Unexpected Deliverance for an Undeserving People

Well, if you have been joining us these past few weeks, we have been going through the book of
Judges, and we'll be in the book of Judges for the remainder of summer. So if you're new to
Christianity or new to the Bible, would you go ahead and turn to the book of Judges,
which is right after the book of Joshua and right before the book of Ruth. And as you're turning
there, I want to quickly kind of summarize where we're at in the study. We just finished up what
many consider to be the prologue of Judges. It's in these opening couple of chapters in which we
are introduced to what we're calling the cycle of misery. I think we have a graphic of that.
I know you've probably seen this graphic, but it doesn't hurt to see it again. This cycle begins
with spiritual compromise in which the Israelites would forsake Yahweh and blend Canaanite idolatry
into their religious practices. As a result of this, the Lord would raise up a foreign enemy who
would then oppress Israel and put them into some form of bondage.
In their misery, the Israelites would cry out to the Lord, and the Lord would graciously raise up a
deliverer or a judge to save them from their oppression. The land then experiences rest,
a temporary pause from the chaos that so typifies the book of Judges.
But after some time, the people would grow complacent and drift back into compromise.
And so the cycle repeats itself over. Friends, this cycle that we have before us explicitly happens
in the book of Judges seven times. This downward digression into sin and its consequences happens
to the Israelites seven times. And today, as we move from the prologue into the actual narrative,
we're going to see how these seven cycles play themselves out in the lives of 12 different judges
that God uses. In chapter 2, if chapter 2 is the thesis of the book,
then chapters 3 through 16 is the main body of the book that seeks to kind of demonstrate this
thesis that's laid out in chapters 1 and 2. The biographical profiles of the judges are meant to
fill out the theological framework that were given in the beginning of the book. The stories are
there to put meat on the bones, as we say. So yeah, chapters 3 through 16 explain what happened,
and the prologue explains why it happened. So we must always have Judges chapters 1 through 2 as we
look at the lives of these judges. But before we start to read about these first three judges,
I want to draw three things to your attention with regards to these biographical sketches.
The first thing is... It's not a coincidence that there are seven cycles.
With seven being the Hebrew number for completion, the author intentionally does this to convey the
totalizing effects that Israel's covenant unfaithfulness has to the land. By the time we reach the
seventh cycle, Israel is in utter disarray as a result of their persistent infidelity.
Though there are relatively short moments of respite during this 400-year period,
one can't help but see how completely ruined Israel is after experiencing this cycle seven times.
Two, the second thing we should notice is that these cycles are historically accurate,
that they are real events that occurred in real space and time, but they are not chronological.
Even though we can be sure that these events happen with historical accuracy, they are by no means
chronological to each other. The ordering and structuring of the judges was designed for rhetorical
purposes. The author is more concerned with presenting an argument than he is with giving us a
chronological timeline. Finally, the last thing we should note, and most importantly,
The lives of these judges still have direct bearing upon us as 21st century believers.
With the stories that we're about to read, you may look at this and say, what on earth does this
have to do with me today? What does this have to do with a new covenant believer?
But friends, let me just remind you that all of Scripture, all of Scripture is breathed out by God
and is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. So yes,
even when we read about a sword being plunged into a fat king, we're to look for the profitable
truth of it because this too was inspired by God.
So would you please stand and join with me in the reading of God's Word in Judges chapter 3.
Judges chapter 3, we're going to start in verse 7. Judges chapter 3,
starting in verse 7.
The Bible says this, And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
They forgot their Lord, their God, and served the Baals and the Ashereth. Therefore the anger of
the Lord was kindled against them, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathayim. king of
Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan Rishathayim eight years.
But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people
of Israel who saved them, Othniel, the son of Canaz, Caleb's younger brother.
The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave
Cushan Rishathayim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan
Rishathayim. So the land had rest for 40 years.
Then Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died. And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight
of the Lord. And the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against Israel, because they had
done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the
Malachites and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of the city of Palms,
and the people of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, eighteen years. Then the people of Israel
cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gerah,
the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon,
the king of Moab, and Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length,
and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. And he presented the tribute to Eglon,
king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute,
he sent away the people who carried the tribute. But he himself turned back at the idols near
Gilgal and said, I have a secret message for you, O king. And he commanded silence.
