God's Left-Hand Man

Judges 3

Does God bring about bad things? If God is good, how could that ever be? If something bad happens it has to come from us or the world or the enemy, right?\r
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Listen to Isaiah the prophet:\r
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Isaiah 45:6-7 I am the Lord, and there is no other. 7 I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things. ESV\r
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Yes, you read that right. "I â?¦create calamity" God says. The word for "calamity," also translated "evil," is the Hebrew ra. It means "adversity, affliction, distress, calamity, or evil." It's not moral evil like we think of - sin. Sin by definition is anything that is not like God. But God actually does create calamity. \r
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This is a pretty troubling thought, especially for those of us who have placed our lives in His hands - what have we gotten ourselves into? \r
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So, in fact, as we look at Judges Chapter 3, we see God purposefully bringing about difficulty into the lives of His children. Is the purpose to hurt them? Is God somehow a masochistic master who delights seeing His creation squirm? Certainly not. So what is the purpose? \r
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That's what we'll talk about today.\r
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God brings about evil, even testing us to see if we will obey, not so that He can gain information, but so that we can. And using that information we make decisions: that we are not obedient, that we not capable, that we need him desperately. \r
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God brings about evil to 1) break us and order to 2) embolden us with His power and then to 3) build us.\r
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Today we see God bring evil to a nation that is rapidly descending into idolatry. He does it by first reminding the nation that there is an enemy out there and they need to stay prepared as soldiers, then by raising up three men who employ unusual means to slay God's enemies. In the end, at least for now, Israel will not listen; will not be broken to be built. But that doesn't have to be the way we respond.\r
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Verses 1 - 4\r
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Wait a minute - nations "the Lord left" - I thought it was the people who didn't drive out the nations that God commanded them to destroy? Both are true. God knew they would not utterly drive out the Canaanites so He used them, made that evil part of his scheme for good to test them.\r
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Doesn't this strike you as odd that God would test the people to see if they would obey? I think God does this to us as well. God brings us into situations of temptation or trouble to see what we will do. Will we remain faithful and dependent on Him or abandon Him to go our own way or solve things on our own?\r
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It's not for His information - "rats!" God says. No. It is for our information, for us to realize how weak we really are and how strong the Lord is. \r
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Then there is also this idea that God brought about these wars in order for Israel to learn war. God wanted His people to realize that they were still surrounded by mortal enemies that would not hesitate to push them into the ocean. Funny how nothing has changed over the millennia. Israel is still surrounded by mortal enemies who would not hesitate to push them into the ocean!\r
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For us, trouble and attack and temptation comes in part to remind us that we have mortal enemies: in the world system, our own fleshly nature, and an enemy Lucifer who will not hesitate to attack and try to destroy us. We, like Israel, need to always be in a state of readiness.\r
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That's why Paul, in Ephesians 6 in talking about the armor of God, says we should take up the shield of faith "in all circumstances" "praying at all times" and "to that end keep alert with all perseverance." There is never a time when we should be "asleep" spiritually. Like a network firewall we need to be vigilant at all times for the probing attacks of the enemy.\r
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So I find it interesting that God uses difficulty not only to show us how much we need Him but as a training opportunity to keep our skills sharp. This is especially true when it comes to small skirmishes that train us for major battles later. Israel would have to face superpowers like Egypt and Assyria and they needed the training!\r
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For Israel the problem at this point isn't training, its treason.\r
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Verses 5 - 6\r
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The very thing God told them not to do - intermarry with the Canaanites - was what they did. If your wife or husband worships another god - a cool god, by the way, that provides sensual fulfillment, you are likely to go for that if for no other reason than to keep peace in the household.\r
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I might add here that God does want us to have pleasure. But pleasure God's way may be different than pleasure the flesh's way. Pleasure God's way brings about glory to Him and peace and growth - pleasure the flesh's way brings about abandonment of our relationship with God and pain and hurt to us and others over time.\r
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This is why the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1:\r
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Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,\r
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"I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty." (Lev 26:12)\r
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7 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. ESV\r
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This doesn't mean we never have contact with unbelievers, but we do not become "yoked" with them. I think that goes to marriage, to business ventures, etc. It's not that God prohibits it and says we've sinned, but it's a principal that being unequally yoked to an unbeliever means you'll get dragged in ways you don't want to get dragged!\r
