"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might ..." (Ecc. 9:10). Tent peg aside, there are examples here of decisive action. JUDGES 4:1-24 If ever a chapter needed not to be read as a method to follow, it’s this one. Tent pegs have a different role in the church’s relations with the world today. Deborah and Jael both act with what God has given them: Deborah uses her influence and acts with the shrewdness to compromise her plan, and the integrity not to compromise God’s word of prophecy. Jael acts with wisdom, alert to the opportunity that God made. Deborah is full of what the Bible means by wisdom: God-fearing savvy. She knows how people work, how society gathers around the powerful; she understands the egos of the men of Israel. She can flex when she hears Barak’s conditions, though they conflict with her own scheme. She is unyielding when she has to deliver a prophecy from God, though it means rebuking the man of power. To the one she listens with obedience; to all others she both listens and speaks as a consequence of listening to the first. The first task of the Christian leader is to know who to listen to. Jael uses her wits, seizing the moment and, thus, the hammer. Sisera is a tired fugitive, alone in a hot and hostile land, who happens upon a friendly face. He wouldn’t have suspected Heber, much less his wife whom he figured he could order around a bit. He wouldn’t even have known what was happening. Jael is quick-thinking, brave and demonstrates a deeper loyalty to the Lord’s people than to the friendship with Jabin of her husband’s clan. No wonder the next chapter prays "Most blessed of women be Jael" (Judg. 5:24). Her wisdom is not the ponderous and hesitant apology for wisdom that we often display: fear dressed up as caution and falsely labeled virtue. She acts fast because the moment demands it. Apply: Deborah acts with shrewdness and integrity. Jael acts with wisdom. What life lessons can you learn from these women who acted with shrewdness, integrity, and success? Pray: Lord, grant me the wisdom to use what You provide and to seize the opportunities that You create for serving You. Through the Bible In One Year: Ecclesiastes 8,9 / 1 Timothy 1 (Scripture Union/Encounter With God)
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 10:49:09 +0000
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