Our focus – those around us; God’s use of what we are? Only He knows!

Scripture Read: Judges 3:9-14 When the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. 10 The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. When he went out to war, the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand, so that he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. 11 Then the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. 12 Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. 13 And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and defeated Israel, and they possessed the city of the palm trees. 14 The sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

Application: After stubbornly pursuing idols, and being chastised by the Lord, Israel calls out to God due to the burden that this chastisement has brought on them, which was exactly what the Lord wanted. Again, God extends his grace and delivers the people of Israel from their oppressor. Othniel is the name of the judge that God uses to deliver Israel. What we do know of him is that he was the nephew of Caleb. We need to stop for a moment and consider how important a godly example can be in a person's life. Remember Caleb was one of two men that stood with the Lord when He asked the people of Israel to go into the land, in spite of the fact that no one else was willing to go in. Consider what Caleb admonished the people to do:

Numbers 14:9 “Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”

The stand he took almost got him killed as the people of Israel were ready to stone he and Joshua. God spared them both and in Deuteronomy God declared:

Deuteronomy 1:35–36 ‘Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and to his sons I will give the land on which he has set foot, because he has followed the Lord fully. 

Once again we see that word “fully” which is an indictment against Israel, because they failed constantly to fully obey the Lord. Caleb's character reaped his God's pleasure and God promised to honor what Caleb had done:

Numbers 14:24 “But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it.

One must wonder what impact this wonderful uncle’s character had on Othniel. It is important that we also consider what our example is communicating to those around us, especially our family. We might not see the impact in its fullness, yet we can have a sense of purpose knowing that if we left a faithful example God may use it to encourage our family members to live the same way.

Othniel had the Holy Spirit come upon him. This is one of the great differences between the Old Testament saint and the New Testament saint. Before Christ the Holy Spirit would come upon a person, but he could also depart from that individual, as we see stated by David in Psalm 51:11:

Psalm 51:11 Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Today when a person enters into a relationship with Christ the Holy Spirit comes into the believer to dwell permanently. No child of God today will ever have to pray the prayer that David prayed, for the Holy Spirit will never depart from a child of God.

John 14:16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;

1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Ephesians 4:30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

In verse 11 we see the outcome of living with God – rest. So many today seek for rest, and long for it, only to not find it because they are searching in the wrong places. Pleasures of this world, money or fame will never bring a person the rest that their soul craves. This can only be supplied by living close to God, He alone can bring the soul peace and contentment in life. Father, lead us to live close to You!

Meditation Questions: What would those closest to you remember about you if you left this world today? Do you consider what your actions and deeds will communicate to those that are closest to you? When you consider your liberties, do you care how they effect those closest to you? Do you think they just need to “grow up” and accept you the way you are? What does that say about your understanding of your liberties? What do you think of this statement: “everyone is good for something, even if it is a good example of a bad example”? What kind of example are you?