Despite Disobedience God Preserves
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Last week we looked at three times God intervened and raised Israel out of oppression. Not because of their repentance, but to preserve His people before they disappeared.
Now I don’t know about you, but when God does some miraculous thing in my life, I’d like to think that it strengthens my faith. I’ve had some pretty miraculous things happen.
My step-son was healed through prayer, money appeared in my bank account out of nowhere when it was desperately needed, feeding more people than we had food to feed, and so much more.
But I’ve never seen God wipe out overwhelming armies. How could you watch that happen and not see God?
There was no teaching their children of God when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. In other words there was no discipleship.
We are going to be covering chapters 4 and 5 today. It’s a long section so I’m not going to read the entire text. Instead I’m going to highlight certain sections of text.
Under Ehud Israel had the longest time between oppressions. Eighty years. I believe that was partly because Shamgar turned the Philistines back before they could invade Israel again.
Chapter 4 starts with a familiar and repetitive line. Let’s read the first few verses of Judges 4:1-3
1 When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord.
2 So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim.
3 And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.
The Hebrew word translated “children” here can mean descendent but it also carries the idea of being childlike or to be as a child. The idea of being like a child refers to the spiritual health of Israel.
The Hebrew word translated “again” implies adding more to or increasing. Israel didn’t just continue in their apostasy, they increased their apostasy.
You see there’s a big difference between having a religious reformation and having a true spiritual revival. A religious reformation is a temporary outward change of conduct. A spiritual revival on the other hand permanently transforms the inner character.
Religious reformation happens without any repentance needed or in most cases even wanted. Spiritual transformation requires full repentance.
How many times, after repeated offenses, have we asked our children something like “didn’t I tell you not to do that?” They say “uhuh.” Then you ask “then why did you do it?”
What’s the response we usually get?
“I don’t know!!”
How often are we like that with God?
God asks us “didn’t I tell you not to do that?”
“uhuh.”
“Then why did you do it?”
“I Don’t know!!”
We’re just like children when we do that. Israel was acting just like children when they “again did evil in the sight of the Lord.” Folks there are consequences for disobedience.
For Israel the consequences were that God gave them over to Jabin as if they were his own property. God allowed Jabin to do whatever he wanted with a helpless Israel.
The Israelites were “harshly oppressed” for twenty years. That’s the longest oppression to date since Israel failed to conquer Caanan.
The Hebrew word translated “harshly” implies an intense cruelty to the highest level one could imagine. Somehow they were content in this for twenty years.
Now that’s stubbornness to the core!
Have you ever been stubborn in disobedience? How about anyone you know?
We are all stubborn. We have some passionate thing that is disobedient to God. We may even be called out by friends and leaders in the church.
Instead of repenting and coming back to God we just keep doubling down on it. Each time we are convicted over it or are called out on it we just double down that much more.
Until… it gets so bad that we cry out for help. We may not even be crying out in repentance we are just crying out because we can’t deal with the consequences anymore.
That’s Israel right now. They keep doubling down, becoming increasingly more disobedient. Until the oppression is so terrible that they cry out.
They are helpless against at least 900 chariots. Imagine if you will, a group of untrained people with pistols and maybe some semi-automatic weapons going up against a well trained army with the most advanced weaponry at their disposal.
That’s the position Israel found themselves in. And they were being ruled over by a wicked, ruthless tyrant who dealt with them in the cruelest of manners.
Once again God preserves His people despite their lack of repentance. Let’s look at verses 4-9
4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
5 And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
6 Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun;
7 and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”
8 And 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!”
9 So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
Now, we could have the conversation about one of the current controversies in the church today. Women in leadership of the church. I’ll make a couple short comments about it and move on because that’s truly not what this passage is about.
First, those who affirm women in leadership can say this passage points out the great leadership and authority Deborah has. She acted as a judge and prophetess.
So we then might ask the question, “is the Bible providing an example we should follow in the church?”
Second, those who are more traditional would point out how she has great leadership and authority. But it’s to the shame of Israel that the men wouldn’t step up and lead.
They might even point out Isa 3:12
Isaiah 3:12 (NKJV)
12 As for My people, children are their oppressors, And women rule over them.
Isaiah is speaking of spiritual maturity here not physical children. He’s saying the male spiritual leadership is so immature that God has raised women up to rule over them.
In chapter 5 verse 7 Deborah talks about how Israel had no spiritual leadership until she stepped up as a mother in Israel.
7 The villagers ceased in Israel; they ceased to be until I arose; I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel.
Now, I’m not advocating one way or the other. But, it’s important to understand that, at this specific time, Israel was a male dominate society and they truly wanted spiritually mature male leadership.
Now that I’ve muddied the waters of that controversy even more for you, let’s get back to our current passage.
In verses 6 and 8 we get a glimpse of the lack of faith and immature leadership we just talked about. Deborah asks Barak:
“Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor?”
You see God had directly promised Barak victory. What is Barak’s response? Let’s look at verse 8 again.
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.”
Doesn’t that remind you of a child going to school for the first time? Mommy I want you to come with me and hold my hand. Right?
Where’s the faith? Where’s the trust in God?
It’s no different today. How many times have we felt God call us to do something and we won’t do it unless we get someone else to come along with us?
It happens all the time in churches everywhere. People will come up to the pastor or elders and say “hey, I feel like God wants me to start this ministry.”
