Living With
Incomplete Victory
A Study of the Book of Judges
Sermon # 4
“Facing the Impossible.”
Judges 4-5
Some people are
unlikely leaders. On the surface they appear to lack all the distinctives that we
associate with greatness. David, for example was a mere Shepherd boy, a dreamer, who wrote
songs and played a harp – not qualities that we usually associate with a great
military leader. Yet God not chose him to be a military leader but to be the king of
Israel. Why? Because David possessed something even more important than military skill or
noble blood. He had faith.
This morning’s text will tell us how God
can do extraordinary things through ordinary people who put their faith in God. In the
time of the judges, a woman named Deborah was called by God to be the leader of Israel.
She did not have a lot of things to qualify her to be the leader of her people except she
had the same advantage as David. She had faith.
In Judges 4:1
we read, “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, ….”
It is a repetition of the same story we
have heard already in the book of Judges.
After the death of
a prominent leader, in this case Ehud, the Israelites once again did evil in the sight of
God. In reality they did three things they worshipped false gods, they intermarried with
unbelievers (in direct violation of God’s word) and they forgot God.
Because of their
sin, God permitted Jabin was the king of the Canaanites to oppress his people. This new
oppression was instigated by the very Canaanites whom the Israelites had failed to expel
from the land (Judges 1:30-33). Israel would continue to reap a bitter harvest for her
failure to completely obey God.
This Canaanite oppression was severe and
the commander of Jabin’s army was a Philistine named Sisera.
Today I want to share
with you three principles for Defining the Impossiblities of Life.
First, Impossibility Need Not Be Defined by What We
Consider Overwhelming Circumstances. (vv. 3-5)
The highways were virtually deserted.
Villages were likewise abandoned from being pillaged and robbed by the Canaanites. Humanly
speaking the situation is hopeless. Israel is outmanned, outgunned and out-positioned.
There is a biblical principle here that we
would do well to remember, seeming overwhelming circumstances are
not the measure of our situation, because calling out to God makes the impossible,
possible! So perhaps we need to ask, “What is it in your life that seems to be an
impossibility?” What is it that is bearing down on your life and keeping you
from living for God? This morning we are going to see that calling out to God, makes
possible the impossible.
The Impossible became Possible when Israel
remembered to call out to God. Finally in verse three we are told that Israel cried
out to God, but even it was to relieve their suffering not forgive their sin. “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.”
I believe God has a sense of humor. Israel
is in dire straits and God choose a new deliverer, named Deborah. Her name means “honey bee.”
We are first introduced to Deborah in verse
four where we read, “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.” ?
There are 900 iron chariots running around
and God has His deliverer “honey bee” sitting under a palm
tree in Ephraim, you have to admit this is hardly an awe-inspiring picture.
But in spite of her
less than awe-inspiring name, Deborah was obviously an exceptional woman – one of
only three prophetesses in the Old Testament (the others are Miriam, sister of Moses (Ex
15:20) and Huldah, a woman who spoke of God in the time of Josiah (2 Ki 22:14-20) –
and the only woman ever called by God to be a national leader of His people.
God revealed to Deborah that Barak (“thunder
bolt or lightning”) was to assemble and lead the Israelite army and draw
Sisera’s troops into a trap near Mount Tabor. Deborah was the only woman in the Bible
who ruled in Israel and gave military orders to a man, with God’s blessing.
Impossibility Need Not Be Defined by What We
Consider Overwhelming Circumstances and…
Secondly, The Possible Becomes Impossible When We Give
In to Fear! (vv. 6-9)
“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 ??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 ??deliver him into your hand?’??”
God chose the leader of His army, the place
for the battle and the plan for the army to follow.
At Deborah’s
revelation to Barak that he was to lead the army against the forces of the Canaanites, his
response was in effect, “Who me?”
In troubling times our
faith can falter. We forget that when God calls, he also provides. Barak felt inadequate
yet he recognized that the Spirit of God was upon Deborah. He needed the support of her
faith in God’s unseen power. Sometimes we hesitate and waste time looking for
tangible evidence that God is going to help us before we face our difficulties.
“An old woodsman once gave advice about how to catch a porcupine.
‘First, you drop a large washtub over him,’ When he was asked, ‘Why do
that?’ he said, ‘Well, the washtub will give you something to sit on while you
ponder your next move.’ Sometimes we’re not sure what to do next.
Missionary statesman
E. Stanley Jones told of a missionary who lost his way in the African jungle. He could
find no landmarks and the trail vanished. Eventually, stumbling on a small hut, he asked
the native living there if he could lead him out. The native nodded. Rising to his feet,
he walked directly into the bush. The missionary followed on his heels. For more than an
hour they hacked their way through a dense wall of vines and grasses. The missionary
became worried: ‘Are you sure this is the way? I don’t see any path.’ The
African chuckled and said over his shoulder, ‘Bwana, in this place there is no path.
I am the path!’
[W.
Gary Philips. Holman Old Testament Commentary. Judges and Ruth. (Nashville:
Holman Ref., 2004) p. 85]
There are times in our lives when we can’t
see how things are going to turn out. We pray and say, “Lord, I
don’t know what to do, what to think! Where should I go? How do I deal with this?”
The Lord Jesus then reminds us, “My child don’t forget, I am the path – the
way the truth, the life. Trust me. I have told you, I am always with you.”
Those are the times we need to remember that the Lord’s battles are always won
through faith.
