The Magnificent 700

By John Stallings


Judges 20 tells the story of 700 chosen left-handed slingers who formed a regiment in Israel’s army.

What is underplayed is that these left handed warriors had once been right handed. The battles of those days were fought with spear and sword and the enemy would try to incapacitate the right hand or the right arm of their enemy.

The 700 men in question had been so incapacitated that they could no longer use their right hands or right arms with any effectiveness. They couldn’t carry a sword or spear or other similar weapons of battle. They could only carry a sling. Generally these men would be relegated to menial tasks or retirement. I imagine that through the years hundreds of men from generals to captains to common foot soldiers had taken the longest walk of their lives… the walk home.

These wounded warriors were then relegated to a life of memories, disappointment and sometimes great bitterness. The weapon that had severed their arm or hand had also severed their ability to move on with their life. The battle they’d now have to fight would be with themselves.

In our modern day armed services, if a soldier is wounded he is taken off the battle field, no questions asked. The individual has no choice. However in ancient Israel, a soldier had a choice. He could go or he could stay. These 700 slingers could have been discharged and gone home, out of harm’s way but they wouldn’t hear of it.

THE POWER OF CHOICE

Years ago, if you wanted a pair of shoes, you couldn’t go down to “Payless Shoes” or “Shoe Carnival”. You couldn’t even go down to Sears or J.C. Penney to pick a pair of ready made shoes to wear. There was a time when – if you wanted shoes or boots – you had to go someone called a “Shoe Cobbler.” When Ronald Reagan was a young man, an aunt had taken him to a cobbler to have a pair of shoes made for him. The shoemaker asked the young Reagan “do you want a square toe or a round toe?” Reagan hemmed and hawed. So the cobbler said, “Come back in a day or two and let me know what you want.”

A few days later the shoemaker saw Reagan on the street and asked what he had decided about the shoes. “I still have not made up my mind,” the boy answered. “Very well,” said the cobbler. When Reagan received the shoes, he was shocked to see that one shoe had a square toe and the other had a round toe. Years later Reagan commented: “Looking at those shoes every day taught me a lesson. If you do not make your own decisions, somebody else will make them for you!”

God created us to be a people capable of making choices. And God has always given His people the power of choice. In the Old Testament Joshua told the Israelites,

“… CHOOSE for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15

When Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, he urged the people who were gathered there to serve God instead of Baal, and he asked them,

“How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God follow Him; but if Baal, follow him” (1 Kings 18:21).

Elijah is telling the people to make a choice… get on with it.

God calls upon us to choose Him, because if we don’t choose Him - to serve Him and obey Him and love Him - then the choice will be made for us. Someone else or something else will become more important in our lives and God will be shouldered off to one side. In modern day America we enjoy many freedoms and one of the sweetest is the freedom of choice. Living in this great nation we have the choice to say whatever we want to say, worship any way we want and- to the utter chagrin of many politicians, we have the freedom to own a firearm.

As Christians we have many awesome freedoms too. Through the blood of Jesus we have freedom from death, hell and the grave. Satan no longer has dominion over our lives.

Freedom of choice is a very serious, sobering freedom. Have you ever looked at it that way? We make decisions every day, some major and some minor. Just this morning every one of us woke up and made a choice of what we’d wear and what we’d eat. We get in our cars to drive and as the day progresses we make hundreds of choices and don’t really think much about it. We aren’t robots. God made us with a free will and it’s out of that free will that we decide wither we’ll obey or disobey God.

On a daily basis we’re bombarded with choices. There are several newspapers we can choose to read. When we switch on the radio there are many stations we can choose to tune to. On television there are many commercials that clamor for our attention. Every time we make a decision we should consult with God in prayer. And always bear in mind that choices can either build or break you. Lot’s choice of what looked like a fertile land ruined him and his family.

We can choose to love our wives as Christ loved the church or not. Wives can choose to submit to their husbands demonstrating their submission to Christ or not. We can allow the flesh to control us which will lead to death and destruction or we can choose to allow the Holy Spirit to control us which will produce a bountiful harvest of joy in our lives.

Just as the left-handed slingers did, we have a choice. We can make a choice to let our wounds and hurts turn us bitter and ingrown or we can by God’s grace get up and dust ourselves off and move forward to great accomplishments.

