What Jesus says to you is not, “OK, here’s your perfect parenting manual. Better get it right.” Sure, the Bible instructs us on how to raise our kids, but he mainly calls us to obey and trust him as he fights the battle through us. That should be an encouragement especially to those of you in the toddler trenches. What you’re doing may not feel like an honor. But it’s in a thousand small acts that your child is going to learn that love is unconditional.

Add to that reality that becoming a parent just makes you feel more ill-equipped than ever because parenting is just plain tough.

Throughout the book of Judges, we see time and time again that God brings down the most powerful tyrants through weak human instruments simply doing his bidding—like left-handed Ehud, cowardly Gideon, the impulsive powerhouse Samson, and Jael, a housewife with a tent peg.

The writer of Judges is trying to make a point: God doesn’t need our ability (he never has), only our availability.

God did it then, and he still does it today. He overturns unjust world systems through weak people walking in obedience.

You see, Judges was written to prepare Israel for Jesus. At the beginning of the book, the judges prevail through the traditional means of military might. But the numbers dwindle as you go along. Deborah was able to send out an entire army. Gideon only went to battle with 300 men. And Samson, the last judge in the book, stands alone.

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