Thursday, September 24, 2015

Judges 5 - Giving Recognition

Recognition is a double-edged sword. When we have done rightly and have accomplished something of significance we love to receive recognition from among our friends and colleagues. We thrive when our counterparts see the good we have done. When we have done wrongly however, we hope and pray no one notices. To notice all the wrong we have done would ruin our reputation among our peers. 

This is one of the reasons unbelievers have such a hard time coming to faith. It is when we recognize that we are thoroughly sinful and God has seen it all and has pronounced judgement on that sin that we have to abandon any hope of maintaining our own reputation. Our only hope is based on the reputation of another. There is no room for pride at the foot of the cross. 

Deborah in her song presented in Judges 5 lists the source of her help and calls out those who chose not to stand with the nation in battle. First, she acknowledges that the source of victory is God himself. Verses 1-5 are a praise to God for the way he acted to secure Israel's victory. We should always take time to praise God for his hand in our lives. Not only does He offer salvation, but He is active and at work in the believers life.  It is God who gains the victory for His people. 

Secondly, she gives credit to the tribes who came to help and to all the willing volunteers who offered themselves to stand against the enemy who had treated the people so cruelly. 

She then calls out the tribes that chose not to engage the enemy in verses 15-17, forever having their reputations tarnished among the nation.  Why did they choose to stay home when their brothers were on the battlefield standing against an enemy vastly stronger than themselves? 

The heroine is recognized. Jael was thought to be a friend of Sisera. So many things could have prevented her mission. And the task was so brutal and violent. Not what you would expect from a woman, but in the last few chapters you see the men choosing not to stand up as leaders and leaving the tasks to the women. Not God's chosen plan, but in this case the women are lauded for their bold acts. 

We see in the final section another woman highlighted. Sisera's mother, looking for his return chooses to delude herself into thinking he is only delayed because of the great victory he must have won. The world relies on it own strength and even when it is not trustworthy it looks to delusions to help reinforce its thinking. One day all the delusions will be gone and Jesus will stand before the world in judgement. Ther will be no more opportunities to repent then. Our world view should be grounded in truth and our trust should be in the strength God supplies rather than our own. 

In the end, we can choose the path of Jael, taking on what might be hard and brutal tasks in obedience to the Lord or we can be like Sisera's mother placing all her faith in a man who could not save and deluding herself to assure herself that her faith was not misplaced. You can operate in the Lord's strength and wisdom or your own. 

In the end the nation enjoyed peace for forty years because of God's mighty victory for the people. We can enjoy peace for eternity because of God's victory over death and sin. All we have to do is accept the free offer of salvation. Will we give recognition to the source of our victory?

May God richly bless you as you seek Him  and as you serve Him. 


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