Under Gods command

Under Gods Command
Disobedience and defeat

Judges 3:12, 15-21, 30
12Once 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.

15-21: Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them deliverer-Ehud, a left handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites went him with tribute to Eglon King of Moab. Now Ehud had made a double-edge sword about a foot and a half 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 the men who had carried it. At the idols near Gilgal he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O King.” The king said, “Quiet!” And all his attendants left him. Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his summer 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 Kings belly. Even the handle sank in after the blade, which came out his back. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.

30: That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.

Ehud is called a deliverer. In the broadest sense, all the judges can be looked upon as foreshadowing the perfect Deliverer, Jesus Christ While Ehud delivered Israel from its enemies, Jesus delivers us from sin, our greatest enemy.

This unusual story demonstrates how God can use us just the way he made us. Being left-handed in Ehud’s day was considered an exceptional ability. Many Benjaminites were left-handed (see 20:16), making them highly specialized troops, able to use a sling or bow with tactics designed to repel right-handed warriors. Eglon’s bodyguard never checked Israel’s messengers for left-handed weapons. But God used Ehud’s overlooked ability to give Israel victory.

Lets bring it home: Let God use you the way you are to accomplish his work. The enemies we face are as real as Ehud’s, but they are most often within ourselves. The battles we fight are not against other people but against the power of sin. We need God’s help in doing battle against sin. We also need to remember that he has already won the war. He has defeated sin at the cross of his Son, Jesus. His help is the cause of each success, and his forgiveness is sufficient for each failure.