Judges 4:9: “So she said, ‘I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.’ Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.”

April 18th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The 4th judge we are introduced to, Deborah, was a woman. She was a prophetess, judge, wife, and mother. The general of Israel’s forces, Barak, was timid and didn’t trust the Lord. So God said he wouldn’t be the one to personally defeat the foreign commander Sisera. Deborah prophesied that a woman would kill the invading general. One would assume it would be Deborah herself, but this prophecy was fulfilled in an unexpected way.

Notice that Deborah was careful not to grab for leadership because she understood God’s ways. Self-promotion always fails to bring lasting fruit in the Kingdom of God. The lesson here is that God and God alone promotes His servants in His kingdom. President Lincoln once said, “What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.” Self-promotion always has a bad smell to it. Male leadership was conspicuously absent in Israel, which can be seen in Barak’s conditional obedience to God’s command. God was going to embarrass him and the men of the nation by using a physically weaker woman, Jael, to kill the foreign commander.

People who desire to know God better must be willing to be used by God in any way He directs them. Availability is much more important to God than strength, talent, or intellect. Are you available? God is still looking for men and women who are yielded to him. As a young man, D. L. Moody once heard a pastor say, “The world has yet to see what God can do with a person who is fully yielded to Him.” So Moody resolved in his heart, “By the grace of God, I will be that person.” May all of us step up and be that today.

“LORD, we desire to be useful to You in Your kingdom this day. Use us please we ask in Jesus’ name.”

=============================================================

Judges 4 KJV

¹ And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead. ² And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. ³ And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. ⁴ And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. ⁵ And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. ⁶ And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying , Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? ⁷ And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand. ⁸ 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. ⁹ And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰ And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him. ¹¹ Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh. ¹² And they shewed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor. ¹³ And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.  ¹⁴ And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. ¹⁵And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet. ¹⁶But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.  ¹⁷ Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle. ¹⁹ And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. ²⁰ Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No. ²¹ Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. ²²And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent , behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples. ²³ So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. ²⁴ And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.