Joseph Prince - How God Uses Your Weakness for His Glory
This is an excerpt from: Pray For Good Success Today
Okay, I'm gonna show you this in closing. Look at this guy, Shamgar in Judges. "After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad; he also delivered Israel". Now, before we talk about him, this is chapter 3. In chapter 3, you find God, the life of the judges is after Joshua died. God didn't raise kings in Israel. God didn't raise, you know, like those people that would rule in terms of prophets. You know, later on Samuel came, but no prophet. They were called judges. God sent, every time the enemies came into, first of all, Israel sinned and then God allowed the enemies to come in, all right? So you wanna live for the enemy, this is what the enemy is like. All right, the enemies come in, then they cry to the Lord. And God is always merciful. God raised a judge, okay, and the judge will accomplish the victory that God gives to Israel through that judge.
Okay, so the first chapter 3 here, it's been about nearly 400 years, and the last one being of course Samson, the last judge. Actually, after that it's the story of Samuel, the young boy, with Eli and all that, who became a prophet. He's also a judge. But technically it ended with Samson. Okay, so here we go. "After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with a," what? "Ox goad". You know what's an ox goad or no? It's a sharp thing that you goad the ox. I don't know if we use the expression like that. You goad. You goad him, all right? And actually it's like, it's not very sharp. It's a bit blunt at the end, but he gets the point. Ha ha ha ha, all right? So if you are plowing, you are plowing, and the goat refused to move, you just take the ox goad and you just, you know, give him a little goad. You goad him on, then he moves, okay? So it's just a blunt instrument. It's not very sharp. It's definitely not sharp on the sides either, okay? So it's an instrument used for plowing, okay?
Now, the Bible says, "Shamgar, he killed six hundred Philistines with ox goad; and he also delivered Israel". When you think about it, chapter 3 starts off with a very, very, very fat king that represents the flesh. King Eglon, okay? A king, this king, his people have dominated the people of Israel and he was so fat. And God raised a judge name Ehud who was a left-handed man. Now, in those days, many people are right-handed, all right? Neither were they ambidextrous. Most of them right-handed. But if left hand, that means it's a weak hand. It's known as the weak hand. And he's from the tribe of Benjamin. It's a weak hand. The Bible purposely say, "A left-handed man".
God used a left-handed man and he could go into the presence of the king with one gift in one hand, in his right hand holding a gift. But most people will check for your scabbard, before the king, right, check down here because you are right-handed and you'll pull like this... But because his is on this side, they didn't check, and he was holding a gift. And this guy was so lustful for the gift, I mean, he was just like, "Come in, come in. Bring the present here," all right? And when he was near, with his left hand, he took it out and he stabbed him dead. Israel was liberated.
So again, God used weakness, right? Shamgar, ox goad, 600 Philistines died, amen. And then we have, after that, the next chapter, we have God raised a lady called Deborah. Deborah became a judge, amen, and a prophetess. And she encouraged Barak to be a leader of Israel. At that time, the King Jabin was attacking them, and they were numerous their armies. They were conquering and conquering all the way until Deborah arose and encouraged a man to do it. Now, you must understand one thing. In the Bible, the Bible says clearly women, in terms of the physical, is a weaker vessel.
Now, today there's a lot of argument out there. I'm just telling you what the Bible says, weaker vessel. So the man in warfare, women do the supportive role, not so much of the fighting role. I know you see a lot in Marvel comics and all that, all right? Just know that you know that you know that you know, okay? All right, just go by the Bible. We care. That's why chivalry is there, because of the Christian values. We take care of the woman in our lives, amen. God used Deborah in leadership. And before the chapter is over, one of the commanders of King Jabin fled and went into a tent. He pretended to be a runaway and he just asked for water. And there's a lady there called Jael, and he gave him milk. You know that milk puts you to sleep instead of water. Water revives you. He asked for water, give him milk, he was sleeping. Jael took her peg, an iron peg, which is a giant nail and a hammer. While he was sleeping, put it on his head, bang, he's dead. Killed by a woman.
How embarrassing is it back home in their country to hear. What happened to our commander? Yeah, yeah, how can I say? Yeah, hmm, a woman killed him. What? Right, you know what I'm saying? Don't mess around with the women of Israel. Now, this is true strength. True strength is using weak things, conscious, and God will use whatever weakness that you have. Because Jael, she is the one that built up the tents for her family. And to build tents, you must have the nail and the hammer. Notice she didn't use an ox goad like Shamgar did because her job is not with the goats and the oxen. It's with the tent. She's used to that. God asked Moses, "What's that in your hand"? Amen, you can go on and on. Gideon, when the angel came to him, he says, "Don't you know"? The angel says, "Hey, you valiant man". He says, "Don't you know that I'm the weakest, the least in my family, and my family is the poorest in Manasseh"?
See how God chooses people? You all, disqualifications is the manifestation, a chance for him to manifest His strength and His grace. You'll be sad about a situation. All right, we are so strong, we want to solve it ourself. That's the problem, and then we get more into that kind of situation. No, friend, depend on prayer. Prayer is conscious weakness. I depend on God. That's grace, hallelujah, amen? Then Gideon was afraid, right, to attack the Midianites. There were so many of them, what did God do? God sent, "Gideon, if you are afraid, go down by stealth at night near the camp of the Midianites and listen to their conversation". He listened to the conversation. One guy said, "Hey, I had a dream last night". "What was your dream"? "Oh, I dreamt, oh man, I'm telling you, there was these barley loaves falling, rolling down all the way, and hit the giant tent," all right?
