the spiritual leadership and the authority over disputes as evidence that God himself commissioned a woman for national spiritual leadership. So they might say, those who hold this belief, if God would commission a woman to lead a whole nation spiritually, why couldn't she lead a church? That's what they'd say. And then they'd say, hey, her leadership was public. Deborah summoned Barak, gave him God's military command, and later led the people in worship through the song of Deborah, Judges 5. Her leadership wasn't private or domestic. It was public, prophetic, and authoritative, which some say is analogous to pastoral leadership in the church. So those who hold this view believe Deborah wasn't a plan B because men failed or there wasn't a male leader. They would say scripture presents her positively as Judges 5.7 calls her a mother in Israel, which again suggests two things, nurturing and authority. God spoke through her, honored her obedience, and delivered his people under her leadership. So those who hold this view would also say that she models the spirit's freedom to gift and call people as he wills. In the broader biblical narrative, Deborah cited as an example of the Holy Spirit empowering men and women for his purposes. Those who affirm women as pastors often use the story of Deborah as an example that emphasizes a reality that God's call in gifting isn't limited by gender. Now Kirsten, I want to throw in a wild card. Ooh, I love it. Because I don't... Throw in the wild card. I personally don't hold any of the views that we've presented so far. So this is the wild card option. I'm not alone in holding this, but again, like we said at the beginning, there's a ton of views here. And people... This is a spectrum too, I think, which is helpful to point out. It's not just like you're here or you're here. And this is one story in the midst of a very large swath of stories and verses and contexts that people have this debate about. Yeah. Yeah. So this view suggests that Deborah's example isn't comparable to New Covenant church leadership and shouldn't be used, this passage shouldn't be used to form a conviction around the issue of female leadership in the church. So Deborah's story is really one of the most inspiring accounts of female leadership in the Bible. She was a prophetess who spoke God's word faithfully and a judge who led people with wisdom and courage. But her story takes place in a specific time period, the time of the judges, an era when everyone did what was right in their own eyes, as this famously said multiple times throughout the book. So it was an era that was marked by chaos, not a model for the ordered structure of the New Testament church. So the fact... So you're separating the context. Yeah, I'm looking at the context and I'm saying, okay, New Testament church, order, intentionality, design, not that God wasn't intentional in selecting Deborah, but she was leading in a time when this nation was an absolutely disarray. Everything was chaotic. But the fact that God raised up Deborah demonstrates God's sovereignty and grace. But it's, I believe, as do other scholars, that it's not suggesting a normative pattern for church leadership. It was a season in history that was absolutely out of control and continued to need new leaders every time things got worse and worse. So while Deborah's story is stunning, I don't want to diminish the beauty that it is to see a great example of a female leader, those who hold this view suggest that it's descriptive, not prescriptive. Meaning that judges tells us what happened in Israel, not what should happen in the church. So this was before Israel had kings, before the temple, aka the place of worship, had been built, before the priesthood and prophetic offices were distinct. Deborah's role was unique. She was raised up by God to speak his word and render judgments in a season where there was no consistent spiritual leadership in Israel at all. In other words, those who hold this view would say that she stepped into a vacuum during a time of national disobedience and chaos, not an established spiritual structure. Thinking about, we've covered a lot of different possibilities. And maybe honestly, some of you listening are like, I didn't know that people talked about these things. You will do. I didn't know that this was a hot topic of debate. Glad you're here. Yes, exactly. Exactly. But again, I do just want to highlight this is a spectrum. We have presented some of the views. If this is something that's interesting, do your own deep dive, do some exploration on it. But regardless of where you fall on the spectrum or where we fall on the spectrum, Deborah was an example of a good and courageous leader in the midst of a really difficult time in Israel. And she is presented as a contrast to some of the other lackluster and seemingly faithless leaders in this book. And so I just want to make sure that in the midst of this issue, we don't lose what this story is telling us and showing us, Deborah led the people well, and we should recognize her as the author of the book of Judges does as a faithful leadership example. So good. All right, let's move on to the next question. So this question is coming from day 91, Judges 6, 7 to 8. And so I'm going to read the question first, and then we'll look at the verse. The question is, why don't we know the name of this prophet that God sent? This seems kind of unusual to me. And so Judges 6, 7 to 8 says, when the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, he sent them a prophet who said, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, I brought you out of Egypt out of the land of slavery, and then it continues on. Nameless prophet. Nameless prophet. Nameless prophet. What is going on? Well, do you think this is unusual? Yeah, but I think it's intentional and meaningful that it's nameless. So if God chose not to preserve the name of the prophet for us, there's got to be some attention behind it. If God wanted us to know the name of this prophet, we would know the name of this prophet. So I know, because I think it's interesting because I feel like sometimes we get people's names and you're like, okay, you know, they're just, they're like one off. And you hear the name one time in the entire Bible and then you never see them again. Right. But then here we have this prophet, someone speaking on behalf of God. That seems to do something significant. Right. And they have no names. And they don't have, they have no names. What is the focus of the book of judges or said differently? What is, what is this type of book? Well, it isn't a biography. So the focus is going to be historical and theological, not biographical. The text centers on Yahweh's word in his covenant faithfulness rather than on the human instrument. So the anonymity is highlighting that the true speaker is God. It's not about the prophet. At the end of the day, the prophet is speaking God's words to the people. It's not the prophet's words. Right. It's not the focus. Yeah. That's a really good point. And then I'd say this also fits the pattern of transitional rebukes being given before deliverance. So before each major deliverer and judges, meaning the judges, there's, there's often this moment of confrontation or a divine reminder. Yeah. See judges two, one through five. And this unnamed prophet serves a very similar function, calling Israel to repentance, reminding them of God's past faithfulness. Now another interesting aspect is that this may be the author of judges intentionally contrasting with Gideon's fear and need for recognition. Okay. So the scholars who hold this view would say, hey, Gideon is later portrayed as hesitant and insecure, arguably. They'd say he repeatedly seeks signs from God, but by contrast, the nameless prophet delivers God's message with quiet authority, with no attention to self. We get, we read nothing about his doubt or how he felt delivering the message. It's just this was the prophet and this is what he said. And he clearly obeyed. Yes. And he clearly obeyed because he said what God had told him to say. So his anonymity is underscoring this humility and obedience, which are the qualities that Gideon struggled to learn. Yeah. Yeah. That's very interesting. Yeah. The emphasis is what the prophet said, not who this prophet was. And what's interesting to me is that, and I think maybe you did reference this already, but in, in Judges 2, 1-2, the angel of the Lord comes and speaks to them. And he actually says something very, very similar. So he says, I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. And I said, I will never break my covenant with you and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars, but you have not obeyed my voice. So it's almost this, like we've got this unnamed prophet coming in that should instantly remind them that they've heard this before. And that gets into that cyclical nature that you were talking about. Yeah. And so I think the message that the people need to be getting is God is faithful. Yep. That's right. And you are not. The people are not. And you are in trouble. God is faithful. The Israelites are not. And the reason that they're not is because they're idolatrous. They are continually in this rebellious idolatrous state, and they disobeyed God by not driving out the people of the land, and they disobeyed God by worshiping the false gods of the people in the land. And so this is meant to be like all the alarms are going off. There's red lights everywhere, and they should have this moment of, it should be like a wake-up call to them, you know, where they're just in this dead sleep of sin and idolatry, and this should be the wake-up call that's like, whoa, we have disobeyed the covenant, we've disobeyed God. So yeah, I think the message is what's important, not necessarily the person giving the message. That's right. I think this is a good reminder that when God uses nameless people in scripture, we can see that faithfulness matters more than fame. It's the unnamed prophet in Judges 6. We are called to speak God's truth and trust in His word, not our recognition, because our recognition isn't what brings a lasting impact. It's the Word of God, the power of God, a move of God. And I look at this story and I'm like, what a great reminder that my name doesn't matter. Our names don't matter. It's God's word at the end of the day. That's so great, Emma. Thank you. I like that. You ready for the next question? Yeah. This one comes from day 91, Judges 6 and 7, the story of Gideon. So we know Gideon was an ordinary guy who God called to deliver Israel from the Midianite Depression, and he was maybe unsure of God's call. He wanted to be certain. So he asked for signs, including placing a fleece out twice, to just confirm that God would truly be with him. And so he strengthened by that assurance, and Gideon led 300 men, which was a small number, to a miraculous victory proving that God, not human power, brings deliverance. So with that story in mind, the recaptain asked, I've heard mixed messages about Gideon's fleece situation, which is the same. Is Gideon