Christian Living

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“And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel (Judges 3:32).”


As I was reading in the book of Judges, this particularly brief passage stuck out to me. Nestled between a lengthy narration of the acts of a judge named Ehud, and Israel’s famed female judge Deborah, was one lonely sentence about a man named Shamgar. Most people, if asked who Shamgar was, may not be able to tell you. Afterall, he isn't famous like some of the other judges. This isn't one of those passages that preachers are typically drawn to when preparing a sermon. His story is something you'd probably have to run into during Bible study.

I couldn’t help but wonder why there wasn’t more information given about him. The Bible takes us through the actions of Ehud and how he murdered Eglon, king of Moab. The word explains with a bit of detail the wisdom of the Prophetess Deborah and how she helped deliver the Lord’s people out of the hand of Sisera.

But for Shamgar, none of this was given except a brief note of how Shamgar slew six hundred Philistines with something along the lines of a sharp stick.

But the thing that spoke to me was this, though the story didn’t seem like much in comparison to that of the other judges, Shamgar’s actions helped deliver Israel just like Ehud and Deborah. Who cares if he didn’t get much of story that provided some background information leading the reader up to the pivotal moment where he took the goad in his hands a kills the Philistines. Who cares if the number of men slain is considerably lower than many of the biblical heroes who fought wars in the name of the Lord? What matters is that Shamgar’s actions were just as important as any else’s, and God noted that.

Sometimes we compare our place in term of position, and our work in the kingdom, to folks that seem to be doing great and wonderful works in the body of Christ because what they do may be largely publicized. Some of us may even feel as though the things we do aren’t as important as the more affirming actions of men and women in the Lord.
But God sees the small things and counts them as being just as important as the big things, if not more. Sure thousands of men didn’t fall by Shamgar's hand but 600 did! And that’s 600 less problems for the Israelites to deal with and it was enough to deliver a great people.

What is it that the Lord has placed on your heart to do? It may seem small or trivial to you, but often we have no real clue of the effects one small act of obedience to the Lord can have on His people. So, we ignore the unction of the Spirit because we just don’t see the importance of it.

But I encourage each of you as well as myself to do as Shamgar did: do something. God can use the smallest act to bring exceeding glory to Himself. No job is too small that it doesn’t matter whether it gets done or not. If God said do it, then it must be important in His eyes and that’s enough. Besides, the “well done” most of us hope to hear isn’t based on the greatness of the job we were given to perform, but the obedience and faithfulness of the servant, even in the little things.


Nothing the Lord says is simply for the sake of hearing himself speak. Every believer has a part in the Body of Christ, and even if no one sees or hears of what you do, God sees it and HE will see to it that you are blessed, not with words of gratitude and accolades that fade as quickly as they are given but by His unfailing grace. He doesn't see things the way man sees them. Greatness to God is measured by faith and obedience not by fame. So if I have to quietly work in the background, I'll do it to the glory of the Lord! It may not seem like much to men on earth but wait till you see me in heaven! God's got my reward.



Continue to press!

Christy

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