Stop Talking About It
and Start Being About It
We often limit our
ability to do good and make change out of fear.
We fear the circumstance is too big and we are too small. We make excuses to rationalize our in action,
“I have homework,” “I’m just a kid.” We
forget that God is not bound by our label of small, outcast, or loser or our
idea of ourselves. Throughout the Bible
God uses some pretty crazy characters to do His work and show His love
including murderers and adulterers. God
loves us so much that He wants to use us to help show His love to others.
In Judges Chapter 2 we
see the Israelites had begun to worship and serve other gods and so, God was
leaving Israel’s
enemies in their land to test them.
Where this may look like God is punishing the Israelites, in reality we
see the consequence of their choice to live in sin.
What we are going to
see throughout this book, in fact what we see through the Bible, is a cycle of
God’s chosen people sinning in selfish destruction and crying out from their
circumstances. God hears their cry,
raises a judge up to save them, and when the judge dies the people return to
their selfish destruction. BUT don’t let
this discourage you. What we continually
see in this book and throughout the scriptures is God’s persistent perusal of
His people, His ultimate grace and His desire to use US to accomplish His
will.
You may say to
yourself that he can’t use you, perhaps you have sinned too much, don’t know
enough about Him or even are too much of an outcast to make a real
difference. But God continually uses the
least of these to be His champions.
Today, we will look at three such examples – Othneil, Ehud, and Shamgar.
Turn with me please to
Judges 3:5.
“The Israelites lived
among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and
Jebusites. They took their daughters in
marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.
“The Israelites did
evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot
the Lord their God and served the Baals (with
means Masters) and the Asherahs. The
anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of
Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject to
(or enslaved to) for eight
years.
“But when they cried
out to the Lord, he raised up from them a deliverer, Othniel, son of Kenaz,
Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.
“The Spirit of the
Lord came upon him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to
war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishanthaim,
king of Aram
into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.
“So the land had peace
for forty years until Othniel son of Kenaz died.”
We notice some
interesting things in this passage.
First, the people FORGOT their God. This is important as it is the only
place in Judges where the people do not ABANDON (turn their backs on) God. Reading this, I could not imagine how one
could forget their God, so I looked up the meaning.
FORGET means to cease
or fail to remember; to omit or neglect unintentionally, to fail to think
of. Then I remembered how easily I do
this. But to put it into perspective let
me tell you about my eldest brother Jason who is almost a decade older than me. I idolized him as an eight year old watching
him enjoy the coolness of high school driving, dances, and parties. But when he moved out, I saw him less and
forgot about him most days. Until one
day in high school he called me to apologize for something and told me a story,
similar to Othniel’s.
Now Othniel was the
YOUNGER brother, which today does not mean that much, but in that time period
it was huge. Not only that, but his
older brother was the leader of Israel
at the time. Think who would be Obama’s
younger brother today. During that time,
the eldest brother got the blessing of the father, in today’s terms the
inheritance, the family business and the younger sons got very little. If you recall, in Genesis this is what Cain
and Abel fought over when Cain sold his blessing for some soup after
hunting. Being the younger meant less
respect, less inheritance…well, less in general. But God used Othneil. He was a deliverer of Israel, he
saved them in war. What does this mean?
Well, remember
Jason? The night he called he told me
about the story of David. The younger
son who overcame his station and God used, who was raised above his older
brothers to do great things. Naturally,
I went to the story of David who became king of Israel after he defeated the
Philistine Goliath. Jason kindly told me
he was actually telling me a prophesy that was given at the time my youngest
brother, David, was born.
This prophesy has
begun to come true. Growing up David was
the peace keeper in the family, the one who could calm us all down when we
wanted to tear each other apart, the one who’s wisdom kept us friends instead
of enemies, and the one we sill look to.
David can actually help us understand Othniel a little better. Both David and Othniel were the younger brothers
of great men. Yet, God used them
anyway. Much like my siblings and I, the
Israelites accepted Othniel’s leadership.
They stormed into battle with him, and followed his direction in the
face of death (though my siblings and I have yet to follow David into battle). Also, much like David, Othniel and God were
never bashful about the fact that he was the youngest. They did not hide that secret (Othniel would
have been well known, being the brother of Caleb). David was so well known in my home town I remember
being asked on more than one occasion if I was his sister…and I am the
elder.
You see, God is not
bound by our labels. He is not bound to
work within our label of eldest and youngest, He uses all types. This judge shows us God’s immense Spirit of
Love at work. He heard the cries of the
Israelites and sends them a deliverer, He shows Himself by using the least of
these. He could have easily sent Caleb
into battle, made Caleb the judge, but He used the least of these to show His
power and love.
If we continue on in
Judges we read the story of Ehud, where God shows us He is not bound by the
label of disability or handicapped.
“Again the Israelites did evil
in the eyes of the LORD, and because they did this evil the LORD gave Eglon
king of Moab power over Israel. Getting the Ammonites and
Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel,
and they took possession of the City of Palms. The Israelites were subject to
Eglon king of Moab
for eighteen years.
“Again the Israelites
cried out to the LORD, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man,
the son of
Gera
the Benjamite (
or son of the right handed).
The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of
Moab.
Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword
about a cubit
long, which he strapped to his right thigh
under his clothing.
