Othniel

Being a force for God when God seems absent. That sounds like the calling you and I were born for.

But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. (Judges 3:9-10)

Shortly after the time of Israel’s conquest of the promise land, the Israelites ran into trouble. The trouble they ran into was themselves. They were disobedient to the commands of God, that is to say that they said they will live a certain way and do certain things, but instead they acted deliberately and intentionally to their own detriment; the Bible calls a life of sin. Obviously because the Israelites were squandering their opportunities and their lives satisfying their most despicable desires, they lost focus on the goal at hand — to live in harmony with God in a land God promised them. Their lack of focus allowed others come in and take from them, what should have been theirs from the beginning.

Enter Othniel. He was Israel’s first judge. His name means, “the force of God.” He was “raised up to be a deliverer” and he delivered for 40 years. This is an interesting story because Othniel did nothing to be raised up as a deliverer. In fact, from all biblical accounts, the greatest achievement he obtained was to be part of a force that defeated an army and won the hand of a smart young lady as a result. She had a father who happened to come across a lot of land and was cunning enough to have her father agree to give the land to her and her husband.

If God can raise somebody who was simply part of an event to become a force of God for an entire nation for an entire generation then shouldn’t we expect God to do even more so for us? Given our upbringing and our circumstances and opportunities in this great country in this time period, God is raising us up to be a force here and now. Look in the mirror and recognize that you are the force of God if you allow yourself to be that.