God's Unseen Hand

God’s hand may be unseen, but His work is unmistakable… Judges 4-5 is a good reminder for us when we face circumstances, trials, or situations that God is present, God is working, and God is in control… even when we ask:

Where is God?

In Judges 4 the people of Israel are asking this…

But God is not absent from the narrative. He is sovereignly over the narrative.

How comfortable are you with God’s Sovereignty & His Providence?

Both are beautifully displayed in Judges 4-5.

God’s sovereignty means He reigns over all things.

He is over all, nothing is outside His rule

God’s providence means He wisely works through all things.

Simply stated, Providence is God’s sovereignty in motion or action!

We will look at events and various scenes through this narrative

NOTE: God’s sovereignty DOES NOT make Him the author of sin… He is sovereign over it but not stained by it. Mankind remains responsible!

A Simple Way To Remember:

God’s sovereignty assures me He is in control.

God’s providence assures me He is at work.

God’s goodness assures me I can trust Him.

I find that it is difficult to be comfortable with God’s Sovereignty and Providence as we drift further away from Him… We see in Judges 4:1 that Israel has drifted far from God AGAIN! [Cycle Slide] But look how God works and never ceases to have control as these events or scenes unfold…

Scene 1: An Impossible Situation

Judges 4:1–3

Jabin → King of Canaan

Sisera → Commander

900 iron chariots → overwhelming military superiority

Israel → oppressed 20 years

Israel Cries out to God… Where is God in all of this?

Jabin looks powerful

Sisera looks unbeatable

Israel looks helpless

… and God appears silent!

Humanly speaking, Israel cannot win this battle. This is important to understand… because when victory comes, there will be no question about who accomplished it.

Scene 2: An Unexpected Deliverer

Judges 4:4–10

We then see Deborah, a prophetess and judge.

She summons Barak and gives him God's command: Judges 4:6-7

Judges 4:6–7 NASB95

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.’ ”

God sends them out

God has already determined the victory

Before Barak marches… before Sisera mobilizes… before the battle begins… God declares the outcome… there will be victory!

Barak hesitates: “If you will go with me, then I will go…”

Deborah agrees but tells him the glory will ultimately go to a woman, removing the honor from Barak… Who is the woman? [sidebar]

A Woman Judge?

We need to acknowledge something here. Deborah is both a prophetess and a judge.

The text does not criticize her for that; in fact, she is presented as spiritually perceptive and courageous.

Nor should we caricature Barak as a faithless coward—Hebrews 11:32 remembers him among those associated with faith.

His faith here seems hesitant or dependent, but he ultimately obeys.

And we'll see something else: God is going to use both Deborah and another woman named Jael in remarkable ways.

Biblical male leadership should never cause us to minimize the courage, wisdom, or spiritual usefulness and contribution of godly women.

Scripture shows us how God uses these women mightily.

God is sovereign, Israel is in a disordered condition, human strength is insufficient, and God will accomplish His purposes through whomever He chooses.

God deliberately chose unexpected instruments so that no one could mistake who actually delivered Israel.

Scene 3: God Arranges the Pieces

Judges 4:11–16

We see what appears to be a random man: Heber the Kenite.

This is NOT random. (Remember this)

Heber has separated (moves) from the other Kenites and pitched his tent near Kedesh.

Heber seems to be one who rides the fence… (wherever it is greener)

Meanwhile Sisera hears Barak has gone up Mount Tabor and deploys his 900 chariots.

Everything appears to favor Sisera. Events look bleak for Israel

Judges 4:14 “Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand… ”

Judges 4:14 NASB95

Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hands;

“The LORD routed Sisera…” — 4:15

God determined the outcome. — 4:7 God determined the timing. — 4:14 God accomplished the victory. — 4:15

The text deliberately gives God credit.

But Judges 4 doesn't completely explain how He did it.… That's why Judges 5 is so important.

