His Hand

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

HIS HAND

Judges 9:26-33

26 Now Gaal son of Ebed moved with his brothers into Shechem, and its citizens put their confidence in him. 27 After they had gone out into the fields and gathered the grapes and trodden them, they held a festival in the temple of their god. While they were eating and drinking, they cursed Abimelech. 28 Then Gaal son of Ebed said, "Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should be subject to him? Isn't he Jerub-Baal's son, and isn't Zebul his deputy? Serve the men of Hamor, Shechem's father! Why should we serve Abimelech? 29 If only this people were under my command! Then I would get rid of him. I would say to Abimelech, 'Call out your whole army!'"   30 When Zebul the governor of the city heard what Gaal son of Ebed said, he was very angry. 31 Under cover he sent messengers to Abimelech, saying, "Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you. 32 Now then, during the night you and your men should come and lie in wait in the fields. 33 In the morning at sunrise, advance against the city. When Gaal and his men come out against you, do whatever your hand finds to do."

NIV

First, we should see how easily the people of Shechem were deceived by this man, Gaal. They had confidence in Abimelech; in fact, they had helped him kill seventy-two of the sons of Gideon, and now a new guy moves into town and they forget about their co-conspiracy against the sons of Gideon and crown Abimelech their king. So they made some wine, had a feast, and cursed the man they made king, just because a new guy shows up and questions who this Abimelech is. But the lesson for us is in the suggestion of Zebul that he sent via messenger to Abimelech, “do whatever your hand finds to do”. We remember they were not serving the LORD but some false god of their own making, and the hand of God was against Abimelech because of the evil he committed against the sons of Gideon. So when Abimelech went out to fight, all he had was whatever his hand found to do. He did not have the LORD on his side, nor did he consult with the LORD about what he was to do. When men are not with the LORD, He is not with them; all they can do is what is within their limited human abilities. However, when we serve the Lord and love him with all our mind, soul, spirit, and strength, and also love others, the Lord then does mighty things for us, in us, and through us. We will do things above our own normal abilities. We have witnessed that within the book of Acts, for example, when Peter and John were on their way to the temple and Peter gave the lame man Jesus, and raised him up, to go jumping and leaping and praising God. We can have that same power when we take our eyes and faith from our own hands, and give our all to Jesus. We sing, There is power in the blood, but what is that power? Of course, the power is in the forgiveness of our sins, so they if we are declared holy and blameless in the sight of God, we should also be able to use the powerful name of Jesus, as He is our King, our Lord, and we can watch Him do mighty things through us. Let us not look to our weak hand, but to the mighty hand of God.