Bible Verse: “Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: “Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.”’”(Judges 4:4-7)
Scripture Reading: Judges 3:1–5:31
One of the greatest and most beautiful truths of the Christian faith is that it is never too late to change. Never too late to call on a gracious, faithful, and patient God. That is something for which we can never be thankful enough.
That’s not to say that there won’t be consequences for the actions we need to change. We may indeed have put ourselves and others into unfortunate situations. But we can always call on God.
When the snare had closed around Israel, and they found themselves subjected to oppression by the nations they had failed to remove from the Promised Land, they called out to God for deliverance (a chorus that repeats before every judge arrives on the scene in this book).
Judges begins with four judges who, through violent and bloody engagements, deliver Israel from their oppressors. The first four judges are relatively good success stories, except that for each one to arise, Israel had fallen away from faithfulness to God and been oppressed by their enemies.
Othniel (Judges 3:7-11) went to war and delivered Israel for a period of 40 peaceful years.
But then comes Ehud (Judges 3:12-30), and we are given our first glimpse into the reality that God’s use of someone does not mean they are perfect (or even good) people. With Ehud, we start to see that things in Israel are not just in a cycle of up and down but are deteriorating as a whole. We know this because Ehud is described as “left-handed.” While this may have been literally true, it is also an ancient euphemism for being deceitful, a trait played out in his story of delivering Israel.
Shamgar (Judges 3:31) follows Ehud, and we are simply told of his violence. The description of his weapon (an oxgoad) points to the violence of 600 Philistine deaths being all on his hands.
Deborah’s story follows that (Judges 4:1–5:31), and we are finally given a breath of hope. Despite the gruesome details of the death of Sisera (Judges 4:21), Deborah’s story is not tainted by the dark side of a judge. It is the women in this story who show courage and faithfulness compared to the men.
But Deborah’s story is the last real glimpse of hope the book of Judges offers.
Prayer: God, thank You for using broken and sinful people. Thank You that our sin does not impede Your plans or purposes. Help me to surrender to You so that You continue to form and re-form me after Your heart. Amen.
Reflection: God often uses unexpected people and events. Where have you seen God work through someone or something you didn’t anticipate? How does knowing that God may be working through a broken and bad situation change how you view things?
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