Get The Point by Robin Densmore Fuson

 

Most often, we think a sidekick stands ready to help at any time. They stand nearby. What if a sidekick is actually a fair spell away? Our series is Sidekick and Better Half. I titled this talk, Get the Point.

Before we begin, I’ll open in prayer.

Father, thank You for Your vivid people who wage war if needed or sit quiet in prayer, listening to Your soft voice. Help us to learn from their lives as we strengthen our walk with You. In Jesus’ name Amen.

Today we learn from two women. Opposites in so numerous ways, but the same passion and courage run in their veins. The Bible doesn’t place these two individuals together at the same location but near enough to be fighting the same enemy.

The book of Judges, where we find our characters, is all about the cycle of struggle: oppression, a cry out to the Lord, an overcoming judge, followed by faith and obedience for a time.

Our specific judge is a unique woman in Judges 4-5. A woman of God, named Deborah. She sat under trees in Ephriam and helped people with their problems and gave them the Lord’s verdicts and praises. She was the go-to for word from the Lord. A prophet.  

The Israelites had fallen into sin and Jabin, king of Cannan, harshly oppressed the children of God for twenty years.

God saw Israel’s anguish and heard their repentant hearts as they cried out to Him for deliverance.  

A man named Sisera is the commander of the army for King Jabin. Sisera leads nine hundred chariots plus foot soldiers.

As the prophet of the Lord, Deborah had a word for a man named Barak. So, she summed him and said the Lord wants you to call out 10,000 warriors and the Lord will call out Sisera for battle. At the Kishon River, the Lord will give you victory over him.

There is the promise—God will fight for them.  

I think Barak was afraid. He said to Deborah, “I’ll go, only if you go with me.”

Now, remember, this is a woman, a wife, probably a mom. A judge not a warrior. She agreed, but she gave this tribute to her sidekick: Chapter 4:9 NLT “Very well,” she replied, “I will go with you. But you will receive no honor in this venture, for the Lord’s victory over Sisera will be at the hands of a woman.”

Deborah may not have known the woman she referred to. This woman is the amazing Jael. She is the sidekick from whom we will learn.

Jael’s husband, Heber, was a descendant of Moses’ brother-in-law, Zipporah’s brother, Hobab.

Heber’s family moved away from the ancestral tribe and made allegiance to King Jabin. It’s all about who you know for so-called protection and welfare.

All this happened so the players were in the right place at the right time.

Deborah helped Barak gather the fighters for this, meet up, with the enemy. God preceded Barak and caused a panic with Sisera and his army. Barak and his 10,000 warriors waged a fantastic battle and scared Sisera out of his chariot and he escaped on foot.

Fearing for his life, he ran into the wilderness. Jael held the tent flap open and surveyed the lone man, weary and out of fuel. She went out and met him and enticed him into her tent. Sisera thinks it is safe because her husband is known to be friendly with King Jabin.

He thinks she is one of them. Although married to an unbeliever, she still stands alone before God. Her faith is what matters.

She arranges a place for Sisera to hide under the covers. He asks for water and she gives him milk. The perfect hostess. He is welcomed, pampered, hidden. I picture her singing a lullaby to lull him to sleep.

Snores.

She smiles.

Though not a warrior, a strong woman, who is used to the nomad life of pitching tents and pulling up stakes. She takes the worn, useful tools in her hands. The peg in the left and the hammer in the right and executes the man through his temple to embed into the ground.

He got the point. God will win the battle.

Barak realized Sisera had escaped and looked for him. Jael left the tent and found Barak and took him to discover the enemy he searched for.

Jael, the unsuspected warrior for the Lord of Hosts and a sidekick of Deborah, prophet of the Lord. What a duo they made.

These women were brave. They stepped out of their comfort zone to do the unheard of. The unthinkable. They cast away fear. They put on courage. They had the ‘do whatever it takes’ mentality in following the Lord. Jael opposed her husband’s allegiance to the wicked king.

Jael did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and got the recognition and her name appears in the lines of a song of victory in Judges 5:24-27, which says,

“Most blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. May she be blessed above all women who live in tents. Sisera asked for water, and she gave him milk. In a bowl fit for nobles, she brought him yogurt. Then with her left hand she reached for a tent peg, and with her right hand for the workman’s hammer. She struck Sisera with the hammer, crushing his head. With a shattering blow, she pierced his temples. He sank, he fell, he lay still at her feet. And where he sank, there he died” (Judges 5:24-27 nlt).

 Barak had to conquer his fear even though he had the guarantee of a win against the enemy. He used a crutch, so to speak, by bringing Deborah with him. Because of his lack of complete trust in the Lord, he lost the recognition of the winning strike to his foe. If Barak would have said, okay, I’ll brave the unknown and follow where the Lord leads, he would’ve gotten the total victory. He would’ve chased down Sisera and killed him, himself.

This story begs us to take stock of our courage. Take its temperature. Is it high? Or do we just do the easy things for the Lord so we can check off the boxes? Do you do the difficult? Do you speak out for the Lord? Are you telling people about Jesus? Do you pray in public? Do you teach others? Feed the hungry? Battle unseen foes? What if the Lord asked you to go to another country to share your faith in Him? What about starting a bible study in your home for your neighbors? Become involved in local politics?  What is the hard thing the Lord is asking you to do? He doesn’t want us to live comfortable, but purposeful. He calls all of us. What is your calling? What are you to do for the Lord?