by R. Herbert | Jun 14, 2015 | Updates, Women of Strength
Most people have heard the expression “fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee!” – but ancient Israel’s most famous woman warrior, Deborah, whose name in Hebrew means “bee,” can be said to have “flown” like a bee and “stung” like one, too!
Deborah led Israel for 40 years (Judges 5:31) as the fourth “Judge” of the pre-monarchial era around the 12th Century BC (a century or so after Israel’s settlement in the Promised Land), when Israel was ruled primarily by warrior leaders. She was, in fact, the only recorded female Judge, and it is easy to see why she qualified for the position. Deborah was not only a prophet used by God to foretell things such as the outcome of battles, but also she was clearly a strong, competent and inspiring military leader who acted quickly and decicively.
Judges chapters 4 and 5 tell us that Deborah lived in the hill country of Ephraim, which was in an area controlled by the Canaanite king Jabin of Hazor (perhaps a descendent of the Jabin Joshua fought), who had oppressed the Israelites for 20 years. The Book of Judges states that Deborah received instruction from God and summoned one of Israel’s great warriors, named Barak, telling him to deploy 10,000 Israelite fighting men on Mount Tabor to confront King Jabin’s general, Sisera, who led an army including 900 iron chariots. We do not know how many foot soldiers Sisera commanded, but the chariot was the tank of ancient warfare, and Sisera’s force was vastly superior by that fact.
Nevertheless, Deborah did not hesitate: “Then Deborah said to Barak, ‘Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?’” (Judges 4:14). Despite the apparent odds, on Deborah’s unflinching command the Israelites met and completely defeated the Canaanite force, and the victory is celebrated in Judges 5, often known as the “Song of Deborah.” The Bible itself gives few details of the battle, though Jewish tradition has it that torrential rains bogged down the heavy Canaanite chariots in mud, rendering them useless against the attacking Israelites. This providential help may be implied in Judges 5:4, and the Bible does mention another detail of the battle. The defeated Sisera fled his army on foot and came to the tent of the woman Jael and her husband. Jael was able to trick Sisera into letting down his guard, then struck him through the temple with a sharpened tent peg (Judges 4:17-21).
What is clear from the biblical record is the reluctance of many of the Israelites to fight when the time was long overdue to fight and the hesitancy of even the leading warrior Barak who would not fight unless Deborah accompanied the troops (Judges 4: 8). These details contrast starkly with the bravery and willingness to fight of both Deborah as military leader and Jael as front-line fighter. Both women are portrayed as true warriors who led and fought without hesitation. If there is a lesson to be learned from the story of Deborah, it is exactly that willingness to act.
Battles of any type, physical or spiritual, are lost by hesitation. Had Deborah not been close enough to God to receive his guidance and then willing to go to war immediately she knew what had to be done, she would not have been able to seize the opportunity to route her enemy when the enemy could be defeated. It is a spiritual principle as true as the physical principle of battle – delaying what we know we must do only allows our enemy to become stronger. Deborah knew and fought by that rule and, as a result, with God’s help she was victorious and gave Israel forty years of peace, security and freedom – some of the very qualities that spiritual victories bring as well.
by R. Herbert | May 31, 2015 | The Life of Jesus, Updates
Have you ever tried to make a deal with God? I don’t mean in a blatant way, such as “If you give me what I want, I will obey you,” as most of us understand this would be wrong. But there are more subtle ways in which we can sometimes unknowingly stumble because of what might be called the “If” mentality.
“If” is a small word with a great potential for misuse. In fact, according to the four Gospels, many of the spiritual attacks against Jesus were based on this diminutive word. Satan’s temptations of Jesus at the beginning of His ministry show us one of the ways in which we can be lured by an “If” mentality. Notice the wording: “If you are the Son of God command that these stones be made bread … if you are the son of God throw yourself down … if you will fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:3-8).
When we study these temptations in detail we see Satan repeatedly used the word “if” with the implication that if some action would be for a good purpose, then it is justified. This is the underlying attitude that we too may have in suggesting that God do something for what we feel is a good and necessary goal. We should always remember that even if it is for a good purpose, the ends do not justify the means unless they conform to God’s will.
Later in the ministry of Jesus we see the word “if” used in response to him in numerous other settings. We see it, for example, in the demands of the Jewish leaders: “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly” (John 10: 24), and we should be careful not to fall into this particular “If” trap, also. Jesus had performed many miracles and signs throughout Judea, yet the Jewish leaders wanted him to confirm the signs for them – to see them with their own eyes. We need to be careful to be attuned to what God is doing in our lives and the things he is wanting us to be aware of. We should not tell God how to get a point across to us any more than we should suggest that we will only hear if the message is conveyed in a manner we think is “proof” to us.
The Gospels record the “If”mentality manifesting itself all the way down to the end of Jesus’s life. Some of those present at his crucifixion, including some of the rulers and chief priests, said: “If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him” (Matthew 27:42 NKJV). Here, we see the attitude of “if” in its most raw and rebellious form – “If God does what I think is necessary, I’ll respond as I should.” This is not far from the attempts to make a deal with God that we mentioned as we began this discussion. There may seem to be “nothing in it for us” in some of these circumstances – but we still try to make God conform to our will, our conditions for obedience.
