Some lessons from Othniel

Othniel was the first judge of Israel. His name means Lion of God. He was the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb.

As the Israelites occupied Canaan, they turned to other gods – Baal and Ashteroth and God sent the Canaanites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and others against them. They have become embroiled in so much trouble that they needed help.

Kushan-rishathaim, the king of Mesopotamia and ruled over them for 8 years.

In despair, the Israelites called upon the LORD and the LORD heard their cries and raised up Othniel who gathered the Israelites and helped them to defeat the king of Mesopotamia. Then, the land rested for 40 years.

Let us look at four things we can learn from this:

We must worship only the LORD. The LORD became angry with the Israelites because they turned to false gods. The LORD had warned the Israelites many times of the dangers of worshipping other gods (cf. Ex. 34:14). But the Israelites did not heed the warnings and the LORD gave them to their enemies.

Today, we may not go and bow before idols or worship other gods in the literal sense of the term. But more often than not, we tend to give priorities to everything else but the LORD. We have also turned away from Him.

We have been chasing after riches and wealth, power, knowledge and neglect to worship the LORD and ignore services.

We should know that these things also amount to turning away from the LORD. 1 Timothy 6:10 warns us about the love of money being the source of all evil.

We Christians always need to be on the lookout in everything. Paul says that he refuses to let anything rule over him (1 Cor. 6:12).

Let us always call upon the LORD. When the Israelites turned to the LORD, the LORD listened to them and answered them and saved them.

They had been trying to free themselves from their problems for 8 years, but they could not. At their wits’ end, they called upon the LORD who helped them.

Are you also struggling with something in your life? Have you been trying to solve it? Call on the LORD.

Many times, we refuse to call on Him and become cumbered with more burdens. As the song goes:

Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer

The Israelites could have prevented being under foreign rule. But they suffered because they turned away from the One who could have helped them.

The LORD can give you rest. We know that the LORD can give us rest from our troubles. But we need to call on Him first.

Enduring gladness and happiness lies only with the LORD. As you grow weary and weak, call on Him. He will help you.