[Steve Myers] Okay. Well, good evening, everyone. Welcome to our bi-weekly Bible Study. We're glad you're here. We're continuing tonight our series in “The
Judges.” So we're glad you're with us here in the room,
and those of you who are with us on the web as well. Before we get started, let's ask God's blessing
on our study, and we certainly want His presence and blessings. So let's all bow our heads. Loving heavenly Father, God Almighty, we thank
You so much, Father, for Your love and Your mercy and Your truth. We thank You, God, that You've given us Your
Word that we can open Your Word and discover Your mind and the things that You have in
store for us, and we are so thankful for that, Father. We pray for your presence here at the Bible
study tonight, that as we look into Your Word You would help us and guide us, that we may
gain insight into our own lives, that we may grow more like You and like Jesus Christ,
and we are so thankful for that. And Father, we certainly pray for those who
are unable to be here tonight, those who are sick and those who are hurting. We especially remember Chloe Aschenbrenner
tonight and the difficulties that she's going through, and we just pray for that little
girl that You would bless her and intervene and certainly bless the family as well as
they are going through this difficult trial. So, Father, we remember not only her, but
others who are suffering as well. And so, Father, comfort them and encourage
them and may Your healing power be upon them as well. So, Father, we thank You for this study, we
put it into Your hands and ask Your presence and blessing and pray it all by the authority
of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, tonight as I said, we're continuing
our series in the Judges. And when you think of important, great Judges
of Israel, what names come to mind? Maybe Gideon, Deborah, there we go. They're calling out names here in the room. Deborah, maybe Samson, or maybe even Samuel. Some of the other we might say big names. Perhaps a name that didn't come to mind is
a name that, well, might be a little bit more obscure, maybe one that doesn't come to mind,
because, you know, the Bible is actually filled with so many stories about… Well, what would you call them? The little guys? The obscure people? The ones that aren't so recognizable? Those are the ones that maybe show up in the
Bible for a couple of passages, come out of nowhere it seems, and then they do their thing
and disappear into the shadows once again. And yet, coming out of the shadows, they're
there for however long it might be, and then they do tremendous things, amazing things. And that's kind of the story of the Judge
we're going to discuss tonight. Yes, he's not a Deborah or a Gideon or a Samson,
his name is Shamgar. Shamgar, probably not the name that came to
mind when you think of a judge of Israel. Shamgar, sounds like maybe a Viking or something
like that, doesn't it? But no, he is one who is mentioned, who delivered
Israel. And if we put ourselves back in that time
period, we have to remember what was happening during the time of the Judges. Israel had left Egypt, they had gone through
the Red Sea, they had wandered through the wilderness for 40 years, came into the Promised
Land, Joshua led them, and then there was a time period between Joshua all the way up
to King Saul that Israel was ruled, I guess you could say, by Judges. There's about 400 plus years or so during
this time period from Joshua all the way to King Saul that the judges were, I guess you
could say, the name of the game of the time. And the judges were an interesting lot because
Israel had problems obeying God. And like most of the history of Israel, when
there was a strong leader, they followed and they obeyed. But after that, they seemed to get back into
trouble all over again. In fact, if you follow the story of the judges,
they'd even given it a name for this pattern that Israel went through during this time. They call it "The Judges Cycle." The Judges Cycle, because there would be a
time of peace, and everything would be fine. But then what would happen during a time of
peace? Well, people began to take things for granted. They began to ignore God, and they would fall
into idolatry. Their behavior would go downhill and the whole
country was covered with evil. And that's what the next step in that cycle
would be. So they move from peace to idolatry and evil
behavior. Of course, what's the result and consequence
from evil? Well, there are consequences. That kind of behavior has consequences. And so, there would be consequences to that. So when you read through the whole book of
the Judges, you'll find this pattern comes. There are consequences for evil behavior,
and there would be punishment because of that. And so, because of their behavior, it led
to punishment. God would allow punishment or bring punishment
upon His people hoping that they would change. And then, of course, the next step in the
cycle then, when the people were being oppressed by others, when there were difficulties in
the land, what do you think the people did? Yeah, that would be the time they would cry
out to God. Things are so terrible now, we recognize we're
in trouble and we need help. So they would cry out to God. They would want deliverance, almost, maybe
