Don’t allow the devil to rob you of your harvest

Shamgar must have been sick and tired of the Philistines coming to take what he had

Trust Maanda
Looking at the Unseen
JUDGES 3:31
And after him was Shamgar, the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines 600 men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.
Very little is said about Shamgar. His background is unknown. His station in life is not mentioned. He rose from obscurity. He must have been a judge of Israel, who came after Ehud. That is all we know.
The next thing we hear of is his heroic feat of slaying 600 Philistines with an ox goad.
An ox goad is a traditional stick which was used to guide and prod oxen for farming or to herd cattle.
It was not a weapon, but a stick that was used to drive cattle with.
We are not told the circumstances under which he fought and slew the Philistines. That lack of detail is essential because it then leaves everything to our imagination.
Everyone’s circumstances can be included in the story of Shamgar.
Maybe he was in the field, ploughing when the Philistines pounced on him. Maybe he was in the middle of harvesting his crop when they swooped. The story of Gideon tells us that the Midianites would come and strip Israel of their crop at the time of harvest.
When Isarael was gathering its harvest and harvesting grapes, the Midianites would come and loot away everything.
The devil does that a lot.
When you have worked so hard and about to enjoy the fruits of your labours, the devil pounces and loots. When you have earned your money, a disease comes to steal the little money.
When you get a new job, you get retrenched or some other disaster strikes, in order to rob you of the joy and fruits of the achievement.
Maybe the Philistines wanted to do the same with Shamgar.
They presumably came and wanted to take Shamgar’s hard-earned harvest. His wife and children may have been impoverished due to the annual uninvited visits by the Philistines to take away their year’s work.
I can imagine Shamgar looking at his wife and children, who were thin and malnourished due to hunger.
I can see his wife and children wearing worn out and torn clothes and shoes, all because their harvest was taken away every year. I can see Shamgar looking at the Philistines with indignation.
This time the Philistines had gone too far, and he would not let them go away with his harvest. He would not let his wife and children be deprived again after so much hard work to plant, tend and harvest the yield.
He could not envision his wife and children starving again as if he had not worked for them.
He was not a trained warrior. He was not a man of war.
But the prospect of hunger because the perennial robbing by the Philistines made him to pluck courage.
He did not run away.
Something came upon him: something like what would come upon David and Samson.
He felt an inexplicable power come over him. He surged forward to meet the Philistines. He forgot that he had no weapon in his hand.
That is it. When you become indignant with the devil and you feel God’s anointing, you do not need a weapon or to be a trained soldier. You just need
God on your side. If God be for us, who can be against us?
His righteous indignation got up. I hope yours does too.
Get up against evil, get up against that old wheelchair, get up against those crutches.
Shamgar stood there, and he looked around. He was not a warrior; he did not have time to go away, and train how to duel, and to fight these men with the swords.
You don’t have time to go study out all these things and understand the Greek or Hebrew words of the Bible. Just believe God and act on His promises.
Shamgar must have been sick and tired of the Philistines coming to take what he had. Are you not tired, mother? Aren’t you sick and tired of the devil you that you can’t make it, you can’t do that or the other? Remember, “All things are possible to them that believe.”
Shamgar was not a warrior, but he said: “I am a child of God. And I know these Philistines come from the devil, and I know God promised me victory. He grabbed that ox-goad, and challenged 600 Philistines, and stood there and beat their heads in.
He was not a warrior, but he was an Israelite; he was circumcised. And if you are circumcised with the Holy Ghost, you don’t have to wait till you are trained to be a warrior. Just claim your God given privilege, and beat the Philistines.
Don’t allow Satan to steal your harvest.