LEADERSHIP

What made the difference for all these “handicapped soldiers?” Their commander and leader was named Benjamin. One day he saw all these men wounded who refused to leave and go home and recognized their potential. Right then and there he decided that these men could be winners again with a little help. He could help them to bury the ghosts of the past. He reminded them that they still had a warrior’s mind and a warrior’s heart. He instituted a program to help the right handed men develop into left-handed warriors. With Benjamin’s leadership a bunch of “zeros” could become “Heroes.”It was possible because of a leader who cared enough to look past their wounds, to look past their disappointments, to look past their failures and see inside of them. Inside there was still the heart of a winner which was evidenced by their unwillingness to leave the battle.

We aren’t told how long it took to re-train a soldier who all his life had been right-handed but you can imagine it was no easy task. It must have taken hundreds of hours. However they not only became functional slinging with their left hand, they became so efficient they never missed. These lefties would take a horse hair, either from its mane or tail, tie a rock to one end so the wind wouldn’t blow it, then hit the hair, as much as 200 yards away at over 100 miles an hour and never miss. Judges 20:16. Today there are many “wounded warriors” among us. The definition of a left-handed warrior is;

“Anyone whose been wounded in life either physically, emotionally, spiritually, or financially and yet against all odds has risen from the devastation to become a champion.”

I’d like to think that there are still leaders like Benjamin wise enough to know that these “wounded warriors” can become “left-handed champions.” These men already had a wealth of experience. They are winners that just need somebody to love them enough and care enough to once again help them to engage in life’s battles. They just needed a leader. Maybe you know what it’s like to fight the good fight yet get beat-up bruised and battered. Perhaps you know what it feels like to give it your best shot but still lose… and be hurt so deeply you didn’t want to live. You may know what it’s like to want to quit. I certainly do.

I believe that most of the problems we have in our nation, our churches or our lives is a problem of leadership. Benjamin taught these wounded men to use what they still had, to put the past behind them and draw a line in the sand and say ENOUGH. They needed to get back into the fray.

ENOUGH SELF-PITY
If the 700 slingers had succumbed to self-pity they’d have been doomed. Self-pity is the taste left after our “sacrifices” go unappreciated. We’ll all have to fight the good fight while we’re on his earth. If we’re waiting for someone to put their arm around our shoulder and tell us “you done good,” well, we’re just going to have to put our lives on hold until they decide to do it, if they ever do. Since support and appreciation probably isn’t going to be forthcoming, we have to decide whether we’ll throw in the towel and quit and do nothing or find a way to look at our sacrifices differently.

When I start to bellyache over things that aren’t all that bad, I look at what others have gone through and I begin to see my “sacrifices “ in a new way and my self-pity goes up the chimney.

Two coaches were sitting in a coffee shop talking about how incompetent and almost stupid their football players were that year. One coach would tell about something dumb one of his boys did then the other coach would top it. About that time one coach saw one of his players walking down the sidewalk and called him in. He said “son, would you go over to my office on the campus and see if I’m there?” The young man said, Alright coach” and walked out the door.

The other coach said “that’s nothing.” He saw one of the boys on his football team walking along and called him in. He said to the other coach, “Watch this.”He said to his player, “Son, here’s fifty cents. Would you please go and buy me a new Cadillac?” The boy retorted, “Alright coach” and walked out the door.

The two players met on the street and one said to the other, “You know, I’ve got the dumbest coach I’ve ever had. He gave me fifty cents and told me to go buy him a new Cadillac. Can you believe it; the crazy man didn’t even tell me what color to buy?” The other player said, “That’s nothing. Guess what my coach just asked me to do. He’s sitting in the coffee shop with your coach. He wants me to walk all the way down to the school to check and see if he’s in his office. Isn’t that dumb? The crazy man has a phone right at his elbow, he could call down there.”

Everybody has trouble. Life is war. Life is stress. The culture is stress, the kids are stress, education is stress, and relationships are stress. Welcome to “club stress.”

BETTER AFTER THE WOUNDING

This boggles the mind; these men who’d been right handed were even better with their left hand after they were re-trained and re-oriented. If these men had only been competent enough to go on the battlefield and not fall down and get in someone’s way, that would have been one thing. But they had become so deadly accurate they could hit a hair from great distances “and not miss.” If you think anything like I do, this is astounding.

It would have been a big mistake for an enemy army to see these guys coming with missing right arms, twirling a couple of lengths of string around the fingers of their left hand and laugh and say in essence, “What you gonna do?” Before those words got out of their mouths a few dozen eyes would be shot out not to mention the others who lay dead because a rock had penetrated their skull. A sling in the hands of an expert was a serious piece of equipment, though light weight and non-threatening. After all, look what little David did with a sling when he faced the giant Goliath.

