That’s kind of what the dictionary definition of “omnipotent” means. But when it comes to our lives, we’re really fast to put hard limits on Him.
“I’m too old.”
“I’m too young.”
“I’m not smart enough.”
“I haven’t been a Christian long enough.”
Each one of these “reasons” has been used, and hundreds more just like them that I didn’t want to type out.
What’s the excuse that you turn to most often? I feel pretty safe asking because it’s the human way to try to deflect attention from ourselves. Especially spiritual attention. Most of us have made that excuse at one time or another.
If you’re feeling bold reply to this email and confess your “reason” or “excuse”. You’ll feel a lot better for getting it out into the open.
But God can use anyone, and I intend to prove it!
I want to take us back to the Old Testament (again) and look at Judges 3. There we meet a man with a name that just might make you shake your head in wonder: Ehud.
Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, and the LORD raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.
That’s Judges 3:15, which introduces us to the situation I want you to look at.
Let’s get a few things straight. The people of Israel were in trouble. They had to pay tribute to a foreign king, so things weren’t going so well. As God had promised, when they rebelled against Him, He would bring judgment down upon them. This time in terms of domination by their distant relatives to the east in Moab
The people chose Ehud as the tribute-bearer. He was the one who had to take all the precious stuff and humbly present it to the King of Moab (who had a name that wasn’t much nicer to our ears: Eglon). Hopefully the king would be pleased with his offering and back off a bit and give them some breathing room.
But we learn two really important things about Ehud in this verse.
- God raised him up as a deliverer
- He was left handed
You might think that those two things are unrelated. Just a random convergence of irrelevant facts. Nope. They are very tightly related.
I think God chose Ehud BECAUSE he was left-handed.
As we read on through the story we learn that because he was left-handed, Ehud strapped a special sword to his right leg. That would be his natural cross-body draw-your-sword location. But apparently the people who did security for the king didn’t think of it, because they let Ehud go 1:1 with the king and no one present for protection.
Talk about “You had only 1 job!” That was a major screw up by Eglon’s security team.
But God chose Ehud because he was left handed. This gave him this unexpected and unorthodox approach to arming himself. This let him single-handedly slay the king (and make a mockery of his administration).
Now I know that the 10% of my readers who are left-handed are cheering out loud saying “About time the Lefties got some love!”
But my point is that Ehud got chosen for a completely trivial reason. It wasn’t because he was the most clever guy who could find an innovative solution. It wasn’t because he was a master of disguise and could hide his sword in plain sight. It wasn’t because he was better in any way than the people around him.
He had exactly the skills that God wanted to use, regardless of how mainstream they were (or weren’t). So that’s why God chose him.
Let me bring this home again.
God can choose anyone for ANY reason.
He doesn’t necessarily chose for the reasons you might expect. So He could choose you.
You might not fit the lefty profile. But you could easily fit a different unexpected profile that God wants to use. After all there’s a reason why He called you. It wasn’t because he wanted to fill the stands with spectators. It’s because He wants you on His team.
So… how does this play out in real life? I’ve got 3 truths for you to live:
- When we settle for excuses (we might call them “reasons”), we rob God of the tools He has called to be part of His family and His kingdom – Proceed with extreme caution!
- When we say “I’m not worthy,” we deny God’s omnipotence to make something special out of us. Why would you want to prevent yourself from being special?
- When try to stay spiritually invisible, we claim that we know better than God does what we can and can’t do. Now that’s border-line blasphemous, so be careful!
Give the second half of Judges 3 a read. But remember that God chose Ehud because he was not like most of the people around him. How might God choose to use you for the same effect? Do you trust Him? Are you ready to take that step of faith?
Odds are there’s something you’ve been avoiding because you don’t think you’re the right person for the job. Let the story of Ehud convince you otherwise. Go in faith, trusting God to use the gifts you do have for His glory.
Blessings,
Dennis
P.S. Isn’t it cool to find life lessons in the Old Testament? To be honest, the OT is full of stories like this that can speak directly to our lives today. We don’t need to sweep the OT under the carpet because it’s not directly about Jesus. Some of the greatest life applications live there.
If you would like to learn more about how to read, understand and apply the Old Testament, I want to remind you about the soon-coming study of Ruth (which is the next book in the Bible after the book of Judges). I’m planning to release a new study using the Study The Bible – Six Easy Steps method in a few weeks.
I’d love to send you some more information about it. You can signal your interest by clicking this link and putting in your email on the web page that comes up. It won’t do anything beyond let me know you are interested so I can give you the best information when the time comes around. And it won’t be that long either!
Last week over 30 people let me know their interest. You can do the same right now by clicking and sending your email address. I’m hoping to get over 100 people who want to learn how to study the Old Testament – so don’t wait, let me know today!.
Thanks,
D
