Great Women

Judges 4-5

We can fill up Sunday after Sunday of the great men of the Bible.  Today I would like to introduce you to two very great women of Bible, Deborah and Jael.  Deborah was leading Israel as a judge after Shamgar had passed away and the Bible also says that she was a prophet.  Now the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the Lord, so He sold them into the hands of the Canaanite King, Jabin. 

The people cried out to the Lord and He heard them.  The Lord told Deborah to mount an offensive and send Barak to defeat Jabin, who had nine hundred chariots of iron.  Barak was afraid to go up against the Canaanite king and said he would not go if Deborah will not be with him.  Can I just say that when God calls you to do something, just do it! Barak, in his fear, did not trust the word of the Lord. So Deborah led the army and the Lord gave the Canaanites into the hand of a women (verse 9). 

Verse 14 says “Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?”  Deborah said this to Barak as he began his offensive against Jabin’s army who was lead by Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army.  The Lord showed up and routed the Canaanites and Sisrea fled on foot as the rest of his army was crushed by Barak.  Well, Sisrea fled to a nearby tent where another lady was at.  Her name was Jael. There was an alliance between the families at that time so Jael covered him up with blankets and gave him milk to drink.  While Sisrea was fast asleep, Jael took a mallet and drove a tent peg through his temple into the ground and killed him.  What a splitting head ache. Barak then went ahead and crushed the rest of the army of the Canaanites and Israel had peace for 40 years.   

Today, grasp what Deborah told Barak; the Lord has gone ahead of you.  Maybe you are under some huge pressure or your current place in life is something you know was brought on by your own misguided decisions.  God is still going ahead of you and He may use someone to lead you who seems out of the norm just like this great story.  Verse 31 says “So may all your enemies perish, Lord!  But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.”   

Rise in strength because the Lord is going before you to level the mountains. Deborah simply believed the Lord at His word while Barak needed some encouragement. Weather you are a Deborah or a Barak, God is still working and He is preparing the path ahead of you.