JOB

If you’ve been wounded in life, why not believe that things will be better because of it? Isn’t that what thee slingers experienced? You and I can actually become stronger in the broken places. Job's latter days were blessed more than his beginning. His livestock is doubled 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, 1,000 female donkeys. He is blessed with 7 sons and 3 beautiful daughters. The daughters were provided an inheritance along with their brothers. He lived 140 years, saw descendants to the fourth generation, and died full of days

WE’LL ALL BE WOUNDED BY LIFE IN SOME WAY

Pastor James teaches us about the need to develop patience [staying power] and perseverance. He realized that patience is vital in maintaining the necessary faith to see the realization of God’s promises:

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. (James 1:2-4).

James said, “when you fall into various trials.” He didn't say-if you fall into various trials.” For example, God informed the prophet Isaiah, “I will be with you . . . when you walk through the fire” (Is 43:2). It is a matter of fact that you will face trials in life. The only thing God promises is that He will be “with” you during your trials.

He does not promise that the Christian life will be a life of ease. You might say John, that doesn’t sound like faith. It doesn’t have anything to do with faith; it has to with the reality of living life.

In one of the Rocky movies, Rocky told a young fighter, “It’s not about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can be hit and stay in the fight.” Many fighters never were champions, not because their punch didn’t kick like a mule, but because they had a “glass jaw,” meaning if you hit them hard it knocked all the fight out of them.

Staying Put

No doubt the reason the left-handed slingers were chosen by Benjamin was the “staying power” they evidenced. They wanted to stay. They believed so much in the cause, the last thing they wanted to think about was leaving the front lines of the war where the battle raged.

I knew a preacher who determined to stay at his first church for his entire ministry. He was bucking a trend. Somehow we American pastors, without really noticing what was happening, got our ministries redefined in the terms of careerism. Too many stopped thinking of the church as a location for pastoral spirituality and started thinking of it as an opportunity for advancement. Not good!

Not that my preacher friend was never tempted to move on. He had his battles with the “shake-the-dust-off-my-feetism” that too easily moves many of us out of our places of endeavor. But he stayed put and shared with me many times how he had found a depth in his life he never realized existed.Staying put when everything about our culture seems to say "get moving," isn’t always easy. But what’s the hurry?

Not that staying put is for everyone, every time. There are jobs, schools and relationships in which staying put is an invitation to disaster and destruction. Sometimes leaving certain situations is the only blessed possibility. But these times are fewer and farther between than we are conditioned to believe. Our reasons for leaving are usually less holy than we’d like to admit. We can get “ants in our spiritual pants” and end up packing up more often than is probably healthy. We miss what we might discover if we stayed put, especially if we decide to move in the mistaken hope that we will find things much different in a new place.

Jesus said, "I am with you always." Imagine what we might experience if we learned to truly be where we are, and stayed put long enough to explore and discover all the wonderful ways God is truly with us.

Acts 14 contains a very interesting narrative… Paul and Barnabas in Iconium;

Listen to it;Acts 14:1-3 ;

And it came to pass in Iconium that they went both together into the synagoge of the Jews, and so spake that a great multitude of Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews striied uo the Gentiles and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.A long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of His grace and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

Did you see that phrase-a long time therefore abode they speaking...?” Apostolic ministry is “opportunity driven” and Paul and Barnabas saw an opportunity for ministry and see people saved and set free. These Holy Ghost filled men had staying power. In a situation where they were battling the odds and their lives were in danger,--they stayed a long time.

All too often people are defeated not because of a lack of ability, but because they quit too soon. Many people lose heart and throw in the towel before the game is finished. You and I know that problems are a fact of life; we must expect them. Life is not a joy ride. It’s not like riding Disneyland's "Pirates of the Caribbean" where we float through the water on little boats, watching from a distance the cannon fire and the splashing water.

Life is real with real pain, real problems, and real frustrations. People get sick, they experience disappointment, they shed tears, and they are touched by death. So what do we do? We have a secret weapon in facing the difficulties and pressures of life.

“Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us” -2 Cor. 4:7

This will probably sound a little strange but I believe if we could hear God’s voice audibly, especially as he speaks to His children, it would sound a lot like a dog trainer [we certainly aren’t dogs] saying—stay, stay, stay.

If you and I can learn to stay put when the battle gets hot, if we can put less emphasis on deliverance and more on development, then we can be numbered with the magnificent 700 chosen left-handed warriors who refused to leave the battle even though seriously wounded and…


“Could hit a hair from 200 yards and not miss.”

Blessings,


John