you could kind of think of it as a kind of repentance, not a spiritual repentance necessarily,
but they would turn to God. They would recognize they're in trouble. What do you think God did? God heard them. God heard them and He would send a solution. He'd send a deliverer. And so, that would be one of the judges that
God would send. And what would that judge do? That takes us to, kind of, the next step in
that Judges Cycle. Well, once God hears their plea, He sends
that deliverer and there would be relief. The judge, the deliverer would come oftentimes
battle, they would defeat the oppressors, and they would deliver Israel from the trial
and the difficulties. And then, of course, that brings us full circle
all around. Once the deliverer came, they delivered them
from the enemy, now peace. Now we had peace once again. And after a while, sometimes the peace would
last up to 40 years or so. But then Israel would also then become lackadaisical,
fall back into that pattern, they begin to ignore God, and then the whole cycle would
repeat again. And so, those seven steps are often known
as the Judges Cycle. Sometimes they shorten it up a little bit,
and they use all S-words. If you say it a little differently, you have
to begin with, all right, they fall into problems, and those problems are sin. And sin then led to their slavery or their
servitude. That would be the second step in the s-cycle,
I guess you could say. Then what would they do? They would cry out to God. There would be supplication. And God would then hear them, send them the
answer and bring salvation. So sometimes they say that cycle in that pattern,
instead of being seven steps, they narrow it down to four with sin, servitude, supplication,
and ultimately salvation. And if you were to read through the entire
book of the Judges, there is a constant theme that rings through, that when you follow God,
and you obey, there are blessings. When you ignore God and you disobey, it brings
curses. And so, one of the key phrases throughout
the book of the Judges is this idea where people have turned away from God. And so oftentimes we'll talk about that in
many different passages, that the people did what they wanted to. Like to use as the phrase, they did what was
right in their own eyes. They did what was right in their own eyes,
and, boy, that's the story here. We know what the result of doing things that
you think are right while you ignore God and His direction and His guidance. And so, that's the story of the Judges. You know, when you think of the big picture
of what's happening. Because during this time, this was supposed
to be a wonderful time in Israel. They were free from Pharaoh, they had come
into the Promised Land. It was supposed to be this land flowing with
milk and honey. It was supposed to be a time of advancement. And yet, what happened time, after time, after
time, after time, they began to ignore God, they were oppressed, and then fell into that
same pattern over, and over, and over again. In fact, we see an example of this, if you'll
turn with me over to Judges 5:6. We'll pick up the story of, I guess you could
say, minor judge or a minor character tonight one that often doesn't come to mind when you
think of the judges, but Judges 5:6. Here's one of the passages that mention the
judge Shamgar. And here's what it says, "In the days of Shamgar,
son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted, and the travelers walked along
the byways." And so in this one little sentence, we have
a little bit of information about this judge Shamgar. Now it's interesting, here this is in Judges
5. Judges 5 is the song of Deborah, and they're
singing about the great victory that Deborah and Barak brought to Israel, and yet, they
look back to a time when Shamgar was the judge that was called by God to deliver Israel. And we get a little bit of information about
what it was like during this time of Shamgar. It says, all right. What's going on? They were oppressed. So they had fallen that far into that step
of the cycle that the peace was long gone, now, they deserted God and were being oppressed. In this case during the times of Shamgar,
being oppressed by the Philistines. And the Philistines had oppressed them into
a state of depression, intimidation, they were fearful, they were weak. And as a result, it says the highways were
deserted. Now, why would the highways be deserted? Aren't you supposed to travel along the highways? That's where you get where you want to go. But instead, they're taking the long way. It says going the byways. They're not on the main road, they're taking
the path instead. So why would they be doing that? Why would it give us that little bit of information
about the days of Shamgar traveling along the byways? Avoiding the highways, the main road. It was because of the Philistines. It wasn't safe to go on the road. You go on the road, they're going to kill
you, they're going to rob you. The oppression was everywhere, and those main
roads had to be avoided, had to be avoided. And so, they went on the byways. And during this time, it, kind of, gives us
just a little bit of a glimpse how desperate these times really were that you can't even
go on the street. If you go on the street you're going to be
in trouble. So you're going to have to hide and go on
the byways in the woods, and go the long way around in order to be safe. And so, when we begin to see the story of
