Performing for an audience of One!
Scripture Read: Judges 4:6-9 Now she sent
and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him,
“Behold, the Lord, the God of
Israel, has commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten
thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun. ‘I will
draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and
his many troops to the river Kishon, and I will give him into your hand.’ ” Then Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but
if you will not go with me, I will not go.” She said, “I will surely go with
you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are
about to take, for the Lord will
sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak
to Kedesh.
Application:
Lord as we continue reading about Deborah, help us to not only see the
greatness of her character, let us determine to imitate those things in her
that please You. Deborah ignored the society she lived in; as far as how it
influenced her, she walked with God. She demonstrated her maturity that all
great leaders possess as she waited on God. Through 20 years of living under
the harsh rule of an idolatress King, she was faithful to minister until God
spoke and commanded her to help the nation of Israel to be delivered. In this
next section of scripture she reveals her humility. This is a character trait
that is essential in every leader, but many times is lacking. The limelight of
leadership can deceive the leader into believing that he or she is what is
important. The leader that possesses this quality understands what is important
is the plan of God and they have been privileged to be included in the
execution of that plan. They see themselves as an important part, yes, but only
because God has made them important. Deborah expresses her humility clearly in
her response to Barak’s response to her counsel. Barak failed to “step up” and be the
leader that God intended him to be. I will return to that thought in a moment,
but first I would like to celebrate what Deborah shows us.
Not only did Deborah
walk with God, waited on God, she also worked for God! No ego involved, she did
not put Barak down and tell him how much better she is. She made it clear to
him that he was missing what God had intended and due to that God will give the
victory to someone else! When we
think of Deborah working for God, with no personal agenda we should ask
ourselves: Am I doing this to be appreciated? When our agenda is His agenda appreciation is never the
drive. Sure it feels good, but just the knowledge that He is pleased is enough,
even if no one else appreciates it. Lastly the sad truth we must learn from
Barak is that many times we rob what God desires to do in our lives by our
unwillingness to just follow Him and do what He says.
Meditation Questions: How
important is it to you that people notice what you do and thank you for it?
When someone else is being honored, does that give you joy? When your name is
left out of a list of a group that is being honored, how do you handle that? Have
you ever done something that God led you to do and kept it a secret just
between you and He? How often do you take your agenda to God and ask Him to
mold it to His agenda? What does that say?
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home