Moving On

Read Judges 6:33-40

Then Gideon said to God, "If you are really going to use me to save Israel as you promised, prove it to me in this way: I'll put some wool on the threshing floor tonight, and if, in the morning, the fleece is wet and the ground is dry, I will know you are going to help me!"

And it happened just that way! When he got up the next morning he pressed the fleece together and wrung out a whole bowlful of water!

Then Gideon said to the Lord, "Please don't be angry with me, but let me make one more test: this time let the fleece remain dry while the ground around it is wet!"

So the Lord did as he asked; that night the fleece stayed dry, but the ground was covered with dew!

Judges 6:36-40(TLB)

As Carol Purves, from England, has gotten older, she has felt more resistant to change. So when she felt God asking her to make a major life change - moving to live in a city on the other side of her country where she knew no one - she didn't want to go. It would mean leaving behind her friends and her church. But while she continued to disobey this urging, she had no peace.

Carol tried to calm her unsettled soul by reading about characters in the Bible who had been asked to move by God. Abram was prompted by God to move to an unknown destination; at least she knew where God wanted her to go. God asked David to change his location and his status; Carol would only be changing her location. Gideon was so reluctant to obey that he questioned God and tested God's intentions with a fleece; Carol didn't need a fleece.

Carol obeyed God's instructions questioningly and reluctantly. She is now living in a house that is better suited to her older age. She is happy in her new church, and since moving she has learned that her former church has closed. The city Carol now lives in has more opportunities for service. Carol will be forever grateful God urged her to move. God always knows best.

Prayer: Dear God, may we always obey your still, small voice. Give us courage to follow your leading, in Jesus' name. Amen.