Tuesday 19 April 2016

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For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12 ESV)

Mike Reeves in a message i listened to recently pointed a similarity between this verse and the story of Ehud in Judges 3

A quick retelling of Ehud
Israel sinned against God and The Lord handed them into the hands of fat king Eglon of the Moabites for 18 years. Then Israel cried out to God and He raised Ehud to be their deliverer.

Ehud made a double edged sword, strapped it to his thigh and went to present Israel's tribute to our fat king Eglon. After presenting it Ehud told Eglon he had a message from God, the room was cleared, and Ehud thrust his sword deep into Eglon, and so fat was this guy that the sword was covered by the fat and the Bible tells us (vs22) the poo came out. Eglon locked the door as he left and a while later servants came along, discovered the door was locked but obviously with the smell thought he was just having a dump until too much time passed and in embaressment opened the door. Meanwhile Ehud had escaped, encouraged Israel and the killed 10,000 Moabites and had peace for the next 80 years.


Some Thoughts
The Word of God is like this double edged sword peircing the cheif idol maker - as Eglon was king of moab and they built alters to idols so our own hearts are our chief idol factories and we need the Word to cut deeply to kill the idolatry of our hearts.

As the sword caused Eglon's dung to come out, we need the Word of God to cut the dung out of our lives.

As Ehud left the sword buried in Eglon, we need the Word to be continually at work in us, killing our flesh; the old sinful nature.

The sword of Ehud released Israel from an oppressor and the Word of God applied to our own hearts will free us from the slavery to sin.

Ehud's actions with his sword encouraged Israel to rise up. So too, the Word rightly applied encourages other believers to take a grip of the Word of God.

As the actions of Ehud brought peace to Israel, the Word of God which reveals the person and work of Christ offers us peace not just for 80 years, but through eternity with God.



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About Boaly
Gary has been involved in printing the Scriptures for 20 years, enjoys photography and rambling online

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