Last week, in The Time Before the Kings, Part 4, we saw that God is the God of the unconventional, and when we only look for conventional answers to our problems, we limit the Almighty God!
The next recorded story in the book of Judges is the story of Barak and Deborah.
Once again, Israel had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and this time, “the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim.” (Judges 4:2 NIV). Despite the cruelty of the oppression, it took Israel 20 years to cry out to God: “cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.” (Judges 4:3b NIV).
It is interesting that many of the judges recorded in the Bible were called around the time the people cried out to the Lord; but not so with Deborah. Not only is she the only female judge recorded in scripture, but she was already leading Israel: “Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.” (Judges 4:4 NIV). It wasn’t until Israel cried out to God for help, however, that He intervened, sending a special message to Deborah. Now Deborah wasn’t expected to plunge a sword into Jabin’s belly; nor was she expected to kill 600 philistines with an oxgoad; and most notably, she was not expected to lead an army into battle. Rather, she was to summons a man named Barak to lead the army: “She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: “Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.”‘” (Judges 4:6-7 NIV)
Barak’s response to Deborah? “Barak said to her, ‘If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.'” (Judges 4:8 NIV)
I find this a very interesting response… Wouldn’t it have been considered an honour to be called to deliver Israel? Yet Barak refuses to go unless Deborah comes with him…
Yet maybe this isn’t such a strange response after all. Before Jesus, God didn’t speak to everyone directly like He does today: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets…” (Hebrews 1:1 NIV). Maybe in that day, I might have responded like Barak! I would want the person who God is speaking through to be at my side all the time!
Despite this, Barak’s response was not the right one: “‘Certainly I will go with you,’ said Deborah. ‘But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.’” (Judges 4:9 NIV). In other words, if Barak’s faith was so weak that he needed the prophet Deborah to be at his side, then he didn’t deserve the honour of being the one to take down Jaban’s commander in chief, Sisera! Rather, Sisera would be taken down by a woman!
Now that wouldn’t necessarily been seen by me, myself, as a tarnish to my record; but in that day and age, when women weren’t blessed with being seen as equals, it would definitely be seen as something a mighty commander wouldn’t want to happen!
The Bible goes on to record how Deborah did go with Barak (See Judges 4:9). She wasn’t finished with her required work of providing Barak with motivation, however. After the armies were assembled, Sisera got word of Barak’s army and summoned his troops and chariots. Everything was ready for battle, but still there was no movement on the part of Barak’s army. It wasn’t until Deborah once again intervened that the battle began: “Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” (Judges 4:14 NIV). Only after this does the Bible record victory: “So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him. At Barak’s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.” (Judges 4:15 NIV).
And it would actually be a women who would bring down the great Sisera. Interestingly, this woman wasn’t even an Israelite. She was Jael, the wife of Haber, a Kenite, from the family of Moses’ in-laws!
There are many lessons for us to learn in this part of the story. First of all, does it really matter how God goes about bringing victory? If Barak needed encouragement, then God had another way! Victory was still won, Israel was still released from the terrors of Jabin, king of Hazor, Sisera was still brought down, as was the rest of the army!
No, when the plan doesn’t go quite as God envisioned it (which is always because of humanity not doing our part), God has other ways. The bottom line is, no matter what you are faced with, no matter what roadblocks seem to be in your way, God has a way around those! His will WILL be accomplished!
The second lesson, however, has to do with Barak’s hesitancy. And I get it! If I were told to go out and assemble and army to attack whatever, I would hesitate as well! In fact, I recently did! God told me to go into spiritual warfare for my husband, and I hesitated! I’m not sure what my hesitation brought about exactly, but had I not hesitated, the battle could have begun days, even months, earlier!
The thing is, if God has called you to do something, no matter how inadequate you may feel, you can know beyond a doubt that God will empower you! There is no need to hesitate, no need to worry. There is simply the call to … go! God will provide for all of your hesitations! And when you do, you know that God’s will can be accomplished according to His desired plan! Our hesitations force God to go to His Plan B!
What has God called you to do? Whatever it is, you can trust Him to empower you to success. Don’t hesitate as Barak did. Just … GO! You will be amazed what God will be able to accomplish through you!
Please join us next week for another lesson from the story of Deborah and Barak in “Singing a New Song: The Time Before the Kings, Part 6”!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
(To access the entire “The Time Before the Kings” mini-series, please click here.)
