Before God ruled His people with powerful kings, he delivered them with great judges. Shamgar was the third of these judges.
Let me give you some background about what is happening during this time. Israel had a habit of turning from God. And in this particular time there was a definite need of deliverance. They people of Israel found themselves completely at the mercy of their old time enemies the Philistines!
It was so bad in fact that if any Israelite succeeded in raising a crop of wheat, no sooner would he have it threshed that the Philistines would swarm his farm and take it all from him. The people were in dire need of help! It went without saying that times were bad!
Well guess what; even a bigger problem for the Israelites was the problem of discouragement; low company morale!
For the most part they didn’t even think they had a fighting chance. The Philistines had them so convinced of defeat that they have even surrendered all weapons of war. They had even disallowed any blacksmiths to remain in Israel.
So just prior to our passage of scripture it is safe to say the setting present us with a people who had no weapons, nor even possessed the ability to make any. The morale was gone, they felt defeated and even worse they felt hopeless.
They weren’t looking for a brighter day, they had lost confidence in themselves and they had even lost faith in God!
But the last few words of verse 33 say’s that Israel was saved! Yes even to those utterly discouraged, defeated Israelites: DELIVERANCE CAME!
I imagine that at the last city council meeting no-one stood up and said: “I make a motion we elect Shamgar as Mayor”! No this morning we are about to discover that their deliverance came from the most unexpected source!
Deliverance you see was about to come from a man who didn’t have a political in, he wasn’t related to the king, didn’t have a college degree, or even any military experience!
In fact in today’s society he would just be called an ole common Joe!
The only trophy on his mantel at home was probably just that one from the county 4H that named him the best oxen driver in Israel!
Yet it was this Ox driver that God chose to work deliverance in Israel!
Well Pastor you may be thinking why did God choose Shamgar for such a task: I want to look at the reasons why God would select such a person with you this morning but before we go there let me erase from your mind some misconceptions about why God chose him.
You see it wasn’t because of his disadvantages! It wasn’t because he was on some special list in heaven! It wasn’t because he was voted the most likely to succeed by his senior class!
It wasn’t because Shamgar last name was the same as most of the members of Israel 1st church!
NO…God chose Shamgar because Shamgar possessed the qualities that made it possible to be used however God wanted to use him!
Oh that today we would recognize all God really wants is an open willing surrendered heart!
Let s look together at the qualities that Shamgar possessed:
1.Shamgar possessed the right amount of noble discontentment
Shamgar wasn’t satisfied with the status quo!
In fact I believe that it made him sick to his stomach to realize that he was being bossed around by the one time enemy!
He was filled with an inner rage every time he heard of some one else being overtaken by the enemy! When he saw his neighbor’s wheat being carried off, when he stood in his window and watched as his very own oxen were driven away, he was beside himself! The sight of such would cause him to clench his fist and he became upset with what he saw!
Now because Shamgar was filled with this anger there was hope for him!
You see it is bad enough to allow Satan to beat us up, but to be content to remain beat up is even worse!
It is bad enough to be imprisoned: but to request the post office forward all your mail there is even worse!
To find yourself living with the pigs is one thing: but to be content at calling the pig lot home is another!
To be lost in sin is one thing: but to desire to stay away from God among the stench of this old world is worse!
But listen my friend… to be in the church and yet not doing anything for God is bad enough: But to come to the point where you have convinced yourself that you have reached your spiritual pinnacle and you have experienced God’s best ever for you is a supreme tragedy!
The story is told of the eagle that was hatched among the family of chickens. His fellow brothers and sisters laughed at the awkward brownish bird. He really did look quite funny as he tried to pick up the grain with his great hooked beak. To all the chickens he really looked out of place. HE even felt out of place. But for the time being he really didn’t know what to do. So he stood day after day, the picture of discontentment.
Oh but one sunny afternoon there came a far speck in the sky. Then there was a strange wild call from the clouds. All of a sudden this misfit bird: the laughing stock of the barnyard: looked up almost as if he understood the cry!
And then the call came again! Suddenly all the other chickens noticed a glowing fire in the old misfit birds eyes! Why they even stepped back a pace or two!
And without even really realizing it: that old bird spread his brownish wings and took flight! Higher and higher he soared until that barnyard and those other chickens faded from view!
For the first time in his life the eagle was experiencing freedom…NEVER again would scratching among the filth of the barnyard floor bring contentment!
Oh dear friend if you are here this morning and you aren’t living where God can use you…that is such a shame: But there is something far worse than that! And that is to be satisfied with your surroundings! To be content with a life without God when you can enjoy the blessings from Heaven and the promise of life eternal!
What value are you gaining this morning by not being all you can be for Jesus?
To live short of all He has for you: to live without a holy heart: to live a life with an unsurrendered will…It is to cheat yourself everyday, and just like Shamgar, you literally are standing at the spiritual picture window of your soul, watching your enemy the devil, steal your oxen, your family, your future and it appears as if you are content to watch him do it!
Shamgar was full a noble discontentment; that made him usable for Gods deliverance!
2. Shamgar was a man of faith
He saw the difficulties! HE knew the enemy! He realized the weakness of the Israelites: and the fact that there were no weapons to fight with.
