While the whole congregation of Israel were in the presence of God mourning, weeping, and offering sacrifices, the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead were not represented. Therefore, in making good their word, the Israelites sent warriors to the city and killed all the children, the men and every married woman in that land. They spared only the virgins whom they brought to the camp and then gave as wives to the men of Benjamin. Another insight I derived from this new development is that it is those who do not spend time in the presence of God that will be made to pay the price or be used as pawn to execute the solutions that those who spend time in the presence of God come up with. The people of Jabesh Gilead who were found wanting in God’s presence were the ones who forfeited their lives so that their virgins could be given to the Benjamites as wives. This underscores the need for every one of us to cultivate the habit of spending time in God’s presence, so that we do not become perpetual tools (for the accomplishment of the purpose) of those of who do. Shalom!
The Spirit of God is gentle and at the same very strong. Among other things, He is an inspirer, a motivator, an enabler and an energiser. When He dwells upon someone He enables such person to do great and mighty things that he wouldn’t have been able to do in his own steam or human strength (Check Judges 11:29, 14:6, 14:19, 15:14, 1Samuel 10:6, 1Samuel 10;10-11, 11:6-7, 1Kings 18:46 etc etc). However, when He leaves someone, He usually does so in a quiet and unobtrusive way that the person may not even know that the Spirit has departed. Especially if such person is given to routine (as we all are), he will continue to perform his customary tasks and other activities every day without any inkling that he is on his own, without the Presence of God! The Spirit usually departs from someone during a moment of carelessness, un-guardedness, compromise, disobedience etc. So how does one know when the Spirit of God has left him? One may not know when the Spirit takes His leave. On the surface, everything will still look and appear normal. And there may not even be an inner turmoil to indicate the departure. However, one of the indications that will help one to know is if he finds himself struggling, perspiring, exerting and experiencing so much stress to accomplish things he used to do before with relative ease. Then such person needs to do a personal check to know where he has lost it. A case study in this instance is Samson. He was a very strong person because of the hand of God upon him. He tore a lion apart with bare hands (Judges 14:6), killed a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey (judges 15:15), and carried on his shoulders two gateposts with people on them and walked some distance to the top of a hill (Judges 16:1-4)! He was indeed a very strong man; one of the strongest men in recorded history. And that was simply because the Spirit of God was upon him. But when he lost it, he didn’t know it, he didn’t feel it, and no bell rang in his head to announce his loss of Essence. The Bible captures it thus: Judges 16:20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. See what happened after that: Judges 16:21, 25 Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with gold fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison….So it happened, when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson, that he may perform for us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them… So how does one get back the Spirit of God? It is simple. All you need to do is personal consecration and rededication of yourself to God. He is more than willing to occupy His kingly place in your life and scheme of things. But you have to be willing to allow Him the space. It is very important that you note that the race of life is full of ups and downs. Therefore, having the indwelling of the Spirit of God or losing same is not a once-for-all phenomenon. No, no. As often as you become conscious of the loss, so should you do the needful consecration and rededication to get yourself back on stream. May the LORD help us. It’s my pleasure sharing this piece of meditation with you. Shalom!
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