It is quite possible that we would have said, OK, Gideon, we’re through.
For even having been empowered by the Spirit and surrounded by a vast army, Gideon is full of doubt and fear, asking for one sign after another. However, we are often too hard on Gideon. The Lord does not respond as we would. Out of an abundance of grace, the Lord remains patient with Gideon’s fears, doubts, and doublespeak. As Block rightly notes, the Lord is more anxious to deliver Israel than to quibble with this man’s semipagan notions of deity.
1 God makes the fleece dry, and the threshing floor wet. How he bears with sinful fear and weakness!
40 And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.