Wednesday 11th December 2019 Prayer Devotion
Scripture Reading:- Judges 5:1-31
Topic:- Lessons From 4 Women Leaders In The Bible [1]
Text:- Judges 5:7
In Jewish culture, women were accepted in positions of leadership. And we find stories throughout the Bible of women who showed extraordinary leadership and courage.
A. Here, we take a look at the lives of four extraordinary women of faith who were used by God to help change the course of history:
1. Deborah A Distinguished Judge and Leader of Israel:
Deborah (Hebrew, “bee”) appears to have been a homemaker at the time she is selected for service to her country. Having no aristocratic lineage, she is identified simply as “the wife of Lappidoth.” Yet Deborah was the only woman in Scripture elevated to high political power by the common consent of her peers.
a. Though her homemaking responsibilities may have well taken a backseat during her service to her country, she described herself as “a mother in Israel” before she became a judge. See Judges 5:7.
b. This could be a reference to her own offspring or an expression of her spiritual motherhood toward every son and daughter of Israel.
c. In spiritually parched Israel, characterized by rejection of God and by a determination for each to do things her own way, Deborah displayed her leadership first as a counselor discussing and suggesting solutions to people with problems near her home. Judges 17:6; 21:25.
d. The civil court system was inept; the military was too weak to defend national borders; the priesthood of what had been a theocracy was impotent and ineffective. Normal life was no longer possible. And thus, Deborah rose to become a judge and eventually, a deliverer of her people in time of war.
e. In her area the despised King Jabin was harassing the Israelites. Deborah summoned Barak, from the tribe of Naphtali on the northern border, and ordered him to recruit an army of ten thousand men from his own tribe and the neighboring tribe Zebulun. Barak wavered, insisting that Deborah accompany him for the task (Judges 4:8). She not only joined the drive to raise an army but also suggested their strategy.
f. God had spoken in the past through his leaders Moses and Joshua, and now he was speaking through Deborah. In a mini-replay of the crossing of the Red Sea, the horse-drawn chariots of the enemy floundered and Yahweh came to her aid with a violent thunderstorm. The destruction of the Canaanite power was immortalized in one of the finest specimens of Hebrew poetry by Deborah and Barak, as they picture in a song of praise the events which led to victory for the people. See Judges 5:4.
g. Long before Deborah exercised her uncommon leadership and decision-making skills to save her nation in a time of trouble, she was a homemaker, a wife and mother in Israel. Her compassion had been awakened by the atrocities suffered by her people. She arose to make herself available, and she was victorious as she herself trusted God and then inspired others within her sphere of influence with that same trust.
Prayer Point:- Oh Lord God, make me a spiritual giant in You ,I refuse to be a dwarf in faith, in the name of Jesus Christ.
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