Three Success Secrets of Shamgar

“A man’s gift makes room for him And brings him before great men.” Proverbs 18:16 

Judges 3:31 tells a story about an incredible man named Shamgar. There is only one verse about him, but he had a massive impact. It says, “After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad; and he also delivered Israel.” We can learn so much from this farmer who lived 3,000 years ago. Shamgar used an ox goad, a farming tool, simply a wooden pole with a steel point on the end, to slay 600 enemies. It would be the equivalent of one man with a stick killing 600 terrorists. He saw that his nation was under threat, his family was being overtaken, and something came over him.

You may have seemingly impossible odds stacked against you today, physically or financially. You may have a storm coming into your life and feel overwhelmed. But Shamgar had 600 to one odds and discovered that all things are possible with God. Shamgar’s story gives us three secrets of success. 

Number one, he started where he was. He was not in a powerful position. He was just a farmer, a blue-collar worker. He was not famous, wealthy, influential, prestigious, or popular. Many people wait too long to decide what they want to do with their life. You may hear them say, “I will start when I get a big break, when a big door opens or when somebody notices me.” But the key to success is to start where you are. Noah didn’t wait for his boat to come in; he built it. 

Big doors swing on little hinges. The man or woman who is too big to do little things is too little to do big things. Stop wishing things were different or you had this connection or that opportunity. Start right where you are; your gift will make room for you. Your gift will put you before essential people and open doors for you that no man can shut. But you have to stop waiting for the perfect conditions and just begin.

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