RPG Adults
EHUD (III)
TUESDAY, JANUARY 10
Judges 3:12-30
1 Timothy 6:3-12
“But godliness with contentment
is great gain.”
EHUD (III)
“Curiosity and selfishness killed the king” might be an appropriate lesson from what befell Eglon. When Ehud pretended to have “a secret errand” (Judg 3:19), the king’s response was the beginning of his downfall. It is the king who desired privacy; it is he who sent away all his servants from the room. He chose to set all else and everyone else aside to receive this secret errand by himself. Many a time, we too find ourselves disappointed and conned by men who would present to us some secret way to gain wealth and convince us that no one should know of the dealings.
Eglon was fat, and his body concealed Ehud’s dagger (after Ehud had thrusted it into Eglon’s belly) such that it could not be retrieved.
“And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour…” (Judg 3:29). The men of Moab, though men of valour, were also “lusty men.” When they oppressed the children of Israel, they had no self-control and had set aside personal discipline. They were fat from the burden they had placed on the Israelites. A life of ease and plenty changed soldiers fit for war into men unfit for war. The fruits of oppression, that had seemed sweet to them, were now a burden of bitterness as the LORD had risen on behalf of His oppressed children.
How often have we pierced ourselves with sorrows by our covetousness and our lack of contentment? How many times have the pursuit of worldly pleasures and the satisfaction of fleshly lusts brought us untold pain and suffering? Hudson Taylor said it best when he said, “To me it seemed that the teaching of God’s Word was unmistakably clear: ‘Owe no man anything.’ To borrow money implied to my mind a contradiction of Scripture, a confession that God had withheld some good thing, and determination to get for ourselves what He had not given.” Indeed, “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim 6:6).
THOUGHT: “To watch and pray, and never faint, by day and night strict guard to keep.”
PRAYER: “Not for ease or worldly pleasure, nor for fame my prayer shall be, gladly will I toil and suffer only let me walk with Thee.”