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So next we see how this "yoking" caused Israel to continually fall away from God, God brings discipline to them, and then they cry out and He sends Judges to rescue them in unconventional ways.\r
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Verses 7 - 11\r
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The natural result of this connection to the people of the land results in a disconnection from their God. Instead they served the Baals (there were several) and the Asheroth. Asherah was the wife of both El, and Baal - not to be confused with Astarte. An "Asherah" was a sacred tree or pole that represented the goddess and was set up beside an altar to Baal.\r
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It says they "forgot" the Lord. The word means "to mislay, i.e. to be oblivious of, from want of memory or attention." God got put on a back shelf and was eventually forgotten. Oh, the dangers of that!\r
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God gets angry and sends "Cushan of double evil". Cush was the father of Nimrod, who founded the Babylonian civilization (Gen 10:8).\r
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The people cry out to God who raises up Caleb's younger brother. A key here is that (vs 10) "the Spirit of the LORD was upon him." This will be true of the Judges up until the time of David and was the mark of God's chosen vessel. It's still true today. We who belong to Jesus Christ have the Spirit of God sent into our hearts crying "Abba Father". It is only by His power that we overcome our enemies (a major theme in our study of Judges).\r
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Othniel's victory brings in a forty year period of rest. And this will be pattern for many years - abandoning God, worshipping idols (anything that replaces God is idol worship), discipline, repentance, rescue, rest. \r
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So next we have one of the most unusual stories in Judges, but one that I am particularly interested in, being left-handed.\r
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Verses 12 - 30\r
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This story is interesting from several perspectives. 1 - the Spirit of God did not come upon Ehud and 2 - he was not said to "judge" Israel. 3 - God did not tell him to do what he did nor sanction his methods. \r
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Apparently being left-handed was a common trait among Benjamites. In Judges 20, 700 of them take part in a civil war with the rest of Israel. \r
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Eglon, a Moabite, had taken over Jericho. The Moabites were bitter enemies of Israel and they are the same ones that tried to curse Israel and got them tangled up in perverse sexual practices (Numbers 25). \r
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Notice that God strengthened Eglon. In the past He gave strength to Israel, but their disobedience turned that around. Ehud apparently was delivering a large amount of goods in tribute to Eglon, showing Israel's subjection for yet another year. By the way - when we forget our relationship with God, the power of the flesh and the world system does grow in its influence - a vacuum not filled with a relationship with the Lord is quickly filled with other stuff.\r
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The sword would have been around 18". After Ehud's defeat of Moab they enjoyed the longest period of peace during the time of the Judges - 80 years.\r
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Verse 31\r
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No sin is mentioned that causes Shamgar to attack Philistia. He uses as ox goad, which was a stout stick with a bronze tip. This may have been the result of the Philistines disarming Israel as they certainly did later (see Judges 5:8, and 1 Samuel 13:19).\r
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Lessons\r
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What can we learn in terms of our study: Destroying the Flesh by the power of the Spirit? I think the two things we learn are \r
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1) Power comes from weakness. I know it's counterintuitive, but God uses calamity to remind us that He is God and we are not and His Spirit works best in a weakened person. That's why Paul said "when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10). And speaking of weakness:\r
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2) God uses handicaps. How do I get that? Well, a left handed person has often been considered less than. For instance, left handed people used to be considered doing the work of the Devil. The Latin word "sinister" means both unlucky and left - bummer!\r
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Yet a left-handed man could do something here that a right handed man could not: pass security and surprise a king. A soldier without a weapon isn't very effective, yet Shamgar used an ox goad to wipe out 600 Philistines. \r
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Do you feel handicapped? Do you feel that your background of your personality or your sin or your circumstances preclude you from serving God? Take courage from these two guys. With God, a disability is an asset. Where we get in trouble is when we think we have it all together. \r
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Maybe you feel like an Ehud - left handed and disabled. Or maybe a Shamgar - all you've got is an ox goad, not suited for battle. But God used these two men with unusual tactics and weapons to do battle for Him.\r
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And God can use you - disabled, with nothing but an ox goad. In fact, that's the way He likes it. God can use us better when we realize how short we come, how weak we are, than when we feel pretty good about ourselves. That's because then it is His power, which can do so much more than ours!\r
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1 Corinthians 1:26-28 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. ESV\r
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And if you are experiencing calamity, look for God showing you to: \r
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Stay sharp\r
Latch on to Him all the more\r
Become emboldened by His Spirit "clothing" you with power and be \r
Rebuilt into a tool the Lord can use!\r