Our text for this morning is in Judges 4 starting at verse 1, turn there with me if you would. The period of the Judges is a dark time in Old Testament history. A few weeks ago we studied guiding principles for leadership in the life of Joshua and the fulfillment of the conquest of the land God promised to Israel. The period of the Judges happens historically after that time when Israel takes the land of promise west of the Jordan that we read about there. But after the death of Joshua a problem arises in Israel, a problem of faithfulness to God. There is a pattern in the book of Judges that goes like this: The people of Israel would do what was evil in the sight of the Lord, they would cry out to the Lord for deliverance, God would raise up a leader; a judge, more of a military and spiritual leader than a judge as we would think of it, someone to deliver and govern the people, and these judges were raised up by God to deliver the people from the consequences of their evil in order to point them back to God, to turn the peoples hearts back to the Lord.
In Judges 4 Israel finds themselves in the same problem and in the same cycle, but this time they have an additional problem, a reluctant leader; a man named Barak; God’s purposes would be fulfilled in Barak’s life, God would have his way but what it would require was another leader, someone to come alongside Barak, someone who was not concerned about credit, or prestige, but someone who was concerned with obedience, willing to be a leader to a leader and vocalizing it, a woman named Deborah. As we continue in our series Everyday Leaders, Deborah was to Barak what we all need at some point in our lives, someone who was willing to be what we often need, the right voice in our lives at the right time.
Let’s stand together as we read from God’s word in Judges 4:1-10, hear the Word of the Lord.
1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD after Ehud died.
2 And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.3 Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment.6 She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun.7 And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?”8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”
9 And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.10 And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him. – Judges 4:1-10
May God be glorified as we proclaim his word and respond in obedience to what he is calling us to as we study this morning.
As this story unfolds in the typical cycle of the Judges period, we see Israel doing what is evil in the sight of God, they are doing evil, they have turned from God and as is God’s pattern in this cycle, God allows hardship, he ordains consequence for sin, for turning from him. But up to this point in the Judges narrative the pattern was simple, we do evil, we have consequences, we cry out, God provides a deliverer.
But in this instance there is a problem, the deliverer is not showing up. They are waiting and he is not there. We need to be very clear about what is happening in this passage, Deborah is not the deliverer that God raises up in this passage. She has not been called by God to deliver his people.
We know this because of how the conversation goes between Deborah and Barak. Look at verses 6-7 Judges 4:6-7 (ESV)6 She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. 7 And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?”
Deborah’s lead in with Barak helps us put the puzzle pieces together here, she says has not the Lord commanded you. Do you see what is happening? Barak had been called to be the deliverer of Israel just like those who had gone before him, Deborah wasn’t called to deliver Israel, Barak was but he was not willing to do it. Deborah in this section of the text is telling Barak something he has already heard. When she says has not the Lord commanded you, what she is saying is, “God has already told you this, I’m not giving you any new information, I’m just retelling you what God has already told you.” Barak would not listen; so God says it to Deborah so she can tell it to Barak and remind him of what he has heard and what he needs to be obedient to do.
Move 1: We Need People Who Will Challenge Us toObedience to God
Barak was reluctant, for reasons we aren’t fully given, but there are some clues to his reluctance. Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army is the tool God is using to oppress Israel as a result of their disobedience, but this oppression comes in a way that no one had ever seen before. According to the text, Sisera had 900 iron chariots. This was a technological innovation the world hadn’t seen before, ironwork wasn’t done in this way and an oppressive tool that struck fear into the Israelites in the way of an iron chariot had never been seen and we can only presume it had an impact on Barak’s willingness to be obedient to God. No one had ever seen an iron chariot before, this was a new military innovation and not only was it a new, diabolical innovation used for oppression, it was something no one knew how to combat.
From a human perspective, I can only empathize with Barak. I’ve never seen an iron chariot, quite frankly other than movies I’ve never actually seen a chariot. My context for chariot knowledge is limited to Ben Hur and artist renditions, but honestly the thought of an iron chariot sounds absolutely terrifying to me. This sounds like an Ancient Near Eastern tank and Sisera had 900 of them. I get why Barak would be reluctant.
I can also understand why Barak might be reluctant possibly because of the cycle Israel is in. He may be saying to himself, “What’s the point? We are just going to do this again and again, nothing is ever going to change.”
Then there is of course the third option…he just didn’t want to; God said, “Barak go be a deliverer” and Barak said, “No, I don’t want to”.
Friends, let me ask you; have you ever found yourself in any of these positions?
No God, this is going to be too hard, I know what you’ve said and it’s going to be too hard.No God, this is the way it is, we’ve seen this before and you and I both know that even if I do this, nothing is going to change.No God, I don’t want to!
Can I just tell you right now, there is no excuse for disobedience; none of these fly. None of these or the hosts of other reasons for disobedience that we could possibly come up with fly. None of them fly for you, none of them fly for me and none of them flew for Barak.
For whatever reason, maybe one of these, Barak was not willing to do what God told him to do and as such, Barak was walking in disobedience and Deborah was not willing to let that stand. She was not willing to allow Barak’s disobedience to go unchecked. God exposed Barak’s disobedience to Deborah and now she had a choice; continue the cycle of disobedience and leave Barak alone to figure it out; and let the people suffer even though God has clearly provided a means to deliver them, or go and call Barak out and challenge him to be obedient to what God has clearly spoken.
