BREAKING NEWS: A woman murder's a man with tent peg and hammer

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Today's daily reading comes from The book of Judges. Follow along daily with this great reading plan!
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There is a messy murder.  A military leader is found dead in a tent with a tent peg lodged through his head!

 

My daughter Brittni dreams about being an FBI agent, studying criminal law when she is older is her greatest desire. I know she would consider this to be a great "Law and Order"  episode...  It has all the elements of a tight crime story:  political intrigue, warfare, bad leadership, good leadership, perhaps some romance, and a homemaker with her fingerprints on the weapon. 

 

Deborah and Jael we find these women in the book of Judges Chapter 4.
The book of Judges is short described the history of Israel from a theological and spiritual viewpoint.
God chooses Judges that are willing and divinely appointed to help in the control of Israels continued conquest. God works through people in a detailed plan. The book of Judges displays cycles of Israels Opression and deliverance in the land. In each short episode covering about 400 years a Judge was appointed to follow out Gods plan. In today's reading I came across an amazing woman that God appointed. Her name was Deborah. She was first a homemaker and then later rose to an elevated place of power by common consent of her peers! Her peers new she was a strong mom and probably set a great example in her MOP groups and community activities!

What an honor that God chose a woman to speak through and deliver people in a time of war.

What if I am a woman? Is not the God of ancient times the God of these modern days? Did he not raise up Deborah, to be a mother first and then judge Israel? 

                God has a plan and purpose for every faithful lady

 Lets look at this story a little closer.  Ms. up-front and Ms. behind-the scenes
(Deborah and Jael) 
 They work together as they placed their commitment to God above all else Deborah is called to a place of high-profile service, Jael seems content to be a homemaker, make that a tent maker.  God uses them both, It is amazing what two people can accomplish with God, a tent peg and a hammer!

The cycle in the book of Judges goes a little like this...

Israel forgets and sins
God sends judgment
In distress Israel cries out to God
God sends Deborah.  

It can look like this for us today

We forget and sin
God convicts our heart
In distress we cry out to God
God sends a "servant" to help us!

  In this situation God sends a woman to lead the nation.

 Some might say that there must have been no good men or surely God would have chosen a man.   Look at the track record of most of the men God chose and Deborah looks pretty good.  She is a multi-gifted woman.  She is described as a prophet, a judge, and a national leader—all while married.  
“Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading
Israel at that time.   She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided.”  (Judges 4:4-5.) 
As a prophet she spoke the word of God to the people.
 That was and is the essence of the prophetic gift.  As a judge she gave rulings to solve disputes, which as a homemaker tending her tent she was probably excellent at this.
 As a national leader she showed great wisdom, calling on the wisdom of others, assuring the week-kneed Barak that maybe he could do something for his nation, and instilling confidence in the nation that victory was at hand.

So lets wrap her up with 7 excellent traits

*She was a homemaker Judges 5:7
*She had a servants heart Judges 4:9
*She delegated task Judges 4:6-7
*She offered praise Judges 5:2
*She led with authority from God Judges 4:4
*Loved to affirm and motivate others of Gods great plan Judges 4:9, 14
*She was a respected leader Judges 4:8

What an amazing woman of God. She delivered Gods purpose through her obedience and servants heart.

 

Of all the national leaders we find in Judges, I think she is the most commendable.  Unlike most of the others, she is not recorded as having a lapse in faithfulness to God.  My conviction that women and men are called to share in church leadership is well known.  Deborah certainly gives me room to say more today.  Deborah is the only woman listed as a leader of
Israel in Judges, so some might say she was an exception.  She was an exception, with a resume more interesting and diverse than any other of the judges.  But she wasn’t the only woman God used with prophetic or leadership gifts in Israel.  There were Miriam, Huldah, Naomi and Ruth, Esther, Rahab, and more.  In a time when much of societal life was hierarchical and male-dominated, God had a better way. 

Sometime after Deborah, the Lord spoke so clearly through the prophet Joel: “I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”  (Joel 2:28-29.)  And that became glorious reality in Acts 2 on the Church’s first Pentecost.  But it was happening long before. 
 God chooses people for leadership in ways that confound us. He still works this way today.
 We wouldn’t have picked Moses, guilty of murder, to become
Israel’s deliverer in Egypt.  We wouldn’t have picked Abraham and Sarah, advanced in age and with some moral lapses, to bear the child of promise for the nation.  We wouldn’t have picked David over his older brothers, far more impressive than he, to be the king to unite
Israel.  We wouldn’t have picked Mary, barely a teenager and engaged to a quiet male, to carry the Messiah to birth.  We wouldn’t have picked Paul, devout Jew and a violent hater and persecutor of the Church, to become the great missionary to the Gentiles. Every single leader had a CHANGED heart and desired to follow Gods heart and ways!

