The Power Paradox

Judges 3:15, 31 and 4:4-6

"Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he gave them a deliverer--Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab...After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel...Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided..."

Several times God uses the most unlikely people (to our sensibilities, at least) to do His will. Ehud's left-handedness (having been especially mentioned here) sounds culturally out-of-place, Shamgar, son of Anath, as the living life writer notes, isn't a native Israelite, a foreigner, and today beginning Judges chapter 4, a woman, Deborah, leads a patriarchal nation. The bible is peppered with such instances of remarkable personalities breaking cultural paradigms, even 'methods' that seem to defy our modern common sense (Gideon's 300 men w/ jars & lamps, trumpets and marching around to battle instead of the usual armamaments). It is ultimately the work of an all-powerful most sovereign God who works and enables. The truth of these events give me both confidence and humility at the same time.

1 Corinthians 1:27

"Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful."

Almighty Father, we are simply in awe of Your Awesomeness.

~07.09.2013