He presented
the tribute to Eglon king of
Moab,
who was a very fat man.
After
Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way those who had carried it.
But on reaching the stone images near
Gilgal he himself went back to Eglon and said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret
message for you.”
The king said to his attendants,
“Leave us!” And they all left.
“Ehud then approached him
while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace
and said, “I have a message from God
for you.” As the king rose from his seat,
Ehud
reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it
into the king’s belly.
Even the
handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull
the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.
Then
Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and
locked them.
“After he had gone, the servants came and found
the doors of the upper room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in
the inner room of the palace.”
(
They could probably have
smelled the poop).They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he
did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There
they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.
“While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by
the stone images and escaped to Seirah.
When
he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the
Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.
“Follow me,” he ordered, “for the LORD has
given
Moab,
your enemy, into your hands.” So they followed him down and took possession of
the fords of the
Jordan that
led to
Moab;
they allowed no one to cross over.
At
that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and
strong; not one escaped.
That day
Moab was made subject to
Israel,
and the land had peace for eighty years.”
Now Jason, my eldest brother is a singer who God
is using to show His love to millions around the world. Let me let him tell you his story. Follow the link to a short video that will
shock and amaze you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5pQPobPotg
I remember the first accident watching my brother
in a caged bed and listening as the doctors told us he would never walk
again. Looking at him, it was easy to
believe. He had no idea who I was, could
barely speak coherently, and was in cast from head to toe. his accident is actually what brought my
brother back to God. In his hospital
room was a Gideon Bible. He had not
picked up a Bible in almost a decade. He
found the Lord when he couldn’t walk and had the mental capacity of a 2 year
old.
But this was not enough. People say they remember the day the
Twin Towers
fell and what they were doing when they heard the news, and I do. But I remember the night I learned my
brother’s head was nearly cut off much better.
Where I was sitting, what I was wearing, and who I was with. For the first time in my life, I thought I
was going to know real loss, loss of someone I loved. When the best doctor’s in the world haven’t
seen an injury like that and don’t know if they can fix it, it is scary. But they saved him. After six months of doctors swearing he would
never speak again, he did. Today he has
a paralyzed right arm, right diaphragm, and right vocal chord, but he singing
to millions around the world, inspiring them to be what God has called them to
be…great.
Working on this lesson the irony that Jason can’t
use his right arm didn’t escape me. You
see Ehud, son of the right handed, was probably paralyzed too. I can imagine the teasing he got growing up,
not being able to live up to his namesake.
I can imagine the bullying he got, the stolen lunch money, not being
asked to play on the sports teams, the swirleys, he was probably an outcast. Yet God chose and used him. The irony is that if he did not have the
disability, he probably would not have had the sword on him. You see much like today, people were searched
before entering the presence of the king, but the guards would not have been
looking for a weapon on the right side.
The bullying he received growing up would have taught him how to face
bullies, sharpened his mind to overcome the physical, and all of it would have
increased his faith.
But God is not bound by our label of disability,
of wimp, of geek. No, He uses those
things that make us unique and our circumstances to show His immense love for
us. God works within our circumstances
to bring us out of them into the glory He has planned for us.
Lastly, God is not bound by our label of race and
ethnicity. If we continue in Judges, we
get a brief glimpse into Shamgar.
“After Ehud came
Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad.
He too saved Israel.”
Shamgar, is an interesting
name that gives us a very interesting insight into the workings of God. Anath was the name of a god of the
Canaanites. Now, I don’t know about you,
but if I am going to name a kid, it is not going to be for a God I don’t
believe in. Anath was NOT one of the
twelve tribes of Israel,
which means Shamgar was probably a Canaanite.
But aren’t the
Israelites and Canaanites enemies?
Yes. But they had a common enemy,
the Philistines. Remember David and
Goliath, the Philistines were thorns in the Israelites side for a long
time. The Philistines were at war with
both the Canaanites and the Israelites, so they fought together against the
common enemy.
Jason has four
children, two adopted and mixed race.
Now, I don’t know if you could tell but my family is white, so white in
fact we were teased for being ghostly.
My grandfather is a self professed racist. Well, when he found out about the little one,
you can imagine how angry my grandfather was.
But God is bound by our label of race.
Kids notice things
like skin color about they time they are two or three. Those children didn’t notice skin color
differences till later. Kids do not
create stigmas that adults put on skin color, unless they are taught them. So, watching how those kids love on each
other was a testimony of God’s love to my family, but especially to my
grandfather. My family has learned to look
beyond what we see into the deeper being. God is not bound by our label of
race.
So, what does all
this mean for us today? God loves us,
hears us, and wants to use us. As
Jeremiah 29: 11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord.
“Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future.” If we believe this, and we have
seen evidence of it here in Judge where God continues to hear our pleas and sends
a deliver for us, then we must be willing to go. We must be willing to be an Othneil, and
Ehud, and a Shamgar. We must shed our
labels and learn from these heroes. I
challenge you in this next week to listen and seek God. Ask Him where He wants to use you? Is it in school, on your basketball team, in
your neighborhood? Who is God calling
you to love on this week? Where is He asking
you to step out of your comfort zone? For
as I Timothy states, “Don’t let anyone look down
on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech,
in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” Remember, God is not bound by our labels, and
with His help, we can do all things!
