I’m continuing with my posts about ladies in the Bible several ladies used on Mother’s Day
Lady #1- Mary of Bethany
Lady #2- Tamar
Lady #3- Sarah
Lady #4- Lydia
Lady #5- Hannah
(The links to the previous 5 ladies can be found in the May 18 post found here)
Today is Lady #6-Deborah
The book of Judges contains many interesting stories of many great people. The book opens with the Israelites doing exactly what they were supposed to do: go against the inhabitants of Canaan and take the land. In 1:27 we find the first hint of failure to be obedient-the tribe of Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants. Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali and Dan followed suit. In chapter 2 an angel of the Lord was very blunt about their disobedience.
After Joshua died (110 y/o), it says in 2:11 the people of Israel “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Thus began a cycle of disobedience; captivity; crying out to God for deliverance; a judge would do God’s bidding and bring freedom; faithfulness to God would last as long as that judge was alive; disobedience; captivity…you get the drift…the cycle would start all over again.
Judges were raised up by God to lead His people to freedom. Othniel. Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Samson to name a few. Wait a second. Did I say Deborah? A woman as a judge? Yes. Deborah was a prophetess and a wife and a judge. She used to sit under a tree giving judgment on matters involving the Israelites. She told Barak that he was to go against Sisera, the invading general, but his fear led him to say, “If you go with me, I will go, but if not, I won’t go.” (4:8) Because of those words, Deborah told Barak she would go, but Sisera’s death would come at the hands of a woman. Long story short: Jael drives a tent peg through his skull as he hid (and fell asleep) under a blanket.
Deborah stands out, not just because she was a woman in a man’s world, but because she chose to trust. Jael received praise because she fulfilled Deborah’s prophecy of a woman being given praise for the death of Sisera.
Trust is not limited to one sex…obviously. Obedience to God is not limited to one sex either. Yes, Deborah was a woman in a man’s world, but in God’s economy, serving Him is all important and is not dependent on sex, color, status or any of the other qualifiers we use in our world.
As someone has said, “God is not so much interested in our ability, but our availability.” Like Deborah and Jael: BE AVAILABLE!
Availability goes a long way when you are available for God… I continually struggle with over committing. I continually struggle with filling my schedule in an effort to be useful, but often times for things that really have minimal to no eternal consequence. I seriously need to take a step back and determine what in my life needs to go. I have relied on my “ability” for way to long and lost the opportunity to simply be available.
I think we all struggle in some way with being available Ryan. We have adopted the mentality of “I’d rather burn out than rust out” and it has made us frantic when it comes to our walk. We all need to be Mary’s from time to time and not Martha’s.
A big amen here, Bill! God does want us to submit to and be available to Him, no matter what. That’s the only way we can grow into the full stature He wants us to embrace.
Blessings!
For sure Martha. When we learn it the better we will be.
Deborah could have easily just followed Barak and not gone into battle. Deborah wanted to follow God, and be a faithful servant even if it meant taking honor away from her husband. She was trying to get the Israelites to repent and follow God’s way instead of their own way. She kept telling the Israelites God’s message, she did not bend the message to please them in any way she wanted them to hear God’s truth so that they could be saved and live a life pleasing to God. Deborah did not bend to the culture she wanted the culture to bend to God.
She stands as a good example to us of not bending to the culture but being willing to do what God wanted. She was, as you said, tireless in getting her message to the Israelites.
Praise God, He will use any vessel that is willing to surrender to living out His holiness in this world! There is no respect of persons with our Lord.
Absolutely true Cheryl! I’m glad He chose to use me in my limited capacity to serve Him.