(A) A ministry of encouragement. Deborah's form of leadership in the book of Judges is unique, in that God primarily uses her, in Judges 4-5, to encourage a man who was unconfident in his role (Barak) to listen to the voice of God by embracing the leadership role that he had been given. He seems incredibly hesitant to go to war, however, and asks her to come along with him, so she again practices her ministry of encouragement by going with him. (Side note: I always thought that Deborah went with Barak into the battle itself. Apparently she only went with him to Mount Tabor, where she again encouraged Barak in Judges 4:14, and then Barak went down from Mount Tabor by himself to go into the battle in the same verse--Deborah is not mentioned again until she and Barak sing a song of victory together after the battle in Judges 5:1.) The result was that "the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword... And Barak pursued the chariots and the army... and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left" (Judges 4:15-16). Although Deborah's name would not be mentioned again outside of this account in Judges 4-5, Barak's name would be remembered in both Testaments (1 Samuel 12:11; Hebrews 11:32)--and whenever the story was told about how God delivered Israel through the leadership of Barak, the story of Deborah and her ministry of encouragement must not have been far out of the minds of those who recounted the story. We too can be part of many incredible things that God wants to do by being encouragers to those who God is raising up. I have benefited from others' ministries of encouragement myself!
(B) God initiates, we respond, God works through our response. Although Barak was incredibly hesitant to go into battle against Sisera and his "900 chariots of iron" (Judges 4:3, 13), God gave him victory once he actually went out into the field of battle. God initiated by calling Barak to lead Israel. Then he initiated again by sending Deborah to him. Then, once Barak responded, God caused Sisera to make a series of terrible strategic decisions by first abandoning his army (leaving them vulnerable without leadership, Judges 4:15-16) and then fleeing on foot before entering alone into the tent of the woman who killed him, not noticing concerning signs that should have tipped him off such as her giving him heavy milk instead of water to quench his thirst (Judges 4:19, 5:25). We have seen this before: God causing the rulers of the cities of Canaan to make bad strategic decisions without which Israel could have never taken all these cities. The battle was not won by the superior military might of Israel. Instead, the battle was only won when God's people stepped out in faith, and when God worked through their response.
(C) Or, we could work through human wisdom alone, like Judges 17-18. The counterpart to the story of Deborah and Barak is this story in Judges 17-18. Instead of responding to God's call, the people of Dan decide that what God is calling them to do is too difficult. They abandon their allotted portion of land (leaving a people who would continually be a thorn in the side of Israel throughout the rest of its history), and instead brutally conquer the easier-to-take land of a peaceful people who had done no wrong. Then they also set up idols in their midst, after stealing them from a spiritually wayward Bethlehemite. They probably thought they had accomplished their mission, but we will see as we journey throughout the rest of Israel's history that their clever maneuver created devastating ripples of spiritual and physical destruction on Israel for centuries afterwards. The whole story of Judges 17-18 is a lesson in how far human wisdom gets us: remember, in those days "everyone did what was right in their own eyes" (Judges 17:6).
RESPOND | WHAT IS OUR PART?
How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? In our attitudes we should remember to encourage others in the roles that God has given them; we should confidently step out in faith and expect that God will work in us as we respond to him; and we should be wary of replacing God's plan with our own human plans as the wayward people of Dan did in Judges 17-18.
PRAY | HOW DOES THIS LEAD US TO CONNECT WITH GOD?
Here is a suggested prayer prompt: "God, I know that you are at work in the world, and that you will not leave your people alone. Help me to see through your Word and through prayer what you want to accomplish today. Help me to be an encouragement to those who you are raising up. Help me to respond to you in faith as well. And God, help me not to abandon the plan you have for me just because the path seems difficult to walk on. Instead, help me to draw upon the strength that you give, knowing that you are currently working on a thousand thousand variables that I would never know on my own, to bring about the result that you have intended."
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