Et tu, Ehud?

Ehud.

Have you ever heard of him? My mind drew a blank as I saw his name appear in our children's curriculum last week. After finding and reading the story, I sat back in my chair and began to ponder how I would actually present this lesson to a group of kids—without scarring them.

The story goes that Ehud, in an effort to free the Israelites from oppression, devised a plan to kill Eglog, king of Moab.

Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace and said, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king rose from his seat, ²¹ Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly. ²² Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it. ²³ Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.
²⁴ After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the palace.” ²⁵ They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead. (Judges 3:20-25)

Thanks for coming, kids! Have a great day…

There was unity amongst our leadership team to be vague regarding the details and instead focus on verse 15: “Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud.”

That simple statement nearly jumped off the page when I read it. This is how the Kingdom works. God hears the prayers of His people, and His answer often comes through another person. In other words, we get to participate in the Kingdom. 

I was inspired last week to pray the following simple prayer: God, help me be the answer to someone’s prayer today. I sensed God reply by saying, “You’ll like the fruit of your life if you make this a priority.”

Moments later I looked down to see an email come through where a person was pleading for help. After communicating that I’d be happy to assist, they responded, “What an answer to prayer!! Thank you!”

I smiled as I thought to myself, “God, you’re serious about this.”

I’m pretty sure He smiled back and said, “Won’t you be serious about it, too?”