And all his attendants went out from his presence. And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in
his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, I have a message from God for you. And he arose from his
seat. And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into
his belly. And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade,
for he did not pull the sword out of his belly.
Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked
them. When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber
were locked, they thought, surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool roof chamber.
And they waited until they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof
chamber, they took the key and opened them. and there lay their lord dead on the floor.
Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed through the idols and escaped to Syrah.
When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel
went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader. And he said to them,
Follow after me, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand. So they went down
after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass
over. And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men.
Not a man escaped. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel,
and the land had rest for 80 years. After him was Shamgar,
the son of Anaph, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an ox goad, and he also saved Israel.
You may be seated.
Well, if anyone tells you that the Bible is boring, just read them this passage and see what they
say, right? But let's go before him in prayer.
Heavenly Father, your word is more than just not boring. It's more than just exciting.
Lord, your word brings life. And we are promised this life when the spirit accompanies the
preaching of your word. So Lord, send your spirit. Speak through him as I seek to be faithful with
your word. Help us to see you for who you are, even in a passage like this.
Help your people grow closer to you, even through a passage like this. Amen.
So, again, I ask the question, what does this particular passage of Scripture have to do with us as
21st century believers? I believe the way to answer this question is to look at the main theme of
this passage. What is the common thread that binds these three judges together?
What is the main theme that connects them? It is this, that God works through unexpected people to
deliver an undeserving people. God works through unexpected people to deliver an undeserving
people. It is in this idea we find the main point of the sermon. And it is in this idea that we
also find much solace in the Christian life. Deliverance from our sin, from our sorrows,
from our suffering, come through unexpected ways, though we too, like the Israelites,
are an undeserving people. I wish to demonstrate this idea in and through the lives of the judges
that we were just presented to in the text. So if you wish to have reasons why we can believe that
deliverance comes to an undeserving people in unexpected ways, look no further than the lives of
Othniel, Jehud, and Shamgar.
Let us first look at the life of Othniel, or rather, Caleb's nephew.
A quick thing to note right off the bat, is that everything we know about Othniel is in connection
to his much more famous uncle Caleb. Rather, Othniel's fame and notoriety was secondary and
derivative to Caleb's fame and notoriety. Readers of the Old Testament would be familiar with
Caleb's gallant efforts to spy out the land and to spur the people of Israel on into the land
despite their unbelieving and cowardly dispositions. Caleb had made a name for himself,
but Othniel, the son of Caleb's younger brother, the guy who is only associated to the tribe of
Judah through marriage, this is the guy that the Lord decides to use.
Many of you with older siblings know what I'm talking about here. I have an older sister whose
academic successes were much greater than mine. So when I went to the same school and had the same
teachers, it became very easy for them to see me as Jessica Perkins' little brother.
And I'm sure many would have looked at Othniel the same way. Only he would have...
seen through the lens of his much more reputable uncle Caleb. But yes,
this is who the Lord decides to raise up for people who had done what was evil in his sight.
A people who had forgotten him. Israel's spiritual amnesia resulted in the Lord's angry
displeasure. They had both passively forgotten the Lord and actively forsaken him.
They began to bow down and serve the Baals and the Asherah, who, as Bob pointed out last week,
were these Canaanite fertility deities that required illicit sex from their worshipers.
The Israelites were supposed to de-Canaanize the land and not become Canaanized themselves.
There can be no doubt that this was in direct violation to the Lord's covenant commands that are
laid down numerous times in the Pentateuch. This command to take possession of the land was not
only stated emphatically in the Pentateuch, but was even corporately confirmed by Israel in Exodus
24. They say in Exodus 24, all the words the Lord has spoken, we will do. This is what they said.
Yet the Old Testament particularly judges as a history of how the people of Israel repeatedly fail
to live up to their end of the covenant. Yet the Old Testament is also a history of how God remains
faithful to a people undeserving of his grace, including this particular case with Othniel.
Even after the Lord sells them into slavery as a punishment for their idolatry,
he hears their cries and raises up Othniel to deliver them. The fact that the Lord was even willing
to listen to their requests is mind-boggling enough. Especially when you think about the nature of
these requests, the nature of these cries for help. They're not cries for repentance.
They're simply cries of affliction. Meaning that the Israelites are not recommitting themselves to
Yahweh worship after they've been delivered. They're simply feeling the pain, the weight of their
own punishment, and asking the Lord to relieve them from it. And the Lord does.