that time, pretty desperate circumstances. And during those desperate circumstances,
God calls one man, this Shamgar to make the difference. Just one man. And, in fact, it's interesting. This one man… Well, you know how many times he's mentioned
in Scripture? One man, his name is mentioned two times,
only in two passages. It's only in two passages in the whole Bible. So tonight we're taking the challenge in seeing
what we can find out about Shamgar and his experience and what God did through him. And so being only mentioned in two verses,
it really gives us more information than you might think about the times, about what God
is doing and how He works through people. How He works through us as well. So if you're in Judges 5, turn back a page
or so, to Judges 3. Judges 3:31 is the other passage. It's the other passage where we can find out
a little more information about this judge Shamgar. Judges 3:31, Judges 3:31. We know times were tough, they're oppressed
by the Philistines, you can't even go on the highways, they're deserted. Also, we find Judges 3:31, “Shamgar the
son of Anath, killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad; and he also delivered
Israel.” Okay. That's it. We've read everything there is to know about
Shamgar. But think about that for a minute. Shamgar, if you were to look that word up
in the Hebrew, it means sword. It means sword. Shamgar became a sword in the hand of God. So I think his name definitely has a connection
there. Some of the scholars think it might even have
a connection to being a cupbearer, to being a cupbearer, and, of course, in this case,
this cupbearer was one that brought God's wrath, poured out God's wrath on those who
oppose Him. And so, whichever way you look at it, Shamgar
certainly fulfilled God's calling as the sword or the cupbearer of God. It's also interesting to think about it. Who is this guy anyway? Is he somebody we'd say is a mighty man of
God? Well, definitely not initially. Who is he? He's just an ordinary guy. He's a farmer. He's a farmer. We can glean that little bit of information
recognizing how he's equipped. You know, what was his weapon of warfare? And it wasn't a sword. Even though he's a sword in the hand of God,
his weapon wasn't a sword. It wasn't a spear. It was an ox goad. So here God calls an ordinary man to do extraordinary
things with something that's not even a weapon. That's not even a weapon. Are you kidding me? He's got a piece of farm implement, we could
say, right? That's what he's got. He's got an agricultural tool and that's all
we're told about it. So what in the world is an ox goad anyway? Well, it's something you're supposed to prod
cattle with. It's this stick that's probably longer than
my arm span here, probably about eight foot long. If you've ever painted a room with, you know,
a paint stick, yeah, something more like that. It's not some gigantic weapon or anything
like that, it's just a big, long, stick. And on one end, there was an iron poker, I
guess you could say. Just a spike. And on the other end, there was like a spade,
just like a little piece of metal. And on the one end, you could use it, and,
well, sometimes the cattle didn't respond to pulling on the reins or calling out commands
to them. But, you know, you take that little spike
and you poke them, it gets through that thick hide of the cattle and they'll move where
you want them to move. So that's what this thing is. You've got to move those cattle, and they'd
use this poker, this ox goad to goad the cattle, to push the cattle where they need it to be
because they're definitely going to move to that sharp point on that ox goad. And then, of course, the other end, what are
they doing with the cattle? Of course, at the time, they'd be plowing
with these cattle. And they could poke them and get them going
where they needed to go. Then on the other side of that stick, you
know, when the plow would get bogged down, or the clay would get stuck on the plow itself,
they could use the other end to clean it off, to get the junk off of the plow so that they
could keep going. And so, that spade side, that other side could
help clean up the plow. You think about the time of Shamgar, it was
a time that evidently there wasn't a lot of military weapons in ancient Israel at the
time. Back in Judges 5, if we read a little bit
further, it even said that something like even in 40,000 men there were no weapons. There were none. There were none. And so this was a desperate time that took
desperate measures. So as you think about Shamgar and God using
him as a tool, what does that tell us? Is there anything that we can glean from this
story that can help us to learn lessons today, you know, that would help guide us in what
God's called us to do? Because God certainly called Shamgar to do
something amazing. And I think, to begin with, what we find is
Shamgar was just one guy. We don't hear anything else about other people
jumping in the fray, taking on the Philistines, or doing anything. We don't know. But from what we're told, he's one, one guy. So the question for us is, can we be the one? Can we be one person, one individual that
stands up for God's way? Because he was not an important man. Today we'd say, "He's a peasant. He's a poor farmer. And yet this poor farmer, ordinary guy, really
