Unsung Heroes Part 8 Shamgar

Unsung Heroes

Part 8

“Shamgar: The Fearless, Fighting Farmer

Judges 3: 31 “After Ehud came Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad; and he also delivered Israel.”

We’ve been looking at the Unsung Heroes of the Bible for several weeks now.

They are the least known, “in the shadows” people of faith who, in an hour of need, stepped out in faith and performed great exploits for God.

Their contributions often made it possible for the main characters of Scripture to succeed.

So far we’ve talked about:

David’s mighty men

Benaiah: the lion killer

Ebed-Melech: the Friend from Nowhere

Mephibosheth: Made Great by Grace

Hannah: The Mother of a Champion

Jephthah: The Original Comeback Kid

Caleb: The Old Man With a Young Dream

And now this time I want to look at a man named Shamgar.

We know very little about Shamgar.

He appears only twice in Scripture, both times in book of Judges.

Now, the time period covered in the Book of Judges was supposed to be an era of advancement for God’s people.

By this time they should have been fully enjoying the Promised Land, but their refusal to obey God, as well as their involvement with idolatry, had led to chronic backsliding and failure.

God’s response this time was to allow the dreaded Philistines to oppress, invade, and plunder them in continual raids on their land.

Judges 5:6 describes the cultural chaos caused by these raids.

Judges 5:6 "In the days of Shamgar son of Anath...the roads were abandoned; travelers took to winding paths."

Verse 7 says, "...village life in Israel ceased..."

And verse 8 continues, "...not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel."

These desperate circumstances motivated one man to do something about this abysmal state of things.

Enter Shamgar!

The Bible simply and briefly describes his courage - he "struck down six hundred Philistines with an ox goad."

An OX GOAD was a farm tool used for plowing.

Oxen were used to plow the fields, and to assure their cooperation the plowman used a long wooden rod, anywhere from five to ten feet in length and up to two inches in diameter, to prod them into working.

On the one end of the goad was a sharp point made of metal.

On the other end was a broad, chisel-like blade, used to clean the plow of caked on mud.

It was this simple farmer’s tool that became a lethal weapon in the hands of Shamgar.

Think about this: When things reached a desperate point, he defended his family, his countrymen and his property against the invading Philistine giants with a farm tool and faith!

The fact that Shamgar had no better weapon highlights his faith, and it also highlights the great power of God that helped him.

God called Shamgar forward back then…and He is calling you forward into something NOW!

Now, it is likely that Shamgar was just following the plough on a normal, everyday work day when the Philistines made yet another invasion into the country.

It seems that a spur of the moment inspiration arose within him, followed by a decision.

Shamgar said to himself:

That’s it.

They’ve crossed the line for the last time.

I can’t take another day of this.

It’s time to act!

And maybe some of you are at that point with an enemy in your life.

You’re tired of being raided, robbed, plundered, harassed, and defeated.

You’re weary of the enemy robbing your joy, stealing your peace, and making your life miserable.

At this point, having neither sword nor spear, he grabbed the first thing he could—the ox goad in his hand, and slaughtered 600 of God’s enemies single-handedly.

God used an ordinary man, with ordinary skills, and an ordinary weapon, to make an extraordinary impact for God’s glory.

God loves using ordinary people with ordinary ability to do extraordinary things that He might be glorified.

1 Cor. 1:26-29 “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when God chose you. Not many of you were considered wise by human standards. Not many of you were powerful. Not many of you belonged to important families.”

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the things of this world that are common and looked down on. He chose what is not considered to be important to do away with what is considered to be important. 29 So no one can brag in the presence of God.”

Now, Shamgar’s story reveals 3 simple secrets to success that we can ALL put into practice…starting today.

If you long to be a person who makes a difference for God, these secrets are for you.

Shamgar’s three secrets to success were:

Start where you are

Use what you have

Do what you can

First,

Start where you are

Too often we spend so much time and energy either stuck in our past or enamored by our future that we MISS THE MOMENT we’re in.

Winners live with a well-known but not often used mantra: CARPE DIEM– seize the day!

The best day you have is TODAY.

Yesterday’s gone and tomorrow isn’t here yet.

Shamgar illustrates SEIZING THE MOMENT you have.

Paul advised in Eph.5:16, “Redeem the time,” which means, “Make the most of every opportunity!”

Squeeze every drop of potential out of your present moment.

One man wrote, “Don’t be PARALYZED by the past or HYPNOTIZED by the future. Stay riveted on the PRESENT MOMENT. It is the key to success.”

Shamgar could have said, “Well, something really should be done about these Philistines, but I’d better wait until I have better weaponry; at least a sword, or bow and arrow, or a good spear. I’ll wait for a better day.”

But no, he said, “I will start where I am. I will seize this moment. I may not ever have another chance like this again!”

Jesus one day said to His disciples, “You say, ‘yet four months and then we can get a harvest.’ Well, I'm telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what's RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.”

ASK YOURSELF TODAY, “What can I do right now, this moment, on this day to make a difference, to turn things around, to move my dream forward, to maximize my opportunities?

START WHERE YOU ARE! This is the first secret to Shamgar’s success.

Shamgar’s second key to success is:

USE what you have

Don’t get caught in the trap of thinking, “If only I had “this gift” or “that amount of money,” or “that golden opportunity,” or “those kind of looks,” or “greater connections,” and so on.

Use what you already have - your skills, your resources, your current situation.

Remember the story of the little boy who brought his lunch to Jesus?

The Bible records that one day Jesus was faced with a huge crowd of 5,000 people.

He asked the disciples what they had with which to feed them.

Andrew looked around and responded saying, “Here is a boy with five small loaves of barley bread. He also has two small fish. But how far will that go in such a large crowd?"

In other words, “We don’t have enough. We don’t have what we need.”

Vs. 10 “Jesus said, ‘Have the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down. Then He TOOK the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He BLESSED and BROKE them, and GAVE them to the disciples to set before the multitude.”

This is one of the unalterable principles of the kingdom of God.

When we give to Jesus what we have, He takes it, blesses it, breaks it, and uses it.

A crowd of well over 5,000 was fed from 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish!

A LITTLE became a LOT in the hands of Jesus.

THE KEY: All they had to do was GIVE TO HIM what they had.

And this was Shamgar’s key.

He didn’t have a sword, an army, a spear, or a bow. He had an ox goad, a simple farm tool.

But the ox goad became the equivalent of a great army in the hands of a man of faith!

It may be that all you have is you.

But I’m telling you, it’s amazing what God can do through a life surrendered and yielded to him.

He will take it, bless it, break it, and use it.

Shamgar would advise us today to start where you are, use what you have;

And third he would say:

DO what you can

Look for the things you CAN DO now – and start.

Don’t get stuck by all the things you CAN’T DO; do what you CAN and trust God with the rest.

Shamgar offered to God what he KNEW HOW TO USE.

I don’t know much, Lord. But I do know how to use this ox goad, so I’m going to do what I can.

FACT: We’re all given a gift to use.

1 Pet 4:10 “God has given each of you a gift. Use it to help each other.”

I love what the Apostle Paul said in…Ephesians 2:10:

“For we are…created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

If He prepared certain “good works” for every single Christian to do, then he also equipped you for the task!

God’s anointing is for God’s appointing.

So if you don’t know what to do, do what you do know to do. Do what you can!

Each one of us can learn from Shamgar’s secrets:

ILLUS:

start where you are,

use what you have, and

do what you can!