Shammah, a true hero!

As a little boy going every week to Sunday school, I heard the stories of many great heroes of the Bible - men and women of faith like Moses, David, Esther and Paul. But I never really heard of any of the “hidden heroes” of God until one day, I discovered Shammah. Most people have never heard of him, probably because there is no book after his name or any long chapters in the Scriptures which talked about him. He was mentioned only in two verses, and if you read those two verses too quickly, you wouldn’t even realize what this unknown hero had actually done. Those two verses are so powerful they could do for a scenario in a Hollywood action movie!

“Next in rank was Shammah son of Agee from Harar. One time the Philistines gathered at Lehi and attacked the Israelites in a field full of lentils. The Israelite army fled, but Shammah held his ground in the middle of the field and beat back the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.” (2 Samuel 23, vs. 11&12).

The Israelites are about to face the Philistines on a field of lentils (interesting place for a battlefield)! For some reasons, the whole army of Israel fled from the battlefield. Why did they run away? Were they out-numbered? Was the enemy better equipped?

All fled the field. All except one man, Shammah - A True Hero.

Most of us would have run with the rest of the army. Nobody in their right mind would have stayed by themselves in the middle of the battle field.

Nobody in their right mind would spend their lives translating the Bible among some lost tribes in the middle of nowhere. Nobody in their right mind would go to Albania, Europe’s poorest country, learn the language and establish a church. Nobody in their right mind would spend all their time and resources to helping HIV AIDS children in an African war zone. I just got a phone call today from a Swiss couple originally from Poland who has left everything to come to Cambodia. Yesterday they rented a flat in Phnom Penh and from tomorrow onwards, will join our “Bong Paoun” program to street children.

The Church of Jesus Christ is still at war. Our enemy is real. When faced with the challenge, we can either run away with the crowd or stay back and take our stand in the middle of the field.

History is full of “unknown heroes” who like Shammah, had made a difference in God’s Kingdom.

You have probably never heard of Charles Loring Brace. I never had till a couple of years ago when I came across his story.

Imagine yourself a child, abandoned on the streets of New York City. Your immigrant parents died on a ship on the way to America or of sickness in the city. You have no money and no relatives. You can’t speak English and you don’t know how you’ll get your next meal.

Thousands upon thousands of orphans in the 1850s found themselves caught in that kind of life. They slept in dark streets, huddling for warmth in boxes or metal drums. To survive, they mostly stole, caught rats to eat and went through garbage.

Immigrants were flooding New York City then, and no one had time or money to look after orphans; no one except Charles Loring Brace, a 26 years old minister. Horrified by their plight, he began the Foster Home Plan. When he ran out of homes, he organized a unique solution - The Orphan Train. The idea was simple: put hundreds of orphans on a train heading west. As the train passed through towns along the way, Christian committees would bring approved Christian families to the train stations to claim a son or daughter from the Orphan Train.

By the time the last Orphan Train steamed West in 1929, between 150,000 and 200,000 children have found new homes and new lives. Two orphans from those trains became governors, one served as a United States congressman, the other became a U.S Supreme Court justice.

Charles Loring Brace took his stand in the middle of the field.

There‘s a field of lentils for you. If you are not in one yet, go looking out for one. It won’t be long before you find one.

I was listening the other day to a sermon of Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke speaking at a large conference in Singapore. He said, “Some people at every conference get a new calling from God. You don’t need another calling from God. You need to go to the shopping mall and buy yourself a suitcase and get going!” Everyone in the audience cheered, but I wonder how many actually did “get going”.

A few years ago, the average 16 years old American was spending every week, 51 hours watching TV, videos, movies and the internet (I thank God I grew up without a TV)! Make every hour of your life count for what really matters. Don’t waste it. Go join Shammah on the field.

For those of you who are still in the middle of the field, I want to encourage you not to leave. Don’t quit. The same Holy Spirit who has called you and equipped you is still with you today. The Philistines won’t win; Jesus is on your side. Whether you are trying to establish a Christian Union in a large university or making Him known inyour company, you are not alone.

“But Shammah held his ground in the middle of the field and beat back the Philistines.”

Did you get that? Not only did he face the whole army, he beat them! It’s not one man beating another man. It’s one man beating a whole army!

You have no idea what God will do through you on a field of lentils!

Timothée Paton (ICA Cambodia)

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