But it's at this point we have to ask two why questions. Two why questions.
Why does the Lord actively sell them into slavery? Think about that for a second.
actively sold the Israelites into slavery. And the second why question is,
why does he then in turn deliver them from slavery through the military actions of Othniel?
Well, he sells them into slavery to demonstrate that he does not play around with idolatry.
God is serious about idolatry. Exodus 34 says this,
God explicitly tells them not only to not worship the Canaanite deities,
but he also tells them to break down their altars, to again de-Canaanize the land.
God punishes his own people because his jealousy is provoked.
Many will balk at this. and see jealousy as a character flaw in God. But might I point out that
there is a profound fundamental difference between human jealousy and divine jealousy.
Namely, that God has all the right to be jealous when human affections,
human worship, is not directed towards Him. Because He is deserving of all human affection and
worship.
But so he sells them into slavery because he takes the first two of the Ten Commandments seriously.
Well, he takes all of the Ten Commandments seriously, but he takes the first two commandments
seriously, and he is jealous for his own name. That's why he sells them into slavery.
But the second why question, why does he then subsequently bring them out of slavery after hearing
the groanings of a stubborn and idolatrous people? Why does he do this? Even though their cries did
not issue forth from a penitent heart, they were still directed to the heavenly throne room of
Yahweh, who in turn listened and responded in undeserved kindness.
But why? Why does he do this? Well, he does this to defeat an even deeper wickedness.
In the freeing of his people, the Lord knew he would have to take down Cushon Rishathayim.
who, by the way, his name in Hebrew translates to twice-wicked Cushite.
This guy was bad news. Think of the evil Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars.
This guy was bad news. He was the baddest of the bad.
Yet, who does the Lord turn to in order to take down this twice-wicked Cushite?
Othniel. Yes, the very same nephew of Caleb, who again is only associated to the noble tribe of
Judah by marriage, not by blood. It really does make you wonder, was there anyone else in Caleb's
family that was able to do it? Perhaps the better question, was there anyone else God was going to
use to demonstrate that deliverance comes to an undeserving people through unexpected means?
Of course, the answer is no. And to further hammer down the point that the Spirit of the Lord comes
upon Othniel so that Cushon Rishathayim is defeated and the Israelites are handed a victory.
Now, whenever the Spirit of the Lord is mentioned in the Old Testament, we have to pause and
consider why he may be there or what sort of function he may be performing. I believe this Daniel
Block quote sums it up quite nicely. He says,
transforms this minor Israelite officer from Debir into the ruler of Israel and the conqueror of a
world-class enemy.
Othniel, being so deflated of any ego, no one of any significance in Israel's history,
is raised up by God and is empowered by the Spirit to show us that victories are not to be won by
human might or power, but by the Spirit.
Victory over evil, happened by the Spirit's work in Othniel.
And what's more, as a result of Othniel's victory, the land was at rest. For 40 years,
the Lord brought calm in the land of Israel. An entire generation of Israelites knew because of
Othniel and the Spirit-empowered work that he performed, an entire generation of Israelites knew
of only peace in the land.
This pattern of God consistently using unexpected people to accomplish his purposes is everywhere
in the Bible. Think of Abraham. Think of Noah. Think of Moses.
And yes, think of Othniel. But the pattern finds its ultimate fulfillment in Christ.
In prophesying about the coming Messiah, Isaiah says of him in Isaiah 53, for he grew up before him
like a young plant and like a root. out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should
look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces,
he was despised and we esteemed him not. Our very own Savior,
Jesus Christ, did not match human expectations for what a Savior should look like.
He had no beauty, majesty that we should behold him. And yet, the Spirit was upon him the very
same. And he didn't just come to defeat a twice-wicked Cushite, he came to defeat sin itself.
And he won the victory by living the perfect life, dying and leaving sin in the grave when he arose
from the dead. God used. this gentle and lowly Jesus of Nazareth to deliver an undeserving people.
You and I are this undeserving people. And the book of Romans warns us to not think of ourselves
more highly than we ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure
of faith that God has assigned. So in looking at the example of Othniel,
you too can be rid of any sense of self-importance. In fact,
it is the Spirit's work in the life of a believer that humbles us increasingly, making us more and
more reliant of his power.
