Judges 3:27-4:24
When Ehud came to the mountain of Ephraim he blew a trumpet and gathered the children of Israel together and fought against the Moabites. The Lord then delivered them into the hand of His people who utterly defeated them, so that they had rest for eighty years. After Ehud came Shamgar, whom the Lord used to deliver His people from the Philistines. He killed six hundred of them with an ox goad and subdued them.
It was not long, however, until the children of Israel forgot what the Lord had done for them and departed from Him again. This time the Lord allowed Jabin the king of Canaan to oppress mightily His people for twenty years. Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron and the children of Israel realized how powerless they were against them, and so they cried unto the Lord. Things had now become very weak in Israel. Ehud, whom the Lord had used previously, was a left-handed man, figuring weakness, but now things had become weaker still. A woman named Deborah, the prophetess, was the one to whom the people went for judgment. Surely all this reminds us of the Church’s history, and of the weakness which is seen on every hand today!
Deborah received a message from the Lord that Barak was to go out and fight against Sisera, the captain of King Jabin’s army. But Barak was afraid. He was not walking near enough to the Lord to depend upon Him only. He said he would go if Deborah would go with him, and so she said she would go, but that it would not be for his honor, because the Lord would deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman. I believe this is often the case today. Men are called to do the work of the Lord, but there is not that quiet conference to lean upon the Lord alone, and they are found leaning upon a woman. Nevertheless God used Barak, but he could not honor him in such a path. It was not godly order, and though God in His infinite goodness often comes in and blesses His people outside of the established order, when great weakness exists, He does not change His order, and cannot place His approval on such things. How perfect are the ways of God! How much greater is His grace than all our weakness! Nor is it any use for us to labor beyond our faith, for God wants reality. Let us therefore seek grace to walk with Him, so that when difficulties arise we may be near the Lord, and find strength from Him to meet them according to His mind.
Barak acted according to his faith, and God used him. He gathered together an army of ten thousand men and went out in confidence in the Lord, and the Lord put the whole host of Sisera to flight. Sisera himself fled and took shelter in the tent of Jael the wife of Heber who was of the kindred of Moses’ father-in-law. Sisera did not know that Heber had cut himself off from the Kenites and made friends with the children of Israel. Jael, however, received Sisera into the tent and gave him milk to drink and then left him to rest. At last when he fell asleep she drove a nail through his temples and killed him. She then went out and told Barak that his enemy was slain. Thus the Lord subdued the enemies of Israel and gave them relief from their oppression for forty years. May we learn from all this to depend upon the Lord in every difficulty. He alone can deliver.
ML 08/23/1953