testing God or just clarifying what God wants him to do? Is it bad if I want to put out my own fleece? I like all of these questions. So let me say 100% understand the desire to put some fleece out. Definitely have been there. And I think we probably have actually, all of us have probably heard some stories about people doing this very thing, putting their fleece out, like whatever that looks like to get clarity from God. Like, God, if you want me to do X, please let me see a yellow bicycle today, you know, something like that. But I do think it's really important to understand that what Gideon was most likely doing with the fleece was demonstrating that he actually didn't believe what God said. So I think that Gideon's fleece shows an immature faith. I think that's maybe one way to look at it, that Gideon had some interaction with God. Obviously, we see kind of at the beginning of the story before the fleece comes out. But Gideon does not have that mature response, that mature knowing of God, so that he's able to actually say yes and obey confidently. Yeah. Yeah. I would say Gideon isn't exactly seeking general guidance. He's actually struggling with unbelief because God had already told him exactly what to do. Right. Judge of 614. Yeah. And even confirmed his promise through multiple signs. So when Gideon lays out the fleece, he's not humbly seeking clarity. Right. He's like, he's hesitantly asking for proof. Yeah. And this isn't something scripture commends. Yeah. It's scripture describing Gideon's fear and God's patient mercy toward Gideon. Yeah. And again, we use those words descriptive and prescriptive. This is descriptive. Right. Not prescriptive, which means it's telling us what someone did. Rather than telling us what to do. Yeah. And I think what's interesting with the Gideon story is that when the angel, the Lord first comes to Gideon, Gideon asks for a sign in that moment so that he can know that it's God talking to him. That's what he says. And the Lord grants that request in that moment. And we see other examples in the Bible where God comes to people and they know it's him and they don't ask for further proof. I'm thinking of someone like Samuel or someone like Isaiah where it's kind of like, oh, here I am, Lord. Yeah. So I think we can cut Gideon a little bit of slack kind of at the beginning with asking for these signs. But then after the Lord gives him that first sign, which is the fire consuming the sacrifice that Gideon brings, then Gideon moves on to the fleece. Yeah. And so that's the piece. He wants more signs, more clearance, more clarity. And so I think that we're meant to see Gideon's lack of faith and we can also see that in spite of that, we can be encouraged by God's patience with Gideon. Totally. Because God did graciously meet Gideon in his weakness, but the story isn't teaching us to answer this question like very explicitly. This story is not teaching us to explicitly test God for confirmation through signs. It's not the instruction. And today believers have something Gideon didn't. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit. So we don't need to lay out fleeces because God has already spoken clearly through scripture and guides us through his spirit, community and his providence. So I look at the story and I'm like, okay, Gideon's story reminds us that we often tend to hide our fears behind a desire for confirmation. Yeah. We say we're waiting on God to make something extra clear, but sometimes what we're doing is delaying our obedience because we feel unsafe. And God doesn't shame Gideon for that. He meets him there, but he also calls him to trust what he's already said. And faith doesn't tend to grow when we try to gather more signs. It grows when we step out trusting in the truth that's already been revealed, the truth we already know. So practically that could mean obeying before you feel ready. Maybe you've sensed God nudging you to start serving or to give generously or to reconcile with someone, but you're waiting for some kind of fleece moment to make it obvious. And the invitation of Gideon's story is to stop testing and start trusting. God's word and his spirit, they're enough. They're enough. And as you move forward in faith, as we move forward in faith, we discover what Gideon did, that courage doesn't come before obedience. It comes through it. So maybe what you don't need is clarity. Maybe you need courage to walk in faith, walk in obedience. And I do think that what's amazing is that we can pray that God would give us more faith. That is a great prayer. And so if you're in a situation where you feel like, I don't know what to do and I really want to do this fleece, you know, like you were inspired by the fleece story and now we're sort of reigning on your parade. I'm so sorry. But you can pray that God would give you more faith to obey him and that you would also be able to mature and to recognize where God is at work in your life and the things that he's doing and the way that he's present. Like those are all really good prayers. So good. That's the hard beat of Gideon's story. Not that we should test God until we feel ready, but that he's trustworthy even when we don't. So we don't need to wait for the fleece to be wet or dry. If God has already spoken, start moving. The courage comes as we obey not before. Yep. Love it. Awesome. Thanks so much for taking a deep dive with us. We will see you next week as we continue to read, understand and love the Bible and the God who wrote it. Thank you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.