no-name individual, no rank, no position, nothing like that, he took on the Philistines
with an ox goad, with a farming tool. And so, he took them on because God called
him, first of all, but his life was at risk. He couldn't go on the roads. His property was at risk. The lives and the property of his family,
his clan, all of that was on the edge of all being lost. His countrymen as well, they were all at the
mercy of the Philistines, and that was unacceptable to God. And by God's calling, he was going to do something
about it. Just one guy. He was going to do something… and you think
he could have had an excuse? He could have. He could have said, "God, I'm busy plowing. Got my goad, I'm poking cattle here, you know. I got too much to do. I'm worried about myself here. I can't worry about Philistines. I can't worry about the country. I can't worry about others. I got my own problems." So he certainly could have used excuses, but
I think if we're going to be the one if God's called us to serve it doesn't matter where
we are, who we are, where we think our status might be. You know, I think for like Shamgar God called
him and wanted to use him, and he could have used an excuse. Even some of the greats of the Bible had excuses,
didn't they? Remember Moses? What did Moses say when God said, "Hey, I
need you to go to Egypt." He didn't just jump right in there. According to the Bible he says, "Well, who
am I that I should go?" Well, maybe if we take a little license is
like, "God, are you sure you know what you're doing?" “Who am I?" Moses says. And he wasn't the only one. How about Isaiah? You know, God said, "Isaiah, I'd like to use
you." And Isaiah said, "God, I don't know if I can." You know, I'm a man of unclean lips. Not sure you want to do that." But you look at the story of Shamgar, he wasn't
like Abraham or Sarah. Yeah, those are big names in the Bible. What did they do when God said, "I'm going
to produce an heir for you." They both laughed, they laughed. But we look at the story of Shamgar with just
a little bit of information. We don't find excuses. God didn't accept excuses then, whether it
was from Abraham or Sarah, or Moses, or Isaiah. He doesn't accept excuses now. You think about the part that we are called
to play in the family of God, in His Church, in our calling. We need to be like a Shamgar. He could have had an excuse, "I'm farming." But he didn't use that excuse and he determined
to serve God. And so we've got to be ready. We've got to be ready no matter what our circumstances,
no matter how busy we are, no matter how distracted we are, no matter how many challenges or trials
that we're facing in our life because I'm sure he had them. But with God's calling, he had to say, "God's
most important. What God has in mind is most important." And so, rather than wait for the army. “Well, the army will save us.” He didn't do that. He didn't wait for a group. He didn't wait for a committee. He got out there with his ox-goad and did
the work of God. Which is a great reminder for us. We need to look to God and get to work. We need to get to work as well. Yeah, we're ordinary people. We're a bunch of Shamgars, aren't we? And yet, God can do great things. You know, there is… I mean, what thing is too little when we do
things to serve God and to serve His people? I mean, is there anything too little? Writing a note to someone to encourage them? Tell them that you're praying for them? Is that just too little? It doesn't matter? You see I think that's where sometimes we
see things a little skewed, that those are, yeah, they're maybe ordinary service, but
those are great acts that they can be criticized. And the things that we can do when we do His
will without complaining, we're following this example, that without excuse, without
complaint, he moved at the will of God, and he kept the faith. And he did, I guess you could say, ultimately
keep the peace. And what a powerful impact it had on everyone
around him, everyone around him. He didn't give in to fear, didn't give in
to doubts, he didn't wait for better circumstances, just got to work. He got to work and accomplished what God wanted. He took a stand for God, he took a stand for
God's way. I think we're faced with a similar situation
today. We're surrounded by Philistines, aren't we? We are. Well, are we going to stand up for God's way
or we're going to give into it? You see, we're in this similar situation. Every one of us can be the one. We can be one. May not be able to do everything, but we can
do something. We can do something, and that something can
be a tremendous spiritual act even though it may not look like much to the world. Really, that's what it is. And so, God's called every one of us to serve
and to give, and to do what we can do. In fact, there's a great quote, it's sometimes
attributed to Teddy Roosevelt, after doing a little bit of research, evidently, he didn't
say it, sometimes he gets credit for it, there's a quote from Squire Bill Widener, probably
never heard of him. But you've heard of Teddy Roosevelt. This is what they both said, "Do what you
can with what you've got where you are.” “Do what you can with what you've got where
you are." And in a way, that's Shamgar's goad story,
isn't it? Yeah, “Do what you can with what you've
got where you are,” because we move from the fact that God has called every one of