BUT SHAMGAR SAW MORE THAN JUST THE DIFFICULITIES!
HE saw the forces that bring victory! HE knew the history of his people. HE had heard the stories of how God had time and time again came through and provided for his people!
So right in the middle of all of this Shamgar got serious about his prayer life! And it wasn’t long until he realized the fact that all the deliverances of God had been thorough the means of human instrumentality. Shamgar possessed a believe that God uses earthly men to accomplish a heavenly task!
But the more he prayed the more his faith grew! And finally he reached the point where he believed that God could even use him!
You see it doesn’t take a great man of faith to say; “I believe that God uses men.” But it does take a great deal of faith to say “I believe that God wants to use me!”
While others were waiting for God to work a miracle that would make failure impossible, Shamgar trusted God to use him and what he had. What do you have?
Shamgar didn’t have a spear or a broad sword, but rather he had FAITH and it was this faith that made Shamgar usable for Gods deliverance!
3. Shamgar dared to make a difference!
All he possessed was an ox goad, an old six to eight foot long wooden stick with a sharp blade on the end of it, which he normally used to prod the oxen as he drove them from place to place!
But he was determined to make a difference! He knew things could be better than they were!
I can just hear him talking to himself; “Right here, right now I am going to put my all on the line and I am going to make an effort to win deliverance from my enemies. Oh they may rob me, they may even kill me. In fact the odds are quite high that I will die. But that is exactly what is going to happen if I don’t make a difference! So God I counting on you”…and out the door he went!
AND HE DID ALL OF THATH IN SPITE OF ALL THE AVAILABLE EXCUSES!
He could have said; “Well Lord, uh last time I checked ox-goads weren’t listed as the number one weapon of mass destruction.”
“And Lord those Philistines, why they might even have some chemical weapons, I dun no…I sure know they have sharp swords though…and all I have is this stick. Why sometimes even the oxen don’t seem to act like it hurts when I stick them…and Lord come on be reasonable…I am just one person…not qualified, not equipped…war has never been fought this way before…”
But thank God, Shamgar didn’t have the spiritual gift of excusing himself from the Lords service!
So when the enemy came at him he stood his ground! I can just hear that old stick now; winging through the air: smacking the skulls of those old Philistines! One by one they begin to fall to the ground!
And all the while old Shamgar is having prayer meeting: “Lord I may go home tonight without a bit of bread for my family, but at least I will have the scars to show I made an honest effort. WACK THUD… Lord, I may not even get home at all, but when those who love me come to find me, may they find that I didn’t die a coward. PLOP, THERE GOES SOME MORE PHILISTINES…Lord, if you choose to let me die: I promise I will die fighting! BAM, GOT THAT ONE RIGHT IN THE OLE KISSER…Lord If I die I will die having used every resource that you put at my disposal.”
Oh church Do you see it today? All he had was a cattle prod, BUT HE HAD THAT!
So instead of waiting for a better weapon, instead of waiting for a newer building, instead of saying what he could do if he had more people in his army, if he was better equipped…he simply used what was in his hand!
Friend: What do you have that when used in obedience will bring glory to God and deliverance to His people?
Shamgar dared to make a difference with what he had! …
And look with me in closing at the result…
4. Shamgar won the fight!
Go ahead count them! They are still laying there, 20, 40, 60, 100, 200, 250, 4, 5, 600 Philistines!
Oh church the real story here is that the man surrenders to Gods side Just as he is…ALWAYS WINS!
All God wants this morning; all he requires is for you to put yourself in His hands…VICTORY ASSURRED!
And not only did Shamgar win deliverance for himself, but he won it for his people! Not only was he blessed, he became a blessing to others!
Oh in light of the outcome, Shamgar seems such a crude person to be used, and an ox-goad as the winning weapon?
But church it isn’t so much the weapon that counts as much as it is the hand that wields it and the heart that backs the hand!
Say friend; what is God’s call to you this morning? Are you ready to admit that it is not to sit and wait for an easier time, or an easier place to really get serious about the task of being a Christian, of being a witness for Him? For you see that time…that place…It will never come!
I believe that right here this morning God is calling a host of you to begin right here today…to face your foes with the weapons you currently have in your arsenal!
Oh church I plead with you, If you will but just make the beginning, and place yourself at his discretion; GREAT THINGS CAN BEGIN TO HAPPEN!
Listen: when Jesus told the paralyzed man to “arise and walk” he was calling on him to do the one thing that he could not do!
But when the man dared to try…the impossible became possible!
And this morning if you dare to put yourself in the hands of Jesus, he will work a mighty deliverance for you…
Who would be first this morning just to step right out and dare to begin anew for God! Realizing that when you do the very might of God is yours for the winning of the battle!
“Oh but Pastor”…listen Shamgar was a NOBODY!!! Only mentioned twice in this entire book…yet when he allowed God to use him…scripture says… He too saved Israel.
Are you willing to be used by God to save your Israel this morning??? Oh it’s not much Lord but its all I’ve got…It’s ME…ALL OF ME…HERE I AM…