Deborah chose the latter. She knew that the consequence for Barak and the consequence for Israel was such that her own relationship with God demanded that she challenge Barak to do what God called him to do.
Deborah is calling Barak to the idea we see in Proverbs 3:5 (ESV) 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
Yes Barak, I know this is going to be hard, I know the people keep doing this, I know that 900 iron chariots are terrifying, but you know what is even more terrifying, disobedience to God. Trust in the Lord and what he has said, not on your own understanding for how it will work out.”
But Deborah being able to do this, to challenge Barak to obedience, necessitated something. If Deborah was going to call Barak to obedience there was something required of her that we also need in our lives.
Move 2: We Need People in Our Lives Who Are Listening to God
If Deborah wasn’t called to be the deliverer of Israel, which we’ve seen clearly from the text, what exactly was her role in Israel? The text tells us very clearly. First, she was a prophetess, her role in Jerusalem was one of listening to God and responding according to what God would speak. You see in order for Deborah to serve Barak, for her to be able to guide Barak to the place of obedience; to what God called him to, to serve the overarching purposes of God, she had to be very clearly listening for what God was doing and what God was speaking. How did she know what Barak had been called to? How did she know what God had spoken to Barak and how was she able to relay that she knew? God had to tell her and she had to be listening. It is of particular note here that Deborah does not try to fulfill or occupy a role not assigned to her; she doesn’t try to do what Barak was called to do, she fulfills her role and what she was called to as prophetess and what we see here is a woman who is hearing clearly from God and because she is listening clearly to God speaking, she is able to challenge Barak to obedience.
I think Barak understood that, personally I think that is why he insists on Deborah accompanying him into battle with Jabin and Sisera’s armies. Was Deborah going to fight? Not according to the text, in fact if we were to continue to read this narrative as it plays out through Judges 5 Deborah doesn’t fight at all in fact, other than the victory ballad sung in Judges 5 here is the only other thing we hear from Deborah (ESV) 14 And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the LORD has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the LORD go out before you?”
He didn’t need Deborah to fight with him, he didn’t need the accolades. She told him, he wouldn’t get the glory and he went anyway, it wasn’t about that. He needed someone who could hear and speak and confirm God’s word in his life.
I think the reason Barak wanted Deborah with him was because he knew he had someone who was willing to listen and respond to God and his track record, insofar as we know it, is that he wasn’t someone who did that. He needed someone with him who would listen and respond to God.
He had seen in Deborah a woman who listened to God and what he needed from her while on the battlefield was for her to continue to listen and speak on behalf of God in his life.
How did Barak know Deborah was listening to God? Deborah confirmed what God had already spoken to him. That is the very nature of a prophet. If she had been a false prophet and had not been clearly listening to God there would not had been confirmation but rather confusion.
Friends if someone claims to have heard from God on your behalf and it does not confirm something God has clearly spoken to you or if it contradicts something God has already said elsewhere, particularly in his word…RUN!
If someone claims to speak on behalf of God and they clearly are not, don’t ever listen to them as an authoritative voice God is using in your life ever again.
Jeremiah the prophet saw this very clearly in Jeremiah 23:16 (ESV). When faced with those who claimed to be hearing from God, he spoke this way: 16 “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.”
And here is the not so remarkable reality; it isn’t hard to hear the voice of God. You don’t have to be a prophet like Deborah to hear the voice of God. He is speaking. He is speaking through the pages of this book. Deborah and Barak didn’t have this, they had to rely on the confirmation of what God was speaking to both of them and if it lined up with the character of the God they knew.
We don’t have that problem, we have the voice of God here speaking to us…are we listening and are we surrounding ourselves with people who are listening? Is the dominant voice of counsel we receive in this world the voice of people who have an all consuming passion to know and respond to the Word of God. If not, don’t listen to them, not as it pertains to being an authoritative voice on behalf of God in your life.
This is what Barak needed from Deborah, someone who was listening and would challenge him to obedience, and look at what happens as a result, the entire community was impacted. Israel is rescued from the oppressive hand of Jabin and Sisera through the listening of one person willing to respond and challenge one man to obedience to God.
Bottom Line: The RightVoiceCan Make All TheDifference
Who are the people you have in your life who have permission to be a Deborah to you? Who are the people in your life you are being a Deborah to? Listening to God is not nearly as hard as we make it, we all have access to the same voice, the same book and people who are at different places in their walk with God who have been listening for years who we can surround ourselves with. If your diet of God’s word is limited to this 30 minutes on Sunday mornings that I am speaking to you, you are missing out, you’re not listening. We need people in our lives speaking the word of God into our lives on a regular basis. There are no shortage of competing voices for your attention, Who are the dominant voices in your life? Are you listening to feel good memes and sayings on social media, are you listening to people who are peddling a version of God that has been crafted by this world, but that don’t even remotely resemble the God who has been clearly spoken of by men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit?
But hearing only goes so far, Barak heard and was disobedient until Deborah came into his life to challenge him. Who are the people in your life who have permission to challenge you to godly obedience? All the worldly wisdom told Barak don’t go, don’t do it, but godly wisdom and a challenge to obedience is what he needed and Deborah did that for him, who has permission to do that in your life, to challenge you to do the hard thing that God is clearly calling you to do, but not only challenge you, but to be like Deborah and be willing to go with you to fulfill obedience.
That’s what you need, that’s the kind of community we ought to strive to be, people who are listening to God, responding to God, challenging each other to godly obedience. That is what leadership is, the right voice at the right time, it can make all the difference.
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