us to serve Him, to be a tool in His hands to the fact that, we need to use what we've
got. You've got to use what you've got. What do you have? Shamgar, sword, didn't have a sword. He had a poker. That's what he had to use. He used this humble little farming tool to
battle the Philistines. He didn't have all the accouterments of the
military on his side, didn't have any… Well, can God use unlikely instruments in
His service? Absolutely. Absolutely. God can be served with unlikely instruments. That's kind of like the credit card commercial,
you know, "What's in your wallet?" What's in your hand? You know, what do we have? An ox goad? We have something else. I mean, think about some of the examples in
the Bible of what people had. How was it that the Red Sea parted? Okay, God did it, no doubt, but what was Moses
doing? He had a staff, a shepherd's tool, a shepherd's
tool. That's all that was. Yeah, it was by the power of God, no doubt. But you translate that then to our circumstances. Do I have to be a wiz, a genius? Do I have to be brilliant? Do I have to have the gift of speech, of great,
you know, vocabulary in order to be used by God? You know, I think what we see in Shamgar's
example, what can we do when we submit ourselves to the hand of God? I mean, he did amazing things, absolutely
tremendous things. And we think about our calling. There's that familiar passage if you like
to turn with me over to 1 Corinthians 1:27. Let's take a look at 1 Corinthians 1:27. Maybe Shamgar was in this position like we
are today. 1 Corinthians 1:27 says, "God has chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise,” yeah, he used a farmer with an ox
goad to confound the Philistines. Yeah, the world looks at us like we're crazy
like we're foolish, but ultimately, as it goes on, “God has chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” And that's our calling. God's called us to fulfill this very purpose
so that even though we don't have all the greatest talents and abilities in the world,
still no excuses, still do with what you've got. What has God given you? Over just a couple of pages in 1 Corinthians
12:20, we're reminded about our calling and being a part of the Body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:20 it says, "But now indeed
there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have
no need of you.'" You see, as members of the Body of Christ,
we all have a part to play. With what we've been given, God expects us
to use what we've got, and what He's been giving us. And in a sense, we could take this ox goad
of Shamgar and maybe prod ourselves, push ourselves a little bit, because, okay, maybe
I can just do a little. But what about those little things? You know, if we're faithful in little, what
does the Bible tell us? But we need to be faithful in little. There is a need for the little things that
we can do. We recognize that in the Church. The apostle Paul wrote emphasis about that
very fact. Look at Ephesians 4:16. Ephesians 4:16. This section of Scripture is used by the United
Church of God for its vision statement. Because this is where we envision the Church. This is where we need to be. We are the Body of Christ as 1 Corinthians
1 talked about. 1 Corinthians 12 the same. It reminds us of that very fact. And every single one of us can use what God's
given us no matter how little that is. So here we see in Ephesians 4:16, it says,
“…the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies,” every one
of us have a part to play. It doesn't matter if we are a Gideon, or a
Samson, or a Deborah, or a Shamgar. It doesn't matter. Every one of us has something to supply. It says “…according to the effective working
by which every part does its share,” every part. And what happens as a result? It “causes growth of the body for the edifying
of itself in love.” And so, there is no unnecessary part of the
Body, no unnecessary member. We can't use the excuse, "Well, I don't have
much to give. I don't have…" Well, what did Shamgar have? He had a poker. What do we got? What do we have? You know, we can look, "Well, what do I need? How can I serve? How can I give? How can I help?” Those are great questions we could prod ourselves
with. “What do I need to overcome?” Those kinds of questions, I think, especially
when you consider Shamgar, it may not be as much as you think. I mean, he used a tool to accomplish really
unbelievable things. So in order to serve, do I really need that
much? In order to help? In order to give? I'm not sure if you need as much as you might
think sometimes. And so, God reminds us, every one of us, every
part of the Body is absolutely vital. In fact, if we don't do our part as small
as that may be, as we might think, "Well, this is inconsequential." No, it's not. It's not at all, because he's telling us here
if we don't do our part, the Body's not going to be joined. The Body is not going to be knit together. The Body is not going to accomplish what needs
to be accomplished for God. The Body is not going to be edified, even
if one individual neglects their part. That's how important even the smallest, little
things are. And so, we can effectively do even the little
things. And those little things have tremendous spiritual
consequences. And so, he's telling us here, "Use what you've
got." And God tells us every one of us have got
