“And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go…” (Judges 4:8-9a, KJV)
Barak made this promise or covenant with the prophetess Deborah. She wanted him to lead an army of Israelites to battle the Canaanites. He said that if she went with him he would go but if she did not go he would not go. Barak might have realized that if Deborah the prophetess had been with them then God would be with them. We need to make this sort of covenant with God.
Let us look at the first part of this covenant: “If you will go with me I will go”
God told Joshua the following:
“… I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage:…” (Joshua 1:5-6, KJV)
Jesus said:
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:19-20, KJV)
If we go where God goes, do what He wants us to do, He will be with us and strengthen us to do His will. In this way He will be with us as we go.
Now let us consider the last part of the covenant: “If you will not go with me I will not go.”
I have heard some people propose am idea to a committee. Then one of the committee members say “I’m not with you on that.” This meant that they did not agree with the proposal and would not be a part of it. This is the sense in which God may not be with us when we do things we know He would not want us to do. So we should not go where we know He will not be with us in that sense.
I heard a woman who said that she had become a Christian when a child. She knew she had a good voice so studied voice in college hoping to get a recording contract after she graduated. Right after graduation she was offered a country music recording contract. She knew deep in her heart that she should not accept the contract because she knew at first she would have to sing in bars and honky-tonks. She talked to her grandmother about it and her grandmother told her, “You should not go where the anointing is not accepted.” She knew that Jesus wouldn’t be accepted in bars and honky- tonks so she did not accept the contract. She started singing at churches then the Lord led her to start speaking on the radio, television and in churches.
I would like to end with the words of a chorus from a song sung by the contemporary Christian group Avalon:
I don’t want to go somewhere
If I know that You’re not there,
‘Cause I know that me without You is a lie.
And I don’t want to walk that road,
Be a million miles from home,
Cause my heart needs to be where You are.
So I don’t want to go.
Let us all make this covenant with God to go where He goes and to not go where He will not go.
By Dean W. Masters
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