Judges 4 Devo

November 17th, 2019

Devotional

“Judges: Deborah” -

      Judges 4:1-9

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Monday: “Again” - Judges 4: 1-2

  Often some of the most important ones in scripture are the shortest, so we quickly overlook them. Take for example Judges 4:1, “The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord”. A word that should draw our attention is so easy to gloss over - again. The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

By chapter 4 of Judges, the Israelites are so deeply enmeshed in the cycle of straying from God, being punished and a judge appointed by God needing to come to their rescue that the word again is used. 

It makes me wonder what are the things in our lives that have become so routine that we simply see them as something happening “again” when really they are deeply important? What are the sins that we keep returning to time after time without giving it a second thought? What are the chains around us that have become normative that God is just waiting to break on our behalf?

What is something that happens again and again in your life that you pray that God will change?

Prayer: God, we sometimes can be so caught up in our cycles of sin and harm that we do not even recognize their destruction any more. Give us eyes to see and hearts to perceive, O Lord, what you want to do on our behalf.. Free us we pray. Amen. 

Tuesday: “Cried Out” - Judges 4: 3

Different things will bring each of us to the point where we confess that we can no longer simply go about life on our own way with our own terms. For the Israelites it was being handed over to the King of Canaan who had this impressively large army for the time - 900 hundred chariots of iron. 

We don’t know when within the twenty years of oppression the Israelites cried out to God, but we know that it is both something that took place when they recognized their own weakness and that God heard. 

Father Richard Rohr has written a book entitled Breathing Underwater which seeks to draw a connection between our spiritual journeys and twelve-step programs. Step one - admit that we are powerless. In other words - admit that we need help.

We often focus in Judges on the fact that the Israelites strayed from God, which is true, but they also knew who to turn to in their hour of need. 

How are admitting we need God and salvation connected?

Prayer: Lord, we like to pretend that we can get thorough life on our own, but it is simply not true. When we are most honest with ourselves we can admit that we are powerless and are in need of your mercy and grace. Save us, we pray. Amen. 

Wednesday: “Sit” - Judges 4: 4-5

When the people of Israel would cry out to God, God would raise up a leader for them (often a military leader) who was called a judge. Enter Deborah. Deborah was different. She wasn’t a military leader. She was a spiritual leader who would accompany the military leader God would raise up. She was a source of wisdom for the people. Every day she would sit in the same place and the people knew that they could come to her. 

Deborah was known as many things. A spirited or fiery woman. A source of wise counsel.  A leader. 

Do people know where to seek us out as the people of God? How would people describe us? As a follower of Christ? As a source of wise counsel? As one who would pray for them?

Part of Deborah’s leadership was being the prophetic voice that people didn’t even know how much they needed at the time. She was appointed at just the right time and positioned herself to be available in a way that they people knew they could come to and receive a word from the Lord. 

How can we make ourselves available to people in the world today?

Prayer: Lord, it often seems like the world is in a whirlwind. We have stuffed calendars and are juggling so many things. Remind us to keep space in the margins of our lives to encounter people and be available to them as sources of your truth and your life, we pray. Amen. 

Thursday: “The Lord Your God Commands You” - Judges 4: 6-7

  If Deborah was the spiritual leader, who was God raising us to be the military leader? Barak. Son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali. Deborah summoned him to come and hear the word of the Lord for his life. That God was commanding him to go and through him God would defeat the Canaanites.

But Barak wasn’t sure. 

He knew how big the Canaanite army was. Knew of their strength. We don’t know how old Barak was or how long he had been under occupation either. We just knew that he wasn’t keen on the idea.

He didn’t come straight out and say no. He said he would only go if Deborah went with him - expecting him to say no.

We encounter time and again in scripture examples of people who were faithful to the call of God. But we also see countless examples of people who struggled with the call or said no. Barak had no wiggle room in the call God was placing on him so he tried to back out of it, using other people as an excuse. But you cannot run from the call of God. 

  How do you respond to the call of God on your life?

Prayer: Lord, help us to boldly respond to your call on our lives with a resounding yes. Give us a spirit of courage to go where you are sending us. Use us we pray. Amen. 

Friday: “I Will Surely Go” - Judges 4: 8-9

  Deborah saw right through what Barak was doing. Instead of trying to find a work around the call as he had, she instead said yes, I will surely go. But there was a catch. Since Barak did not respond the first time with obedience to the call of God and because he had tried to place stipulations upon his response, the Canaanites would be delivered into the hands of a woman (Jael).

Notice that Barak still had to go.

Only now he would be remembered differently in scripture and in history.

Some day we are all going to reach the end of our lives and we will have to be accountable to God for both what we have done and what we have not done. Barak is an example of what happens when we do not do what God has called us to do. 

How will you be remembered someday?

Prayer: Lord, we want to be people who follow you with obedience the first time you call us. Set aside in us anything that may prevent us from following you. Amen.