something, some gift, some abilities, some talent, that we can do something. We can do something. So he says, "Use what you've got." And, of course, in the story of Shamgar, it
doesn't stop there, because he had this ox goad, but he had to do what he could do. And so, like that quote that Teddy Roosevelt
used, “Do what you can do.” That's such an important lesson because when
you read through the story of Shamgar, some of the scholars will argue back and forth,
he killed 600 Philistines. Well, what was that? Was that like one battle he did this? Well, it seems that way. Others are, "No, that couldn't possibly be
the case. It must have been a series of battles and
skirmishes along the way." I mean, we're not told exactly, and it doesn't
matter. It doesn't matter whether you did it a one
time or not. All that matters is that he did what he could. He did what he could, and so, he could do
something. He could do something and that's a great lesson
for us. I can't do everything, but I definitely can
do something. I'm sure as a farmer he was probably in pretty
good condition. Right? He was probably a pretty good physical specimen
as most farmers usually are. But it wasn't the physical that saw him through,
right? It was the spiritual. You can't go around killing 600 Philistines
without some spiritual power, right? He had God on his side. God empowered him for the task at hand. And so, no doubt God's Spirit enabled him
to stand and to fight to deliver the people. And so, he stood his ground, and he absolutely
challenged the Philistines while others, I mean, we're not told, but I wouldn't doubt
that others ran away. Others ran away and neglected the fight. And so when you consider this, are there things
that are worth fighting for? I mean, for us we're not talking about a physical
fight, but you think about it as it relates to us. He's fighting for his home. He's fighting for his family. He's fighting for his freedom. He's fighting for his land. He's fighting for God's deliverance. And this fighter, who was really a farmer,
really a peasant, was used by God in a mighty way. Now, you put a spiritual spin on that for
us, it's really not any different, because haven't we been called to a spiritual battle? I mean, we've been called to fight. We've been called to fight. We are engaged in spiritual warfare. And while it might not be the Philistines,
we're in a battle against spiritual wickedness in high places. That's what Ephesians tells us. You read through Ephesians 6, we're battling
Satan and his demons, and demonic influences in this world. We have that battle. And they want to, like the Philistines, they
want to oppress us. And so, we are at war. We're at war with the ways of this world and
high powers that would love to trip us up, would love to do us in, would love to invade
our thinking and throw us off track and keep us on the byways rather than the straight
path toward the Kingdom of God. And so, as you consider that, they want to
take everything that's important away from us. And so, we can't allow that. And so, we've got to guard our thinking and
take on the fight. And the apostle Paul told Timothy that very
same thing. If you turn over the 2 Timothy 2. Notice verse 4. 2 Timothy 2:4. Here it describes this spiritual struggle
that we're in. And so, we are like a Shamgar in that sense. Paul told Timothy we've got to look at the
focus that we have and do what we can. And, of course, with God's help, what can
we do? How much can we do? Paul told Timothy, 2 Timothy 2:4, "No one
engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please
him who enlisted him as a soldier." And so, you think about that in comparison
to this Shamgar. No matter how weak you may think you are,
no matter how useless you think your weapons may be, put them in the hand of God. What do you got? You have powerful weapons as we can watch
God accomplish great things, and whether it's an ox goad, or whether it's Moses' staff or
whether it's David's sling, whether it's about Dorcas, what about Gazelle, her needle, and
thread? Or how about the widow's mite? How about a couple of loaves and fishes? You know, you begin to think about it in those
terms, God can certainly use us in a powerful way to win this spiritual battle that we've
been called to. We can stand, we may not think we're brave. We may not think we're courageous. I'm sure Shamgar probably didn't think he
was. He thought, "I'm a former. I'm plowing, doing my job." But he could stand against the Philistines
and we too can stand against ungodliness. We won't allow that way of thinking in our
life. We will stand, we'll be constant, we'll be
true to God's principles, to His calling. We'll refuse to waiver in our convictions
because we are going to stand strong. We're not going to be timid, we're not going
to avoid the call. We're not going to be hesitant, because with
God on our side, we can be courageous. We can stand against Satan and the powers
of evil, and we can thwart his plans, and accomplish great things. And those great things that we can do, bring
God honor, because He, I mean, ultimately Shamgar gets two verses in the Bible? But who ultimately gets the credit? And then God gets the glory. It's God who did everything. He did the doing, but He did it through this
instrument of Shamgar. He can do the same for us. We can accomplish great things spiritually