How many of us have never come to a place
of useful service to God because we refuse every opportunity that has come our way? We do
not allow God to prove Himself to us or exhibit his power through us. If you think you are
called upon to face response-bilities that are beyond your capacities, then consider
Barak. This morning I want you to find something to write on, I want you to “write just
one thing you will at least try – to accomplish for the Lord!”
Barak refuses to go unless Deborah accompanies
him. He says in verse eight, “?If you will go with me, then I will
go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!?” If she will go with him, then he will go;
if not, he will not go! Why did Barak respond this way? Although Barak had faith
(Heb 11:32) it was a hesitant faith, at least a first. No doubt fear had to play a part.
Perhaps he feared that no one would follow him? Perhaps he feared that he lacked the
necessary leadership abilities? Some times we forget that God is not so much interested in
our skills as he is our wills, not so much interested in our abilities as our
availability.
Or perhaps he wanted to have the
prophetesses with him so that he could get divine guidance at any moment. The problem with
this is that God has already revealed what he wants of Barak, and he is reluctant to act
on what he already knew. When God spoke to Barak he told him all he needed to know. He did
not need any further instructions from God; he just needed to obey what he had already
been told. If you have God’s promise and know God’s will then it is time to
move forward by faith.
Barak is told where to
go, how many men to take with him, and even what tribes they are going to come from. He is
told how to provoke Sisera to attack, and then to descend from Mount Tabor to the plain
near the river Kishon and there God will deliver the enemy into Barak’s hands. There
is nothing more that Barak needed to know, he did not need Deborah to accompany him, he
did not need any further guidance. Neverthe-less he thought he needed Deborah to come
along with him so she consented to accompany him.
In verse nine,
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.”
Barak pays a price for his reluctance to do
God’s will. He will get the victory, but someone else will get the praise.
When we as Christians do not trust God
enough to step out in faith to follow Him we lose out on the opportunity for God to fully
work through us. And worse we may later find ourselves expending time and energy
hopelessly trying to make up the difference (v. 22a)
The Possible Becomes Impossible When We Give
In to Fear and…
Third, The Impossible Becomes Possible When You Put
God In the Equation!
“And
Barak called ?Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he
went up with ten thousand men ?under ??his command, and Deborah went up
with him. ?…. (?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, ….
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.”
From our text in chapter four we learn only that
the Israelites soundly defeat the Canaanites. Verse fifteen says “the Lord routed Sisera.” The word translated “rout”
means “confused, thrown into a panic.”
How this was accomplished was more fully explained in Deborah’s song of victory in Judges
5:20-21, “They fought from the heavens; The stars from
their courses fought against Sisera. (21) ?The torrent of Kishon swept them
away…”
The Canaanites were trusting in the might of
their 900 iron chariots to give them the advantage as they met the Israelite army. But God
created a rainstorm; that turned the plains into a sea of mud and caused the river Kishon
to overflow its banks. The chariots of the Canaanites thus became mired in mud and became
liabilities rather than assets.
It is interesting to consider that Baal the
Canaanite god was “the god of the storm.”
They claimed that he ruled over the forces of nature. God chose a means that fully exposed
the folly of this delusion. The god of the Canaanites was revealed as nothing more than
the impotent figment of the imagina-tions of the men who had created him.
It is not really the
Israelites who fought and overcame the Canaanites. The victory was entirely of the LORD. When Sisera saw that the defeat was certain, he
took flight, leaving his chariot behind and literally running for his life.
In verses seventeen
through twenty-one we are told of how Sisera fled from the battle and took refuge in the
home of Jael, who lulls him to sleep and drives a tent peg through his skull. For a leader
to flee from a battle was embarrassing; for him to be killed while fleeing was
humiliating; but to be killed by a woman was the most disgraceful fate imaginable.
At last Barak catches
up with Sisera but it is too late (v. 22), just as predicted by Deborah, he is cheated out
of the final victory by a woman with a hammer.
Ultimately the battle
was won and so was the war, “not by might nor by power but by
my spirit, says the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.” (Zech 4:6)
Conclusion
I want to conclude by just a brief
comparison of two men, Sisera and Barak. Sisera was a man who had a good deal of faith,
but in the wrong things. Sisera trusted in his own judgment. He trusted in his army. He
trusted in his 900 iron chariots. He even trusted in a woman named, Jael. And the result
was that Sisera died at the hand of a woman, with a tent peg driven through his skull.
Barak, on the other hand, was not a man of
great faith. He was reluctant to take on the Canaanites with their weapons and their
superior army. He refused to go to battle unless Deborah accompanied him. Barak did not
have great faith, but he had a little faith. His faith, small as it may be, was in God. He
obeyed God’s word as communi-cated to him through Deborah, and the result was that
God gave the Canaanites into the hands of the Israelites. His faith may have only been the
size of a mustard seed (cf. Matthew 17:20), but it was in God. Little faith, rightly
directed, is far superior to great faith in the wrong object.
Barak is one of those listed in the New
Testament “hall of faith” in the Book of Hebrews 11: 32, “And what more shall I
say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and
Samuel and the prophets. (33) Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice,
gained what was promised, shut the mouths of lions, (34) quenched
raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in
battle, put foreign armies to flight, …” (Hebrews 11:32-34).
The question may arise in our minds, “If Barak is listed in
the ‘hall of faith,’ then why is Deborah not named?” I think the answer is
found in verse 34. Barak was one who “gained strength in
weakness,” and “became mighty in battle.”
Barak was weak in his faith, and he became strong.
Impossibility Need Not Be Defined by What We Consider
Overwhelming Circumstances.
The Possible Becomes Impossible When We Give In to Fear!
The Impossible Becomes Possible When You Put God In the Equation!