Many are tempted to believe that a Christian is someone who slowly weans themselves off from the
Spirit's power. But I have found the exact opposite to be the case. It was reported that when
Charles Spurgeon climbed the pulpit of his church to preach every Sunday, he would quietly say to
himself, I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit. Maybe you need to do the same
as you climb into your car tomorrow morning and go to work. Not only was this reliance on the Holy
Spirit demonstrated in his preaching, but it was demonstrated in his life. Charles Spurgeon would
go on to say, without the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing. We are as ships without wind or chariots
without steeds. Like branches without sap, we are withered. Like coals without fire,
we are useless. As an offering without the sacrificial flame, we are unaccepted.
Through the Spirit, God uses unexpected people to deliver an undeserving people. But then also in
the church today, God blesses an undeserving people with the power of the Spirit.
This is what we can find in the life of Othniel.
But then what can we extract from this exciting and humorous story of Ehud's life?
Well, as Pat Howell once told me, he heard a preacher summarize the story of Ehud.
Many of you know Pat Howell. He's a preaching guru. He heard a preacher once summarize the story of
Ehud when lefty gave fatty the works. But if I can offer a more detailed summary,
I must begin with the fact that the people of Israel once again fell into complacency and drifted
once more into doing what was evil on the side of the Lord.
And as you can surmise, God punishes them again by raising up a foreign ruler to oppress them and
exact tribute from them. And this is not just any foreign ruler. This is King Eglon,
a Moabite. And if you know anything about the Old Testament, the Moabites were arch enemy number
one for the Israelites for many years. If you read the book of Numbers, they try to curse the
Israelites. The Israelites remain uncursed by them. And so the fact that King Eglon is a Moabite is
very important. But what else can we say about King Eglon?
Aside from the very obvious descriptor of him not just being a fat man, but a very,
very fat man, his name in Hebrew literally means bull or calf.
and is a play on word for round or rotund. So his name literally means fat cow.
So again, we're getting this caricature of this King Eglon, who is not only very fat,
but the author also wants us to get the impression that Eglon is obtuse. He's not the sharpest tool
in the shed, nor are his guards, right? They seemed to be just as dull as Eglon was.
Every step of the way, they were outsmarted by the cunning and crafty Ehud.
Ehud's plan to assassinate the king goes off without a hitch, all because of Eglon's stupidity.
And Ehud gets away with it, all because of the guard's stupidity. And I want you,
just for a second, imagine yourself around an Israelite campfire after this took place.
And someone is regaling the tale. Imagine the shock people would have had when the story gets to
its climax after Ehud lured the king into the private room and he told him that he had a message
from God and he stabs him in the belly and he gets away with it by his cunning.
And the campfire erupts in victorious laughter.
Imagine yourself there for a second. We can go over every detail of the story.
We can go over every story note after story note with this one. Hollywood couldn't write a better
story. The fact that Ehud was escaping the palace as dung was escaping Eglon's dead corpse as a
detail fit for cinema. But rather than focus on the gift of deliverance and all the exciting
details, I want us to focus on the agent of deliverance,
the agent that God used to deliver his people. Two things to note about Ehud.
Ehud, his name in Hebrew means, where is the majesty? Where is the splendor?
It's safe to say that Ehud did not give off majestic vibes. People did not see him as this noble or
brave warrior. And yet God used him to bring deliverance to the people and rest to the land.
Second thing to note is that he was a Benjaminite. And in the book of Judges,
Benjaminites don't necessarily have a positive connotation. Don't believe me?
Just look at chapter 20. There's a whole civil war that breaks out between the rest of the tribes
of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin. So the fact that Ehud is a Benjaminite does not work well in
his favor. And on top of that, he's a left-handed Benjaminite,
which may be not the most obvious thing here. The irony here is that Benjamin in Hebrew means son
of the right hand. So here we have this left-handed son of the right hand who lacks majesty.
And yet, God uses him. to be a deliverer,
to be a judge. Now, how much the Lord was involved in helping Ehud hatch this highly complex,
highly organized assassination remains to be seen. Yes, Ehud did say,
I have a message from God to you, and he credits the assassination to God. But it's not like
Othniel, where the text explicitly says that the Holy Spirit came upon him, or that the Lord gave
Eglon into Ehud's hand. So, there's a palpable tension in the text that does cause us to wonder if
Ehud's plans for regicide were divinely sanctioned. How much was the Lord involved with this?