Scene 4: Behind the Curtain

Judges 4 tells us what happened on the battlefield. Judges 5 pulls back the curtain and shows us what God was doing behind the battlefield.

“Next week we're going to come back to chapter 5, because chapter 5 is Deborah and Barak looking back at these events and worshiping God for what He did. But I need you to see one detail today.”

Look at Judges 5:20–21

Judges 5:20–21 NASB95

“The stars fought from heaven, From their courses they fought against Sisera. “The torrent of Kishon swept them away, The ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. O my soul, march on with strength.

“The stars fought from heaven… The torrent of Kishon swept them away…”

Now suddenly those 900 iron chariots don't look quite so impressive.

If the Kishon River overflowed and the battlefield became muddy, Sisera's greatest military advantage became a liability.

Sisera trusted the technology of the chariot.

God controls the ground underneath the chariot.

Sisera prepared for Israel… He wasn't prepared for Israel's God!!!

Scene 5 — A Tent, Woman, & A Tent Peg

Judges 4:17–22 helps us start to see pieces fitting together… Recall Verse 11

Sisera abandons his chariot and runs. (stuck in the mud)

He runs to that “random” man’s wife’s tent... the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber. (Verse 11)

What looked like an irrelevant geographical detail earlier was actually God positioning someone exactly where she needed to be before Sisera ever arrived.

Jael welcomes him.

He asks for water; she gives him milk.

She covers him.

He falls asleep.

And the mighty commander who led 900 iron chariots is killed with one of the simplest objects imaginable: a tent peg or nail.

(Heber may have been an indecisive man wavering, but when it came to being decisive… his wife Jael “nailed it” )

Look at the instruments God uses:

Deborah — a woman, judge, prophetess Barak — a hesitant commander & 10,000 Israelites Jael — not even an Israelite woman, but a displaced Kenite woman A storm and river — forces Sisera cannot control. A tent peg — hardly a weapon of war.

And every piece arrives at exactly the right moment. Here is the magnificent irony:

Sisera has iron chariots. Jael has a tent peg. God has sovereignty over both.

And the tent peg wins… Not because the tent peg is powerful… RATHER: Because God is.

So… Where Is God?

We started with where is God? now looking back over the narrative we ask… “Where Was God?”

Answer… He was everywhere.

Judges 4–5 shows God sovereign over:

Nations — Jabin's power exists only as God permits it.

Armies — Sisera's 900 chariots cannot overturn God's decree.

People — Deborah, Barak, Heber and Jael all become participants in God's plan.

Nature — even the heavens and the Kishon participate.

Timing — “This is the day…” (4:14)

And especially:

The outcome. God says in 4:7… “I will give him into your hand.”

The battle isn't ultimately decided on the battlefield… God has already determined what He intends to accomplish.

Sovereignty: God is in control.

Providence: God is at work.

Goodness: God can be trusted

Are You Comfortable With A Sovereign God?

Maybe you're living in the twenty years, crying out to God… You're asking: Where is God?

You can't see what He's doing.

Nothing seems to make sense.

You can't see how this circumstance could possibly fit into anything good.

We don't trust providence because we understand everything God is doing. We trust providence because we know the God who is doing it.

I can’t stand here today & promise: “Everything happens for a reason, and eventually you'll understand why.”

Scripture doesn't promise that we'll understand every providential act in this life.

But you can know this: His throne is not empty, His character has not changed, and His hand is not idle.

His hand may be unseen—but His work is unmistakable.

And finish with Judges 4:23 “So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel.”

Judges 4:23 NASB95

So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel.

Not Deborah.

Not Barak.

Not even Jael.

God subdued Jabin.

God isn't limited by the instrument He chooses.

He can use a prophetess under a palm tree, a hesitant general on Mount Tabor, a Kenite woman in a tent, a swollen river, and a tent peg—

… and He weaves all of them together to accomplish exactly what He said He would do.

That's sovereignty and providence working together… and our God’s hand is still at work today!