Judges chapter 3 verse 31.

Some characters in the Bible leap from the page at us and immediately capture our attention. We can imagine how they attracted the following of the majority of their contemporaries and proved to be the kind of men / women who were revered in Israel’s history of great leaders. However, it is easy to overlook others, who were less prominent, yet they also achieved great things for God. In the estimation of men, their names, words and actions were not considered significant enough to be remembered in the historical records of the period.

It is as well, therefore, when we come to the Bible that God tells us, ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways, My ways’, Isaiah chapter 55 verse 8. The Lord told Samuel, ‘For the Lord does not see as man sees, fo man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’, 1 Samuel chapter 16 verse 7.

In this context, I invite you to meditate on a seemingly insignificant and unimportant Old Testament character, named SHAMGAR:

‘After him (Ehud) was SHAMGAR the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad’ and HE ALSO DELIVERED ISRAEL’, Judges chapter 3 verse 31.

God raised up outstanding leaders (e.g. Ehud, Gideon, Deborah and Samson) to deliver the children of Israel during these difficult times. Ehud slew 10,000+ Midianites, which God deemed as worthy of note in His Word. But what of the exploits of SHAMGAR? He slew just 600 Philistines with an ox goad, a simple farming implement. Most secular historians would have excluded this from their records as too insignificant to mention.

However, the three words, ‘HE ALSO DELIVERED’ showed that God valued what he did and counted it as worthy of equal status in His Word, alongside the achievements of the seemingly more successful leaders.

It ought to encourage us to know that all God asks of those of us who are His followers is to do for Him what we can, with what we have, and He will honour it throughout eternity.