Block writes, at the personal level, in and of his accomplishments, the figure of Ehud is
problematic. Is he a hero or a villain? The answer depends upon one's point of view.
To the Moabites, he was a traitor. violating the obligations of a vassal. But to the Israelites,
from whose perspective the author writes, he is a divinely sent deliverer. So this becomes a common
theme in the book of Judges, God using men of questionable character to accomplish his purposes.
In fact, as the book progresses, the judges become more and more questionable or even downright
corrupt. This was to show that like the rest of the nation of Israel,
even the judges themselves experienced a spiritual and moral decay. But one thing is for sure.
This is what we do know about Ehud. Ehud was particularly crafty to map out and carry out such a
meticulous plan.
Every step of the way, he had it all mapped out, down to the weapon he would use,
the way he would escape. All of it was mapped out by this crafty individual.
And in his victory over the Moabites, God used him to bring deliverance to an undeserving people
once again. Unexpected deliverance for an undeserving people. And again,
we return back to the theme of this passage. Is this not the theme of the Christian life?
God redeems us through the blood of his Son and frees us from the bondage of sin.
We're no longer crushed by the oppressive weight of our own sin. We no longer feel the need to
gratify the desires of the flesh because God has freed us from that way of living.
I'm convinced that Eglon is in the story, King Eglon was in the story to show us someone who is all
about gratification. desires of the flesh.
And he's there to show us that we can have victory over that. We don't have to keep bringing
tribute to our insatiable desires of the flesh. In fact,
we wage war against our flesh. And may we have the craftiness of Ehud to do so.
In our battles against sin, how prone are we to just give up after experiencing some form of
failure?
formulate a plan, a meticulous one, if need be, to kill your sin.
Look, war requires battle tactics, does it not? If you don't have a creative plan to fight sin,
sin will win every time.
In college, I had a sin struggle with watching pornography. As I was preparing to marry Hannah,
I wanted to receive some counsel on how to better withstand temptation. And one of the very first
questions my counselor asked me was, do you have a plan for when you become tempted?
And it was then that I realized that God was able to help me come up with a plan to fight my sin.
So that whenever temptation came my way, I knew what scriptures I could turn to.
I knew what prayers I would pray to help me and deliver me from the temptation that I was currently
experiencing.
So with the help of the counselor, I wrote out a plan for when I was tempted to look at porn.
Having a plan to fight sin is never a bad thing. In fact, I strongly encourage it.
What is a bad thing is formulating a plan and then not becoming reliant on the Spirit to help you
carry out that plan.
We have become far too man-focused, man-centered in our battles against sin.
If we think we can just white-knuckle our way through fighting off temptation, we're sadly
mistaken. What's more, if our Lord Jesus Christ was filled by the Spirit and empowered Him to live
a perfect and holy life, then how much more do we need the Spirit?
Unlike Othniel, Ehud got by without the power of the Spirit, which I think is interesting.
But that should not encourage you. to try to get on by without the power of the Spirit.
Sure, the Lord might try to grant you success for a season, but a sustained pursuit of holiness
should begin and end by the power of the Spirit.
He is the one who truly delivers us from our sin struggles, not our own resourcefulness.
So, may we have Ehud's shrewdness, his resourcefulness in crafting a plan,
but also reliance on the Holy Spirit to help us, to empower us, carry out that plan in fighting
against sin, to kill sin.
Now we finally make it to Shamgar,
poor parenthetical Shamgar, whose measly one verse at the end of the chapter is all we're given as
readers with regards to his exploits. But what exploits they are.
600 Philistines with an ox goad, which is this kind of ancient cattle prod.
So a stick, essentially.
And even from this one verse, verse 31, we can still extract the truth needed for today,
that God works through unexpected people to deliver an undeserving people.
Shamgar is just like Othniel and Ehud in this respect, even though we know much more about Othniel
and Ehud.
Why is the author of Judges so skimpy with the details concerning Shamgar? Who is this guy?
Where does he come from? How on earth did he defeat 600 Philistines with a stick?
I mean, we were just given a feature-length film with Ehud's escapades.
Now all we're given in Shamgar's life is this parenthetical statement. Oh yeah, here's Shamgar.