I would tell them that sounds like a great idea, you should get it going. Almost every time they wanted me to hold their hand and get the ministry going for them.
Have you ever done that?
I’m a firm believer in the fact that if God gives you a ministry it’s your vision and your ministry. It’s your responsibility to do what God calls you to do.
I’ll help where you need help, but I can’t do for you what God calls you to do. That’s what Barak is doing with Deborah.
God has called him to deliver Israel from their oppression and he wants Deborah to hold his hand through the process. He has more faith in Deborah than in God. He’s a spiritual child not a spiritual leader.
None the less, Deborah steps up and goes with Barak. Barak leaning on Deborah’s faith and he projects that on to 10,000 men he brought with him.
Leaning on Deborah’s faith they step out in their faith to see God destroy 900 chariots and give them victory. Doesn’t that sound a lot like the elders who were with Joshua, the elders who had “seen” God’s work?
Barak and the 10,000 do the same thing in Judges 4:13-16
13 So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon.
14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
15 And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot.
16 But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.
17 However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
God gave victory to Barack and the 10,000 who were with hi. However, Barak was denied blessings due to his disobedience. It would have been considered the crown blessing for the leader of the conquering army to capture and/or kill the commander of the other army.
Instead God gave that blessing to another woman named Jael.
24 “Most blessed among women is Jael, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Blessed is she among women in tents.
It’s important to understand here that the blessings are spiritual blessings, not worldly blessings. We far too often associate blessings with worldly values.
In order to see the spiritual blessings we must be focused on the Lord. We must have unwavering faith in the Lord. Barak did not have unwavering faith.
God directly called him to take 10,000 men to Mount Tabor and promised victory. Barak in his childlike spiritual immaturity trusted more in Deborah and her faith than in God and his own faith.
Even after the victory in chapter five it is Deborah who stands as the mature spiritual person. Barak praises God because of the victory that came vicariously through Deborah’s faith.
15 And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; As Issachar, so was Barak Sent into the valley under his command; Among the divisions of Reuben There were great resolves of heart.
It’s also important to understand that chapter five is about praising God for the victory. It is God in His grace and mercy that provided the victory over Sisera with his 900 chariots and Jabin.
4 “Lord, when You went out from Seir, When You marched from the field of Edom, The earth trembled and the heavens poured, The clouds also poured water;
5 The mountains gushed before the Lord, This Sinai, before the Lord God of Israel.
6 “In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, In the days of Jael, The highways were deserted, And the travelers walked along the byways.
7 Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel, Until I, Deborah, arose, Arose a mother in Israel.
8 They chose new gods; Then there was war in the gates; Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.
9 My heart is with the rulers of Israel Who offered themselves willingly with the people. Bless the Lord!
Imagine 900 chariots sitting along the river waiting to go into battle. Then a flash flood of epic proportions comes roaring down the river either washing away the chariots or bogging them down in swampy mud rendering them useless.
Even in Barak’s disobedience, his lack of faith, God brings victory. God faithfully preserves His people and upholds His covenant. Preserves for the time when He will provide the ultimate sacrifice.
How do we do the same thing? We only step out when others are willing to go with us. We only follow God’s calling when another we trust is willing to take the lead.
Now correct me if I’m wrong, but we all claim to have complete trust in the Lord. We all claim that we believe God can do anything. Am I right?
Then why do we hesitate when God places something on our heart? Why do we seek others whose faith we trust, sometimes more than our own?
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we shouldn’t validate and verify what God puts on our hearts. Otherwise we’d be jumping into every whim that comes along.
However, our spiritual condition should be mature and not childlike. We should have some understanding of whether it’s the Holy Spirit prompting us or our own selfish desire.
That’s the difference between experiencing God’s work in our lives and seeing God’s work being done around us. We must be experiencing God’s work in our lives.
And unless we want the church to be like Israel during the time of Judges, worshipping other gods, we must disciple our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We must show them how to experience God’s work in their lives.
Much like Israel during the time of Judges, God preserves His people in the church today, despite our disobedience. God has brought huge revivals to the church over the last 2000 years through imperfect, disobedient people.
We could use a revival in America right about now, don’t you think?
We can only do that if we step out in faith. If we want the revival to be a lasting revival we must focus on discipleship. Forget numbers, forget the idea of how we grow the church.
Be faithful.
Sounds simple right? Be faithful!
It’s all God has ever truly commanded. In our faith comes:
Complete trust in Him.
Deep, passionate love for Him.
Having His love for others.
How many churches, how many Christians have you heard say they have all those things?
How many times have we claimed to have those things ourselves?
And we do!
For the most part.
Until it comes time to follow the Holy Spirit’s prompting.
Then all of a sudden that complete trust begins to get a little shaky. Fears and doubts creep in. Suddenly “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” becomes some mythical fairy tale.
Listen, if we were like Deborah, complete and full trust in the Lord, there would be no fears or doubts. Deborah had no idea how a bunch of foot soldier were going to defeat 900 chariots and a bunch of highly skilled soldiers.
She just knew God said go and He would hand them a victory. She experienced God working in her life.
We need to do the same. Stop worrying about how it can be done and have complete trust in knowing God will provide. For Israel, He provided a flash flood that wiped out the chariots.
For us He will provide whatever it takes to go and do whatever He calls us to do. Our job is to simply be faithful!!