I Wish I Was a Little Bit Taller

June 30

Read: Judges 3:12-30

Ehud 2 of 3

“I Wish I Was a Little Bit Taller”

“…and the LORD raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man.” (v.15)

Have you ever wished you could change something about yourself? I am not just asking about an emotional or spiritual trait, but also an actual physical part of you? We all have something we don’t like about ourselves… something that we begrudge about how the Lord has made us. Different diseases and disabilities plague us all sooner or later. We have limitations that we wish we didn’t have. Some are faster than others. Some are stringer than others. Some are smarter than others. “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” I imagine that is how Ehud felt. Ehud was literally “restricted in his right hand”. He suffered from a handicap. Ehud was from the “tribe of Benjamin” which is literally translated the “tribe of the son of the right hand.” Ehud was literally a left handed man from the tribe of the right hand! I bet he asked God often why he created him the way that he did.

I bet all of us have felt left out at one point or another… felt like we were not enough… were frustrated at how God made us. We all desperately want to “fit in”, and yet have probably felt what it was like to be a “left handed son of the right hand”. What if I were tot ell you that God has intentionally made you EXACTLY the way you are? What if God is big enough, smart enough, and cunning enough to design you exactly as you - “warts and all” - for precisely the plan that HE has for you? What if your perceived “weaknesses” may actually be the very “strengths” that God is going to use for his Kingdom?

You see, the Benjaminites were known as mighty warriors, so to be conquered and oppressed was a real blow. People may have expected their “rescuer” to come from the warrior class. Instead, God sends his spirit to a man with a withered hand, someone with a handicap, someone who was the LEAST LIKELY CANDIDATE to be seen as a rescuer. In fact, he is seen as so little of a threat, that they pick him - the least threatening person they know - to deliver a “gift” to the foreign king in an attempt to win favor. (v.15) Ehud made a custom dagger and hid it on his person with a plan to execute the king. He was able to slip by the guards and smuggle the sword in BECAUSE of his handicap. (It affected where he strapped the sword, how they would search someone, and a superstitious / hygienic aversion to the left-side.) In short, his “handicap” became the very attribute that equipped him to carry out God’s plan and rescue Israel! His handicap was a part of bringing blessing and freedom to God’s people. In the end, he courageously carries out God’s plan in the most graphic way! (One of my personal favorite stories of the scriptures! The left handed assassin Ehud!) (v.21-23)

Psalm 139 tells us that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”. We have been “knit together” in our mother’s womb and made exactly the way God wanted us to be made. It is hard to fathom that the things we hate about ourselves - shortcomings, disabilities, weaknesses - might actually be part of a bigger plan. (I am NOT talking about sin “shortcomings” to be clear.) What if God made you the way he did for a reason. Your asthma, your bum knee, your gout, your illness… as painful as it is - could God be using it for a greater plan? What if one day you are the hero BECAUSE of it? What if it equips you to be a rescuer in a way that no one else can? You are God’s workmanship created anew in Christ Jesus. (cf. Eph. 2:10) God is crafting all of you for his glory and plan in the Kingdom of God. Remember this the next time you feel like a left hander in the land of the right hand! Our wounds and scars may be the very bridges that carry us to our purpose in Christ… and they may be the very bridges that carry others to us so that we may give the hope and the good news of Christ! Love you guys. - JDP