The poor people eat barley bread in Israel. The rich eat wheat bread, all right? More commonly found is barley bread. A simple barley bread rolling into the enemy's tent can destroy the tent. It encouraged Gideon. He had his men. From 32,000, God dwindled them to 300. What's God saying? If 32,000 win, you might say by the strength of the numbers. God says Israel will be proud. But 300 men against thousands, upon thousands, upon thousands, that's something else. And finally, the men fought with what? Sword? No, they mentioned the sword of the Lord in Gideon, but it was earthen vessel. All of them held earthen vessel. Inside was the light, all right, the earthen light vessel, and then they used the trumpet. Not a sword, a trumpet. They will break it and all the camp of Midianites will see lights all around. And this is a picture of all of us. We have this treasure in our earthen vessel, Paul says.
And the next verse talks about we are cast down, but we are not cast, we are brought down but not brought out, okay? We are knocked down, not knocked out. In different versions, that's how it says it. In other words, problems will come, but there's something inside us that will rise up. That's the treasure in the earthen vessel. The falling down, the discouragement, the bad-temperedness is all our earthen vessel, but there's a treasure inside, amen. God allows us to go through these things to break that earthen vessel so the light can shine forth. Can I have a good amen?
Let me finish with this, last one. Shamgar probably saw 600 Philistines come, all right? And he's probably in the field. How do I know? Because ox goad is used in the field. He's threshing, threshing. He look at them coming his way, the path, and he's thinking, "Oh no, it's them again. I know what they are after. They're after the harvest. If I don't fight them, my children will have to. If I don't fight them, the future generation will suffer. They'll be no harvest for them. It's now or never". What do you have in your hand, Shamgar? "Ox goad". Go. It's a picture of conscious weakness. He charged towards them with an ox goad. They were laughing, "What is this guy doing? Look at this guy. What's happening"? Amen? "He's coming to us". Pow, one whack, died immediately. Pow, poom, 600 men fell before an ox goad. We all know it's not the ox goad, it is the Lord.
Imagine the report. They go back, right, to their king. King go, "What happened to all of you"? Six hundred died, the rest all wounded. "What? What kind of army is this? I told you all to do some intelligent work before you go down, spy or whatever. This mighty army", it's not a mighty army. "You mean what? What kind of army is it? It's Israel, right"? Yeah, it is Israel but it's not an army. "Not an army? What is it"? It's a man. It's a man. "It's what"? It's a man. "Soldier? A mighty soldier". Farmer. "You must learn what kind of weapon he's using. Must be a machine gun"! Uh, ox, "Huh"? Ox, "Huh"? Ox goad. "Yeah, I know he's the greatest of all time, GOAT. What"? Ox goad. "You mean the thing they use for plowing"? Mmm-hmm. "I tell you what, listen. If one man with an ox goad can defeat all of us, let's not bother them anymore".
Do you know how long they didn't bother Israel? Philistines never came against Israel until the time of Samson, which is about a few hundred years. Don't mess around. The Philistines said, "Leave them alone. One guy, a farmer, can defeat 600 men. Leave them alone". The Midianites came, the Moabites came, the king of Canaan, Ahasuerus King came, but not the Philistines until later one. Probably this generation passed on or whatever, another one. But the lesson for us is this. What are the ox goad today for us? The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, "The words of the wise are like goads". Look up here, look up here, look up here. When you talk to your children, you need to correct them. Please correct them, all right? But you say, "Pastor Prince, they don't listen to me".
That's what you believe, but your words are like goads. Even a word of encouragement, a word of warning, a word of exhortation, they all will go deep. But you believe that your words cannot carry weight. You believe their friends' words, the social media words will carry weight. No, God has given you something they don't have. "Greater is He that's in you than he that's in the world". Depend on the Lord and just a little word of exhortation, and little word of admonition, a little word of warning, a little word of correct, even comfort and love spoken in their heart will stay there. The Bible says David had a son who exalted himself and David never corrected him. Eli had two sons that rebelled against him, lived a licentious lifestyle, and they died early. And you know what it says? Eli never corrected them. Why? They will not listen to me. I think...no, lah. They will, I don't wanna trouble them. You don't trouble them today with some corrective words, they will trouble you big time in the future.
All right, so listen, my friend. Shamgar ox goad is like simple word. We say our words are not important. No, your words have kavod. You know what's kavod? Weightiness. Kavod comes from God. God gives you glory in your words. Simple words, say it. The devil will say, "There's no power in your words, lah. Don't say it, lah. He won't listen one. He won't say", correct him, "Son, this is not the right thing to do. Son, don't follow the values of the world. Son, they want to influence you with this. Son, this is God's way". And after that, you know what? Doesn't look interested, doesn't look like he's listening, back off. Say, "Lord, I thank you the words are like goads. Thank you, Lord, it sunk in".
Believe that. Believe as you are praying, all right, God is answering. Believe as you are speaking, the words are entering. Believe, amen. And most importantly, before you talk to them, I'm using an example. It can be married life, between husband and wife. It can be your boss, and you, and all that. But please pray before you do it, unless you are confident I can handle him. I know what to say to him. No, you end up in your temper. Pray, and you'll be amazed how the grace will be there. And pray for favor with him as well, amen? Have you been blessed?