“And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece.” – Judges 6:39
We had had a wonderful vacation trip to Florida, Denver, Kansas City, and Tennessee, but on returning home to my position as a clerk on the railroad, I discovered that a wholesale cutting of positions had occurred while I was gone and I no longer had a position to come back to. The closest job my seniority would make me eligible for was that of a yard clerk forty-five miles away in the city of Longview, Washington, and I took it.
My brother-in-law was the pastor of our church in Denver, Colorado, and when he found out that I was driving to work that many miles a day, five days a week, he offered to find me a job in Denver. He said there would be no problem at all finding work there.
I had no desire to move to Denver, but I needed to support a wife and five children. So after talking it over with my wife and my pastor, we decided to wait until the end of our upcoming camp meeting, which was only a few weeks away, to see what the Lord would do on our behalf.
The chief clerk in the yard office had the most seniority of anyone in the area. His young daughter had a serious ailment and had to spend much time at a specialized hospital in Seattle. Seattle was in our seniority district, so he decided to bid on a position there. After he got the position in Seattle, there was a long line of bidding by the employees in the area, to get more desirable jobs. The bids for the lowest position on the roster were due to be closed on the same week as the last week of camp meeting. You guessed it! I was given the position I needed in the very time frame that I had asked God to help me.
God confirmed His will with Gideon in his situation in the Bible, and He confirmed His will for me: that I should stay where I was and not relocate. When we are sincerely seeking God’s direction for our lives, He will not leave us hanging. He wants us to follow His will even more than we do, and He will show us what that is as we seek Him and wait on Him.
If you are facing a difficult situation, trust the Lord to lead you. He will always prove faithful.