ESOCS Devotional 21 August 2024 – Victory Belongs to God
MEMORY VERSE: “I will bring Sisera the commander of Jabin’s army, to fight you at the Kishon river. He will have his chariots and soldiers, but I will give you victory over him.” Judges 4:7 GNV.
TEXT: JUDGES 4:1-24
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.
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 [a]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 [b]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. 10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men under[c] his command, and Deborah went up with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite, of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh.
12 And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. 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, [d]“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. 18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a [e]blanket.
19 Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. 20 And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’ ”
21 Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. 22 And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.
23 So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel. 24 And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
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The fact that the Bible teaches that Christians should love their enemies and pray for those who despitefully use them does not mean that God does not deal or punish the enemy. The enemies of God’s people and God’s anointed do not go free. They get punished. But the execution of their punishment is in the hands of God. God directs and inflicts the injury.
In our text today, we see how Israel had suffered in the hands of Jabin for twenty years. Some of us have suffered from one act or omission of the enemies for sometime. In the midst of all these, all we have to do is to cry to God. The Bible says, “Jabin ruled the people Israel with cruelty and violence for twenty years. Then, the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help.” (Judges 4:3)
While we cry to God, we should be meticulous enough to recollect the past. Find out how you lived in the past and see whether there is a sin to confess and an evil way to change. For Israel, they had sinned against God (Judges 4:1). Thus, their cry was for mercy. What will you be crying to God for?
God does not fail to respond when we cry with sincerity and total submission. God raised Deborah a prophetess to help Israel in response to their cry. God can raise a helper for you today. Just reconcile and speak to Him in your prayers (Judges 4: 4-7).
While you expect God to act after you have cried, you must be ready to obey His voice whenever He speaks, going forward. Deborah spoke out and Balak obeyed the words of God. Jael acted accordingly when the ball got to her court (Judges 4:8-24). If we fail to act on the word of God relating to our problem, we have only chosen to neglect the solution to our problems.
- God is faithful to His word. Let us never neglect to live by it.
- Father, I have decided to live for you and be guided by your will. Help me, Lord, in Jesus name. Amen.
Further Reading: Ezra 3:1-end; Luke 7: 36-end; Acts 21:17-26
ESOCS Devotional 21 August 2024