We are all followers and, at various times, we may get to lead for a while. The one true judge in the book of Judges is God and God alone.  The one true leader of the Church is Jesus and Jesus alone.  The one true empowerer for serving is the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit alone.

This was Deborah's and Jael's true heart, God could trust them.

 

Deborah and Jael are two remarkable women. The base for our serving and leading is listening to HIM.

Look what happens and lets learn as modern woman how we can watch the ways of our household and DRIVE that peg into the enemy's schemes!

War is a thing God does not like.  People get killed, and that pleases Satan.  But, sometimes wicked men attack godly people, and God calls for His leaders to stand up and fight the enemy.  God wants good godly men to defend their homes.  When evil men attack the homes or land of godly people, then it is necessary for the godly men to kill the wicked men if they will not go away.  Wicked people have no rights.  
War today is not always fought for these reasons.  Some rulers go to war just to see if they can get something for nothing at the end.

Lets consider that lady Jael.  Did she get a sword or gun to kill Sisera? 
 Sisera was a commander and was attacking Gods people! 
 Ladies did not join the army in God's Israel. 
However... God works in unique ways and brought Sisera to Jael's home.  She fooled the rotten king, Sisera. She learned how to be a servant in Gods army with her great wisdom and strength! 
 She treated him real nice, and she tucked him in for a nice little nappy in her tent! CLEVER! 
She stayed home and took care of the home while Heber, her husband, was out trading in the marketplace or in the fields planting his wheat.  She had to pound those big tent pegs into the ground thousands of times.  The Kennite's tents were HUGE, and they lived in them the same way you live in your home.  They were NOT camping.  A tent could be fifty feet long and twenty feet wide, and the ropes and tent pegs were huge.  The wind would work the tent pegs loose, and they had to be pounded in over and over.  The harder the dirt, the better the tent peg would hold.  Are you starting to get the point?  Jael was no skinny little bit of fluff!

 

 

Jael had strong arms.
SHE HAD GUNS! 

Ladies, you should think about Jael.  God wants you to take care of a home, and you should be eagerly getting ready for the home God will one day give you.  If you do your work eagerly, you too will become physically strong and spiritually ready to do great things for God.
Jael used the strength she had.  She used the food in her kitchen.  She used the tools of battle she had- her mallet and her tent peg. She killed the enemy of Israel and of Yahweh!
God has given you the high calling of keeping a home. 

The enemy today masquerades around sneaking into all our homes. We need to stand on guard and use our biblical knowledge and truth to nail the enemy in the head when he arrives thinking he will sneak in our "Tents"

God wants us to be women of the word, strong and powerful.

We need to be on guard for:
Deception: Satan's most successful tool.  He wields this tool with devastating results.
Doubt: Makes you question God's word and his goodness.
Discouragement: Makes you look at your problems rather than God. Diversion: Makes the wrong things seem attractive so you want them more than the right things. (watch this with our children)    
Defeat: Makes you feel like a failure so you don't even try.
Delay: Makes you put off something so it never gets started or completed.

One of my favorite verses I would like to share is

Proverbs 24:3-6

New King James Version (NKJV)

³ Through wisdom a house is built,
And by understanding it is established;
⁴ By knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches.

⁵ A wise man is strong,
Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength;
⁶ For by wise counsel you will wage your own war,
And in a multitude of counselors there is safety.

 

Its not easy being a homemaker and working woman in today's society. It calls for much Wisdom and strength. This can only come from the Holy Spirit and your relationship with God.

 

What does the above verse mean to you?

How are you building yourself up in wisdom?

How are you establishing that wisdom in your home?

 

My oldest son was just saying to me that he does not want to have any kids because the world is so confusing and he is confused himself. I remind this young child of mine that God is at my side and the only way he will discover peace and purpose is with a heart abiding with God. Everything else will propel WAR and confusion.

 Toady's world has created so many little gods and those little gods CONFUSE!

Lets learn from Deborah and Jael how BIG God really can be to a heart that desires His goodness!  

 

Blessings and strength I pray over you today,