speaking and God gets the glory. And so, God tells us, "Hey, you guys are like
Shamgar. Do what you can. Do what you can. And of course, I think, when you consider
his story, what can a farmer do all by himself? Well, by himself? Not much, not much. May be a reminiscent of Luke 14 a little bit,
where Luke 14 talks about, you know, building a high tower. You know, if you're going to build a high
tower, you better consider the cost. Do you have enough to finish? You're going to go to war, get someone with
20,000 men and you've got 10,000? You better count the cost. And so, we've got to count the cost. We've got to be ready to take it on. But think about that for a minute. Can you build a spiritual tower by yourself? No. Can you take on a spiritual army of 20,000
demonic forces by yourself? No way. You better count the cost and recognize I
can do something, but God's got to do the rest. God's got to do the rest. And that's what Shamgar had to have done. Yes, he could do something, but he had to
depend on God to do the rest. And that's really no different than us because
his story teaches us about the power of God, doesn't it? It tells us about God's power and His authority
because Shamgar put it in God's hands. Yeah, he put his life on the line. Yeah, it was a challenge, no doubt, but he
didn't waiver, and he had faith in God. He trusted God with his life. And if you had a gigantic horde of Philistines
after you, it probably wouldn't look too promising. You know what's one guy in the scheme of 600
coming against you? Well, it's pretty bad odds. It's like the 20,000 in Luke 14 coming against
your 10,000. Even if we go one on one, I'm lost. There's no way I'm going to win. There's no way I'm going to win. But, you know, live or die, he was going to
stand for God. He was going to answer that call, and he was
going to do what was right. Because, if you look all the way back to Judges
3, again… Let's flip back to Judges 3 one more time. Judges 3:31 reminds us of something critical
here. Judges 3 and if you look at this, this is
the first mention. The other one is in chapter five. But Judges 3:31 talking about Shamgar, of
course it says “Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines
with an ox goad; he also delivered Israel.” He delivered Israel. And so, in that Judges Cycle of disobedience
toward God, they cry out to God. God sends someone to deliver… he delivered
them. He was the deliverer, and in a sense, representative
of Jesus Christ being our deliverer. Shamgar didn't do this on his own. Yes, it says he delivered Israel, but it wasn't
him. He couldn't have taken on 600 Philistines
by himself without the power of God. So God delivered Israel through Shamgar, through
Shamgar. The Father delivers us by the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ. And so, when we look at what he did, he accomplished
great things, because he submitted himself to God and looked to God for the ultimate
victory. That's what he saw. That's what he did. And so, when you consider this, he recognized…
it wasn't the ox goad that delivered Israel, was it? Not at all. Not at all. Okay, God used them, but ultimately, whose
victory was it? Samuel reminds us of that. Look at 1 Samuel 17:47. 1 Samuel 17:47 is a great reminder, you know,
where does our victory come from? Who really is the one who's fighting? Here in 1 Samuel 17, he reminds Israel, he
reminds us as well what the real circumstances are. Notice 1 Samuel 17:47. Kind of jumping in the middle of a thought,
but it makes the point here. It says, “Then all this assembly shall know
that the Lord does not save with sword and spear;” Maybe for tonight purposes, we could
say with ox goad either. Right? God doesn't say with sword spear, ox goad,
fill in the blank, He doesn't do it. How does he do it? It says, "the battle is the Lord’s… the
battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands." And so, as we recognize what's going on here,
yeah, whose battle is it? Yeah, it's recorded for us, it's God's battle. Is He going to give us the victory? Yeah, He says, absolutely, absolutely, undoubtedly
He will. And so, we've got to do what we can do with
what we have and be that one that stands up, but recognize God has to do the rest. God has to do the rest. The real battle is His. And through Him, what can I do through Christ? Philippians reminds us I can do all things. But I recognize this fact with God all things
are possible. It is, Matthew 19:26 reminds us of that, doesn't
it? Yes, absolutely, no doubt. In fact, there's an interesting, kind of,
summary of that same way of thinking at the beginning of the book of Luke. You want to turn to Luke 1, it's a pretty
long chapter. It's dealing with the birth of John the Baptist. Part of the story in Luke 1, if you just go
all the way down to verse 70. Luke 1:70 is such a great reminder. Luke 1:70, we're jumping into the middle of
a thought from Zacharias. Zacharias, of course, being John the Baptist's
father, and here he is speaking through the power of God. It says, "By the Holy Spirit" in verse 67. And he begins to rehearse the story, that
ultimately the story of God and how He works with people. And as you get down to verse 70, notice what
he says. It says, "As He spoke by the mouth of His
holy prophets, who have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember
His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to our father Abraham: to grant us that we,
being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness
and righteousness before Him all the days of our life." And so, like Shamgar, we have a calling. We have a calling to face the enemy, to overcome. And ultimately, we have to count on God to
do what we can't do. He's got to do the rest. Yes, we may have an ox goad in our hand and
we better use it, do what we can do with what we have, and then rely on God and trust Him
because He promises us He's going to deliver us. He's going to deliver us just like He did
throughout time, throughout history, that He will grant us like it says in verse 74,
that we will be delivered from the hand of our enemies because that's the cycle. God will do, we call out to Him, we submit
our lives into His hand, and He's going to deliver us. And then what we better be doing? What does it say? It says, "Yeah, we've got a job to do." He delivers us, and then it says in verse
74, we better “serve Him without fear,” It says “in holiness and righteousness.” And so, God has delivered us from this world. We have a Deliverer. We've been freed from sin, and now we better
continue to overcome. We better continue to serve Him. We better not be fearful, but recognize we
have to put on righteousness, put on the righteousness of the character of Jesus Christ, and we're
reminded of that same story over and over and over again throughout the New Testament
as well. And whether it's here in Luke, or whether
it's in Romans 2, where it tells us, "Don't be just a hearer but be a doer of the word." Yeah, we better be moved to serve Him. Or whether it's with what James said, James
2:20 says, "Faith without works is dead." Yes, we have to be doers. We have to put that faith into action. And so, we're reminded of that story through
the judge Shamgar. A sword in the hand of God, and we can be
the same. We can be the one who serves and gives and
accomplishes the will of God because God has given us tools. He's given us a spiritual gift that we can
use. And we've got to use what we've got, whatever
that may be. And maybe it means stepping back and praying
and asking God to show us clearly “What is the gift that You've given me?” Because He says in 1 Corinthians 12, we've
been given a gift. Every one of us. So what is the gift or the gifts that God's
given each of us? What is that? Do with what you've got. God's given us something, so do what you can
with what He's given you, and then put it in God's hands. Let Him do the rest. He promises to do the rest, being delivered
from the hand of our enemies. He promises to do that. And so we don't forsake the fight. We stay in the battle. We stay in the fight for the length of our
life, for the length of our life, we follow that. In fact, in 1 Timothy 6:12, I wonder if Paul
had Shamgar on his mind when he wrote to Timothy. I, kind of, doubt it, but maybe he did. I don't know. Might have. 1 Timothy 6:12 is certainly a reminder to
Timothy, great reminder for us, especially in the context of the lessons that we can
learn from the Judges. 1 Timothy 6:12, Paul reminds us. "Fight the good fight of faith,” And we
have that trust, we have that confidence, we have that deep assurance that God is going
to work with us, and through us, and for us. So, "Fight that good fight of faith,” like
Shamgar took that ox goad, we "lay hold on eternal life, to which you were called" he
says, "and you've confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." And so, it’s… yeah, it's not the Philistines
that we're called to fight. We've been called to a spiritual battle. We've been called to overcome. We've been called to put on the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. We've been called to be a soldier in God's
army, and overcome the challenges that we face in this world. And so, when we consider the Judges, especially
if you consider the great Judges in Israel, you don't discount the ones that even maybe
just have one verse or two verses of that. Don't just think of a Samson, or a Deborah,
or a Gideon. Think of Shamgar. Think of Shamgar and the valuable lessons
that we can learn even from the life of someone that seems insignificant. There's no insignificant when it comes to
God's calling. And so, there are so many things we can learn. So, take a look around those verses of Shamgar,
and you'll see other names that seem pretty insignificant. But take a look at those, read through those
lesser known judges, and see if there are lessons that we can learn from their example
as well that apply spiritually today. Because there are certainly these valuable
lessons that we can learn from the life of even the little guys, even the lesser judges. All right. That's the study for tonight. Hope you enjoyed thinking about the judge
Shamgar tonight, and let's be a sword in the hand of God so that we can overcome the challenges
that we face. Now, we will have another Beyond Today Bible
study coming up in a couple of weeks. We'll continue our series in the Judges. And so, you have to come next time so you
can wonder, in the meantime, which Judge will we talk about next and what lessons can we
learn from their example? Have a great evening. Be careful driving home. Thanks for joining us on the web as well,
and we'll look forward to seeing you next time.
