A Left Handed Dagger

Have you ever been in a situation where something small or insignificant was overlooked, only to later become the very thing that helped you? I still remember an incident from my corporate days when our clients were visiting the office. Management wanted us to demonstrate a process improvement, and I noticed a minor tweak in the existing process, at least it seemed minor to me. At that time, suggesting ideas like this wasn’t very common, and offering one often came with scrutiny. To my surprise, senior management saw value in it and asked me to present the idea directly to our clients. I was taken to the top floor of the building, into a boardroom reserved for senior leadership, and asked to walk them through it. I was just a senior associate, presenting in front of senior leadership and clients. What happened next surprised me. The clients were genuinely excited. They couldn’t believe that someone with limited access to the system had identified a tweak that could save them money. They appreciated not just the idea, but the thought process behind it. Soon after, my name began to circulate among upper management and that small observation ended up opening doors - actually, gates that I never expected.

As I continued reading the book of Judges, that experience came back to mind. When people talk about Judges, names like Deborah and Gideon often come up. But this time, one character stood out for me -Ehud.

In simple terms, Ehud is the man who killed Eglon, the king of Moab, using a dagger. But as I read Judges 3:12–30, it felt like the heart of the story was in the details. The Bible tells us that Ehud was a Benjamite and that he was left-handed. That made me pause. Why would Scripture explicitly mention that? We’re also told that he made a dagger for himself—a double edged one. Even Eglon is described as a very fat man, another detail Scripture deliberately includes. The story continues with Ehud paying the tribute and starting his journey home, only to turn back at Gilgal. Here we go about Gilgal again!!! He returns to the king and says, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” After the attendants leave, Ehud reaches with his left hand, draws the dagger from his right thigh, and strikes the king. He escapes, shuts the doors behind him, and later blows the trumpet, calls Israel to action, leading to Moab’s defeat.

What began to stand out to me was how intentional every small detail was. A dagger, small enough to be overlooked, yet decisive at the right moment. A left-handed man from the tribe of Benjamin, whose name means “son of the right hand,” quietly overturning expectations. That very distinction allowed Ehud to conceal the dagger on his right thigh, avoiding suspicion and frisking altogether. Even the dagger itself caught my attention. Scripture tells us it was double-edged, which immediately brought to mind Hebrews 4:12 - the Word of God is a two edged sword, sharp and penetrating, able to divide and discern. And then there is Eglon’s fatness, described so deliberately. It isn’t incidental. It reflects a king living lavishly from the tribute he received, weighed down by excess.

Taken together, these details felt less like coincidence and more like design—small, easily dismissed things working together to bring about deliverance. As I sat with that, I began to notice how often God seems to work this way in my own life, using what is unexpected or overlooked to shape both deliverance and inheritance.

It made me pause and ask myself where I might be looking past what is already in my hands. Perhaps the answers we’re waiting for aren’t always found in something new, big, or majestic, but hidden within the ordinary rhythms of our daily lives. Sometimes, the breakthrough we’re searching for has been with us all along - we just haven’t learned to see it yet.