EHUD - RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION

Ready for the fight

When my son was small, we used to have a Saturday morning ritual of watching the carton, ‘Bucky O’Hare.’ Bucky, as we came to know him, is a green hare who captains a mammal spaceship and fights against the slightly inept United Animals Federation and the sinister Toad Empire. The thing that always intrigued me was that Bucky’s spaceship was named, ‘The Righteous Indignation.’

What gets you wound up, outraged, incensed, angry? Righteously Indignant? Too often it’s the small things that get blown out of all proportion and the big things that pass me by.

I’ll complain that the supermarket have delivered the wrong brand of sauce but sit and do nothing about the growing human trafficking disaster that is sweeping the world.

Ehud realises that he has to go back and deal with the King because Eglon is making a mockery of God. Not only does he think something needs doing, he knows that he is the one who has to do it, he can’t leave it to anyone else. He is reminded, near Gilgal, that the nation has drifted far away from God. He gets righteously indignant, takes responsibility, confronts the issue and sorts it out.

Perhaps we need more ‘Righteous Indignation’. Bucky and Ehud had it! Not over Daddies or HP, but over the things that matter most to God.

ACHAN - HIDING AND SEEKING

It's too easy to make light of things that are serious, to say, ‘it doesn’t matter,’ ‘it’s not hurting anyone,’ to create excuses for our own behaviour whilst condemning others who do the same as us. There’s no way to dress this up to make it feel better; sin matters, sin costs, sin hurts. 

HIDING?

Over 10 years ago a friend of mine asked me to hold him to account for his area of weakness – internet pornography. He put accountability software on his computer and every week I get a list of every webpage he has looked at. I am sure this has helped him, knowing that someone else knows and is standing with him as he faces the battle, helping him to overcome.

Achan acted alone, in secret, trying to hide what he had done. Don’t do it, it only leads to disaster. Sin cannot remain private, you need to seek help.

God doesn’t want us to fail, to mess up, to sin. He has given us one another to help us overcome and as Carl reminds us, ‘Thankfully, we have the cross!’ Thankfully, we can come to someone who knows our weakness. Thankfully, we can approach the throne of grace with confidence and receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Don't try to hide. Don’t be alone. Deal with it before it deals with you. Get close to God and get close to someone who will help. Sort it out before it sorts you out. The fallout is too destructive to let it go on any longer.

JOSHUA - NOT BLOWING YOUR OWN TRUMPET

I find it hard at times to let someone else drive, to relax and let them take the wheel, to not be in control, do you? That’s why Joshua provides such a great example of someone who let someone else lead and because he did, he was ready to drive when God asked him.

He had learnt some incredible lessons. He had shown courage, character and competence when sitting in the second chair, not pushed his own agenda, or undermined Moses in any way and had learnt to be obedient to God which meant humility and faithfulness.

Thanks Carl for the reminder that Joshua had to dip his toe in the water before the sea dried up and walk around a city blowing a trumpet when everyone would have been hanging out of their windows thinking he was crazy. But he did it, because God had promised and he believed.

How are you blowin'?

If you think you know the best plan, it’s time to think again. Pick up God’s trumpet and blow it for all your worth, because His plans for you are perfect and will lead to success.

Of course Joshua’s namesake, Jesus (Yahweh delivers), ‘humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!’(Philippians 2:8) It seems like it is the right way to live.

Possibilities or obstacles? Maybe some walls will come tumblin’ down if you have the courage to play the trumpet God’s way today.

CALEB - SHOULD HAVE GONE TO SPECSAVERS

Seeing clearly?

Most people dread the day they have to start wearing glasses or contact lenses, it’s seen as a sign of age, the body deteriorating. But glasses sharpen things up, whether close up or in the distance; they transform a blur and bring clarity to long-distance views or short-distance words.

How we long to see things clearly, particularly when it comes to God’s purposes for our life. Caleb is an inspiration. He never lost his vision, never stopped trusting God and he persevered, not for himself but for his people. 85 years old and still as clear-sighted as ever, ready to take the land he had been promised 45 years earlier because he never lost focus on God’s promises and his part in God’s plans.

Is there some ground you are still waiting to take? Have you ever been afraid of the ‘giants in the land’ and so said ‘no’ to moving forward? It’s not too late, in fact it’s time to look up, see clearly and get into the land you have been promised. As Carl says, ‘Isn’t it time the men of our day followed in the footsteps of Caleb?’ Not only his footsteps, but his sharp, clear-sighted vision of what God can do.