EHUD

Reading from Judges Ch 3 vs 12-30

God is a just God, we should never expect that because he loves us he cannot punish us. He chastises those he loves if anything, and he will allow or let bad things come over you as punishment for your sin for even when you ask for forgiveness and are forgiven? There is consequence to sin. Now all that is to lead us to repent and return to him (because sometimes we ask for forgiveness but don’t really mean it). In as much as he will let us get defeated or let other things happen, it is to help us find our way back to him. He is always planning and making solutions for us to be freed from these very problems we put ourselves in. We must not misunderstand, God yes is in control and will allow these things to happen but it is not minus our own actions. Mostly if not always it is the consequences of our actions that land us in the oppression or conflict or bad that happen.    

God sometimes allowing these things to happen is to help us face our consequences rather than just free us and us not learn for often we are slow to learn. Now what I love about God is his use of the ordinary to save, whether it’s the least expected people or the unexpected means I often feel like it is to communicate to us that even if we individually seem odd or don’t stand out much etc. he can still call and use us. We are represented and loved and he shows us this throughout the word. Now we have Ehud the left handed man who is tired of the oppression and God stirs him to plan a way out of the oppression. He makes a weapon and hides it on the side of his body that people often don’t expect him to use, he focuses and knows what he needs to do.

After so many years of being defeated, paying tribute, your possessions taken away among other things? There’s a strength and will that God puts in you to really want change. Now changing things needs us to trust God and step out in faith and with the boldness of the spirit of God for things to be different. When I do the bible studies I try to think of the passages in real time, like if you were in that particular time but also the reality of things. Think of 18 years of oppression or whatever bad thing yeah? Think of your age and how long it has felt to get there, the build-up of your experiences and intricacies of your life? Now imagine just suffering and being oppressed for that whole time period, it’s a lot right? You’d just want to be free and for most you’d try to do something to be liberated.

All you need is an opportunity, and God provided one for Ehud to strike the king. There are characteristics about our problems or enemies that God can turn around and use for our advantage. In this case it was the feeling of importance or pride of the king and that was all it took. He just said he had a secret message and the king felt that his servants shouldn’t hear the secret and sent them out. He didn’t care to think of his safety or anything other than the information just being for him alone. It is understandable of a ruler but it’s the very thing that was used as an opportunity. So Ehud was able to kill the king and slip away and it is funny when you read the details in the bible.

Ehud was filled with zeal but he understood that the mission wasn’t done yet. He ran and gathered the people and encouraged them to fight. You can’t always do things on your own and cutting the head doesn’t mean the body won’t respond. And so they fought and defeated the Moabites and got their freedom.

Sin plagues us and we lose our way, it is often easy to make God look like the villain than learn from our wrong. But even when things are bad God cares for us, he leaves a way out, empowers us and helps us to be free and walk better with him. So whatever it is for you, it is not too late to turn from the sin and back to God. You’ll be okay and know that God loves you in everything.