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!