Judges 3:7-11 – We need the Spirit of God

Othniel was the first judge that set the ball rolling. We will see a repetitive pattern where the people would sin against the Lord. Then in His anger, the Lord would allow them to be oppressed by a hostile force. And when they were overwhelmed by pressure and couldn’t stand the hardship, they would cry out to God for help. God in His grace would raise up a deliverer to free them from their oppression

The problem the Israelites had, started because they did what was evil in God’s sight. They would forget the Lord and all that He had done for them. And began to serve the gods of the Canaanites, especially Baal and Asheroth, his women counterparts. Their waywardness triggered the anger of the Lord. The reason God was angry was that He could not stand idly by and watch His people gravitate further and further into sin. God is a jealous God. So in this account, we see that God allowed them to fall into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia. They were oppressed for eight years.

In verse 9 we see the display of God’s grace. When the Israelites couldn’t stand the oppression any longer, they cried out to God and moved Him to send them a deliverer. God commissioned and gave Othniel the power to bring about their deliverance. He was first introduced to us in the opening chapter of Judges. His name means the “lion of God”. He was Caleb’s nephew, the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. Many years had passed since Othniel had captured Debir. At this point, he would be fairly advanced in age. Yet he arose to deliver Israel. With the empowerment of the Spirit of God, he overcame Cushan-rishathaim. He was able to do it because the Spirit of the Lord was upon him. We need to know that like Othniel, we need the empowerment of the Spirit of God. It is He who will give us the strength to be overcomers. No matter what age we may be, we must learn to rely on the power of the Spirit of God to overcome the forces that would come against us. What Othniel did, brought 40 years of rest to God’s people.  

The experience of the Israelites left us with a lesson on the bountiful grace of God. He is merciful when we call upon Him. Yet we must not take His mercy for granted. We also need to learn that it is the empowerment of the Spirit who will enable us to be victorious in life. Finally, it is still God who is working in us to give us the victory!