Based on these short 'tidbits' you can tell that I'm presently doing a study on the book of Judges. I'm learning a number of interesting things some of which I've started sharing with you. In this case, I'm looking at the judge Ehud, a left-handed man whom God used to bring deliverance to Israel. It is recorded that he made a short sword which he hid under his clothing and used to kill one of Israel's Canaanite oppressors, Eglon king of Moab.
       Now, the size of the weapon in relation to the size of Eglon (an extremely fat man) shows that nothing is too hard for God. Think of David killing a giant with a small stone and a sling-shot. With God's help they both accomplished a mammoth task with the "little" that they had. Neither of them would have been successful without God.
       Nothing is too hard for God. God is able to use the "little" or the "much" that we have to help bring us victory in the battle. In that way God gets the glory. It's not our ability or "big" weapons - which we may not have anyway - but His ability. A little placed in God's hands can go a long way.

          Guilt is a powerful thing. It can actually dictate whether or not we hold our head up... Let's look at the children of Israel. They sinned again and again. Sounds familiar? And because of their disobedience to God they found themselves again subject to a Canaanite king - Eglon, king of Moab (Judges 3:12-14). They were subject to him for eighteen years. Perhaps they felt they deserved the punishment they received. The bible does not say. But they served this king of Moab maybe feeling that they deserved it and consequently did not think they were deserving of God's help. Again the bible does not say.
          Sometimes, guilt can cause us to "suffer through" because we believe that this is what we deserve. Guilt can cause us to turn away from or even run from God because we don't think we deserve His love or help. The worst thing we can do as children of God when we're going through trouble, especially when we've brought it upon ourselves, is to run from Him. I'm speaking here from experience. God loves us so much that he doesn't want us to run away from Him but to run to Him . . . even when it's our fault. God is willing to help us especially when we acknowledge our wrong. He is indeed faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). He doesn't just forgive, He delivers, He sets us free from that sin that has us in bondage. That's His job, even His promise to us. If we stand on His Word, we won't run from Him. If we stand on His Word we will trust Him and His ability to help us and not our inability to help ourselves. What's the sense in serving a very able God if we don't tap into all that He has promised us, if we don't lean on His strength and instead try to lean on our own? God is faithful, even when we're not faithful. He's able, even when we are not. He can and will, when we can't and won't.

"...the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord..."
          As I do my bible study on the book of Judges this seems to be a recurring line throughout this book. Yet, as you go through the book of Judges, it can be so easy to criticize Israel. However, they are an example of us. Every day we sin and do wrong. And every day we need to ask God for forgiveness for the wrong we have done. Too many times we too commit the same evil over and over again as if we don't get it. Maybe it's not that we don't get it but that we have not committed that area of our lives, that thing, into God's hands. We haven't surrendered it to Him so we keep struggling in that area. Sometimes surrender may mean giving it over even though we may not feel like it. We do it in faith and ask and trust God to give us the desire to give it to Him. The difference between us now and them then is that we can go directly to the throne of grace and ask for forgiveness when we do wrong. That intimate relationship with God is our reality now, for both Jews and Gentiles.