God Rallies the Canaanites
Isn’t
it interesting that Judges 3 is specific about how God used the very Canaanites
that the Hebrew people were not willing to drive out? God used them to expose the true character of
the Hebrew people! God used them to put
“other gods” before His people and examine His people in whom they would really
worship. For the record, their hearts
were not pure and they strayed to the other gods quite frequently.
As
I say almost daily, we are no different.
The influences I do not drive out of my life become a testimony to God
about my character. When I spend time
playing that video game instead of reading God’s Word, when I spend time
watching TV instead of spiritually relating to my wife, or when I spend time
engrossed in my anger instead of seeking to forgive – all of these are evidence
to God that my heart is not purely focused on His ways. That’s what I love about reading God’s
Word. True conviction about one’s life
is found in the study of God’s Word.
But
rest assured. Just as God used the
Canaanites to test His people, God will also use the things that I am tempted
by to examine my true nature. Thanks be
to God that He is forgiving when I am repentant!
Othniel
Next,
Othniel comes on the scene. I find it
interesting that the time described in this section regarding the Hebrew
bondage is not ever mentioned among the other times the Hebrew people went into
bondage. Sure, it was only 8 years. But they served the king of Mesopotamia like
they earlier served the Pharaoh in Egypt and later the king in Babylon. God’s people are oppressed because they got
themselves into trouble and they cry out.
Then God hears them and sends a deliverer. It should be right up there with the other
captivity stories!
But
my focus with Othniel is actually on a bit of hypothesis. The Bible makes it sound so easy, as if
Othniel shows up on the scene and of course the Mesopotamian king just backs
off. But I highly doubt that’s really what
happened. Othniel had to do some grunt
work. He had to organize the people. He had to revolt. He probably had to fight a few battles and
more than a few skirmishes. I’m willing
to bet it was hard work.
How
often do we think this way about what God has called us to do in life? As a pastor, I find myself struggling against
my congregation quite frequently – not struggling because they are wrong or
because I don’t like them, rather because I love them and I want them to be
more spiritual for God! But it is a struggle!
I
think it is good to remind ourselves from time to time that Moses struggled
against the Pharaoh (external struggle) and the Hebrew people (internal
struggle). Joshua struggled against the
Canaanites as well as the sin of the Hebrew people. No doubt Othniel had his own external and
internal struggles. Why should it be any
different for us? So those of you
struggling between the “reality of the church around you” and the “vision of
what it could become” – know that the struggle is an inherent part of the
process!
Ehud
With
Ehud we see a similar story. The Hebrew people follow their hearts and end up
in captivity under the Moabites. God
sends a delivered in Ehud. Through the
judge the people are saved. The story
sounds much the same as Othniel’s story – with the exception that here we have
an account of the king’s death, graphic as it may be.
However,
what I’d like to spend the rest of my time doing is talking about Eglon. Eglon was used by God to bring the Hebrew
people under captivity. Eglon was used
by God to teach the Hebrew people about faithfulness. However, Eglon was not God’s servant! There is a difference between serving God and
being used by God. One must not think
that just because God uses someone that they are inherently God’s servant at
all!
Eglon
brings the Hebrew people under captivity, but he has no desire to worship the
God of the Hebrew people. This I find
ironic because when the Hebrew people allowed the Canaanites to exist as their
servants, their hearts were swayed to foreign gods; but when Eglon has the
Hebrews as slaves his heart is not swayed at all! Why is it that when the people of God rule
over the people of the world that few people convert but when the people of God
are under foreign power they fall astray quickly?
The
reason is simple: to follow God means to deny oneself whereas to follow manmade
gods means to indulge even more in oneself.
Why would Eglon be swayed to worship a God who is going to ask Eglon to
be less self-centered? No, Eglon is going
to desire the worship of the Moabite gods who will encourage Eglon to continue
to do what makes sense to him, what feels good, and what feels right.
Because
of this, Eglon is used by God without becoming God’s servant. And this explains to us why people will find
it much easier to fall out of worship of God than to fall into worship of
God. Worshipping God means denying
oneself as the center of one’s life.
Worshipping manmade gods means indulging in one’s self.
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