Day 108

Judges 3–4 | Acts 8:1–25

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God doesn’t always choose the obvious.

Sometimes He uses the ones overlooked by everyone else.

Sometimes He works through the hesitant, the obscure, the ones carrying more insecurity than swagger.

A left-handed man from a right-handed tribe.

A farmer with nothing but a cattle prod.

A woman leading in a world where women didn’t lead.

A soldier who needed someone else to come with him before he could move forward.

That’s who God used to deliver Israel in Judges 3 and 4.

Not the impressive.

Just the available.

The ones the rest of us never saw coming.

When You Feel Like Barak

I get Barak.

He wasn’t faithless.

He wasn’t defiant.

He just didn’t want to go alone.

He believed the promise, but needed a presence.

And Deborah didn’t shame him for it. She just said, “I’m coming with you. But the honor’s not going to be yours.”

And you know what?

Barak went.

Even when it meant not getting the credit.

Even when it meant he wouldn’t be the headline.

Even when it meant letting someone else speak louder.

Some days, obedience doesn’t look like fearless leadership.

It looks like walking into the valley with shaking knees and a friend beside you.

When You Feel Like You Don’t Belong

Then there’s Acts 8.

A city turns to Jesus. The Spirit falls. Miracles erupt.

And right in the middle of it is Simon the Sorcerer—a new believer with a past.

He wants the Spirit. But he wants to control it.

He tries to buy the power of God, and Peter shuts it down hard:

“Your heart is not right before God.”

Simon believed—but hadn’t surrendered.

He wanted the benefits without the breaking.

The platform without the pruning.

The gifts without the Giver.

And before I judge him, I have to ask:

How many times have I wanted God to work on my terms?

How often have I prayed, “Come, Holy Spirit,”

—but meant: come how I want, when I want, in a way that doesn’t cost too much?

What God Uses

This week has been a heavy one.

Not in the crisis kind of way.

But in the fire pit sulking, musical-on-the-TV, why-do-I-feel-so-flat? kind of way.

I’ve felt less like a warrior, more like a Barak.

Uncertain. Hesitant. Tired. Needing someone to remind me that God is still ahead of me.

But here’s what I see in today’s passages:

God used Ehud. And Shamgar. And Deborah. Even Barak.

And He still uses me.

Not because I’m brave.

But because, by His grace alone, I keep showing up.

Turns out, faithfulness doesn’t always feel like fire.

Sometimes it feels like showing up flat and trusting God will do the rest.

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Lord, thank You for using the ones no one expects. The quiet ones. The hesitant ones. The ones still growing, still breaking, still healing. Use me, even when I feel uncertain. Lead me, even when I hesitate. And remind me again that You are ahead of me—that You are always enough. Amen.