ESOCS Devotional 30 August 2025 – Deborah’s Strong Leadership
MEMORY VERSE: “Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.” Judges 4:4 NIV
TEXT: JUDGES 4:1-21
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 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, “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.
Read Other ESOCS Devotional Here
The place of womanhood in home building, generational upbringing, church growth and nation’s development cannot be overemphasized. It is this vital position the women occupy that singled them out for celebration world over. As ESOCS sets the stage to showcase and rejoice with her own, it is imperative we look at the place of women in leadership and critically X-Ray the Deborah’s model, as a classical example of generational woman leadership that brought victory and breakthrough to the entire Nation.
The Deborah’s leadership model can be classified as follows:
Leadership is not just a position but ability: It is not a position that people occupy but ability that people demonstrate. It is not a title but a task backed with an ability. It is clear we note that a position does not make a leader but the leader makes the position. If we understand this, the struggle for position will cease. We will eventually start demonstrating great abilities as Deborah practically epitomized.
Leadership ability is one of the winning abilities on earth: The nation was practically under siege until leadership showed up – “Then I looked again at all the injustice that goes on in this world. The oppressed were crying, and no one would help them. No one would help them, because their oppressors had power on their side” (Eccl. 4:1).The lack of leadership ability makes a people losers. The Nation continued to lose to Jabin until Deborah arose in leadership.
Everyone is leading at one level or the other: Some led Nations, others institutions, organization, families but at least everyone is leading himself. It is when your leadership capacity increase that your leadership sphere also shifts. Deborah led from where she was.
- Leadership is not something that is forced, it flows: “If thou will go with me, then I will go: but if thou will not go with me, then I will not go. And she said, I will surely go with thee…” (Judges 4:8-9). It is funny when we see people try to lead others forcefully. They can never achieve any good results.
It is interesting to note that with Deborah’s strong leadership model, she had a generational impact that cannot be ignored, even in generations to come. Develop your leadership skill to be like Deborah.
CHALLENGES
- Never get involved in the struggle for any position at all. Don’t force yourself on people in the name of leadership.
- Invest time in word study, prayers, materials (books etc.) to develop your leadership capacity.
PRAYER POINT
- Lord, release grace upon us to provide for good and strong leadership at all levels in Jesus name. Amen.
FURTHER READING: 2 Samuel 6:12-23; Judges 5:1-7; 1 Corinthians 6:13-20; Revelation 22:1-17
ESOCS Devotional 30 August 2025