In every one of these cases and many more in the ministry of Jesus, the word “if” was used in a manner which sought to impose another will, another viewpoint, on that of God. We see it in the attitude of the self-righteous Pharisee who said “if he were a prophet, he would know who and what manner of woman … touched him” (Luke 7:39) and in dozens of other places. We must always remember that God’s way is not one of a number of options for which we can negotiate. There is truly only one kind of “If” mentality that is right and proper in our relationship with God: the attitude that Jesus himself exhibited throughout his earthly life – the attitude of “If it is your will…” (Matthew 26:42).
by R. Herbert | May 25, 2015 | Growth, Updates
An excerpt from our free eBook on Christian encouragement: Some Days We Soar. You can download the book without cost here.
H
ave you ever had a friend thank you for something that you perhaps were not even aware you did? Sometimes I think spiritual life can be like that, too. It’s easy to be aware of our failures and the many areas in which we want to grow and to miss the fact that growth is taking place. God does work changes in those who desire and ask for transformation (Psalms 51:10, Ephesians 4:22-24), and perhaps if we walked with Him much more closely, growth would be more obvious, but that doesn’t mean growth is not taking place because we do not always see it. Think about the disciples for a minute. By the time of the last evening of Christ’s life, probably every one of the disciples had exhibited enough human faults, failures, fumbles and foibles to indicate to them all that perhaps they hadn’t learned that much from their teacher. We might think of Peter’s many mistakes, but others even wanted to bring down fire from heaven (Luke 9:54), and it looks like they were all arguing about who was the “greatest” among them on that last evening (Luke 22:24). Additionally, Jesus probably knew that they would soon sleep as he agonized in Gethsemane, that they would all soon desert him, and that even the most dedicated among them would deny knowing him. Yet despite their track record of failures and little apparent growth, Luke records Jesus as making an amazing statement regarding the disciples at that last Passover meal: “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials” (Luke 22:28). It seems that Christ did not judge the disciples on their failures to date – or even those he knew were coming up soon – but on the right things they had done, on the areas where growth had taken place. He saw it in them even if they perhaps did not see it themselves. It’s like the Parable of the Growing Seed that Jesus had given earlier in his ministry:“This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4: 26-29). This is a time-lapse parable like the time-lapse videos that speed up time to show plants growing and other slow-changing things happening before our eyes. But the good news is that just as the farmer in the parable does not see or comprehend it, the slow-growing plant is growing nonetheless; and that, Jesus said, is how the kingdom of God grows. Once we come to understand this we can be encouraged that growth is growth no matter how small it may seem right now. And that helps us to focus on the value of every small – even seemingly insignificant – advance we make. Each right decision, each right choice, adds up, no matter how small it may be. As C.S. Lewis wisely wrote years ago in Mere Christianity: “Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of.”
by Staff | May 15, 2015 | Bible Study, Discipleship, Updates
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by Staff | May 13, 2015 | Updates
It’s almost here! Our new Christian eBook is almost ready for publication and we hope to release it in the next few days. As with all our eBooks, it will be completely free, and you will be able to download it without registration or other complications. What is it about? Check our
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by R. Herbert | May 10, 2015 | Family, Updates, Women of Strength
A few months ago, the research and polling agency Barna Group published their most important findings from the surveys they conducted in 2014. Those top findings included a fascinating (one among many) survey that looked at the satisfaction and stress levels of mothers – with children still at home – compared to other women.
The image snip below (part of Barna’s graphic summarizing the survey) shows a few of the survey’s findings we felt were particularly interesting. It shows, for example, that while most mothers tend to be a little more dissatisfied with the balance of their work/home life than other women, they are significantly more stressed (80% as opposed to 72% for all women), tired (70% as opposed to 58% for all women), and overcommitted (56% as opposed to 48% for all women).
These statistics are informative and interesting at any time, but they are perhaps especially relevant for us to consider on Mother’s Day. Barna’s research shows clearly and empirically that motherhood does indeed involve sacrifice. The additional stress, tiredness and feeling of over-commitment faced by the majority of mothers is something we need to keep in mind as we celebrate Mother’s Day. All too often the potentially deep appreciation we should all show on Mother’s Day is muted by well-meaning but perhaps inadequate store-bought cards and other forms of ritual acknowledgment.
This is not to say that motherhood does not bring its own rewards. It does, of course, and most mothers are happy to make the sacrifices they do. But when we consider the ongoing and very real nature of the sacrifices made by so many mothers on a day-to-day basis, we should perhaps look at this day a little differently. Barna’s excellent survey reminds us not just to see Mother’s Day as another day on the calendar – like birthdays and anniversaries – to send a card, but to see it the way we should: as a day in which we honor those who so often sacrifice for their families.
You can see the survey and Barna’s other top findings here.
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