So what are we to make of this? What are we to do with the brevity of detail that outlines
Shamgar's successful efforts to save Israel? Well,
because of the meagerness of detail, we can surmise that Shamgar was Israel's last hope against the
vicious and formidable Philistines. This is indicative of the scarcity of Israel's leadership at
the time. Israel was clearly experiencing a lack of brave and courageous leaders who would take a
stand against God's enemies. Israel was experiencing a leadership crisis and all they had was
Shamgar. And all Shamgar had was an ox goad.
But this was all the Lord needed to unexpectedly deliver an undeserving people.
That's all he needed was one God and an ox goad.
I mean, can anyone actually believe that the Lord was not behind the action taken by Shamgar?
The Philistines, who were known for their brutality in battle, were defeated by one guy and his
stick.
Who else could have saved Israel in such a fashion?
Now, I'm afraid that's all we hear of Shamgar. There's a lot of speculation of what the son of
Anath means, but I don't want to get into detail with that with you. But that's all we got.
biblical count is a parenthesis in the time of the judges.
His deeds are great because of the great and mighty God who is evidently behind his actions.
Though his deeds are recounted with little detail, they're still great because of a great and
mighty God who made them possible.
And perhaps you feel like poor parenthetical Shamgar. Perhaps you feel like you're deserving of
more credit than you actually get. Maybe you've been tempted to think, well,
I've done such and such for God. I've done such and such for the kingdom. Why don't people notice?
Friends, don't get me wrong. Faithfulness to God should be commended and celebrated.
But if you're being faithful for the purposes of being commended and celebrated, you're doing it
for the wrong reasons.
Shamgar's life was a parenthesis in the kingdom of Israel. Are you willing for your life to be a
parenthesis in the kingdom of heaven?
Let us not forget the many nameless and faceless foreign missionaries who have accomplished much
for the kingdom and may have even been faithful to death, but we have little to no knowledge about
their exploits.
Are you even aware of those who went for the sake of the gospel without any sort of fanfare,
without any sort of praise from others, but have done many great things for the kingdom,
all without any sort of acknowledgement from us. Those people exist,
and yet we know nothing about them. We don't know their identities. We don't know what they look
like, and yet the Lord used them.
So that begs the question for us, will you still live for the Lord and make an impact for his
kingdom, even though you may not even be a footnote in the pages of church history?
This whole section of Judges is all about how the Lord used some nobodies to bring about unexpected
deliverance for an undeserving people. The Lord uses nobodies.
We learned how the same could be applied to the Christian life. In sending His own Son,
Jesus, we have an unexpected Savior for undeserving sinners like us.
Those who put their faith in Him experience the saving grace of God.
But God's deliverance does not just stop at salvation. He time and time again delivers us from
temptation and uses us in unexpected ways. We need only rely on the Spirit for strength and humbly
let him use us for his kingdom while not expecting to receive any form of credit.
Perhaps maybe you're feeling like one of these three judges. Unimportant or unheard of.
Maybe you don't expect to make much of an impact for the kingdom. Friends,
this is exactly where the Lord wants you.
In order to use you, the Lord wants to see yourself as a nobody.
Therefore, the more we feel like a nobody in the kingdom, the more we live out Jesus' desire for
the last to be first and the first to be last. So woe to us if we feel like we're a big deal in the
kingdom.
Yet we humbly rely on the Spirit for divine power in the everyday.
God will use us to accomplish great things, even though we're nobodies.
If we rely on His Spirit more and more, God will use us to accomplish great things.
Though we be undeserving sinners, we are nevertheless surprised by the great salvation that is
offered in and through his Son. Though we be undeserving of his power, he nevertheless sends us his
Spirit to deliver us from temptation and the sorrows of sin. This is what we glean from the lives
of Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar. Let us pray.
Heavenly Father,
we are undeserving. of your grace. We are undeserving of your kindness.
And yet, Lord, you saved us by your mercy,
by your grace. You sent your Son to die for us, to free us from the oppressive nature of sin.
And on top of that, Lord, you send us your Spirit to fill us, to help us in our normal,
everyday lives as we pursue holiness, as we say no to sin. As we say no to temptation,
Lord, you send us your spirit to help us to do so.
Lord, I pray that we would be more reliant on the spirit as Othniel was. I pray that we would have
the craftiness of Ehud and formulating a plan to fight sin. Lord,
I pray that we would have the disposition of Shamgar, not expecting any credit in return.
Lord, thank you for these men so that we can see them, we can learn from them.
Father, I pray right now we would, be conformed more and more into your image through your word. In
Jesus' name, amen.