It's
really been a while since my last post. We're well into this year
working with these kids, and I'm still talking about last year.
In the next week on the list, we finally came to the first woman we specifically talked about in the series, and she was certainly worthy to make the cut. Deborah was a prophetess and the only female judge. In her time, the streets were empty; the villages abandoned. She became a mother to Israel during a difficult time. She called Barak, the commander of Israel's army to come before her. God had called Barak to fight Israel's enemies, but Barak had not done so yet. Barak needed a push from Deborah. “Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you...” Barak told Deborah he would go, but only if she went with him.
In the next week on the list, we finally came to the first woman we specifically talked about in the series, and she was certainly worthy to make the cut. Deborah was a prophetess and the only female judge. In her time, the streets were empty; the villages abandoned. She became a mother to Israel during a difficult time. She called Barak, the commander of Israel's army to come before her. God had called Barak to fight Israel's enemies, but Barak had not done so yet. Barak needed a push from Deborah. “Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you...” Barak told Deborah he would go, but only if she went with him.
I decided to paint a picture for the kids of
what this must have looked like. I compared one of their favorite
wrestlers (these kids love wrestling) to Barak, and one of our then
current leaders (a short, petite gal) to Deborah and told them this
would be like that petite gal bringing the burly wrestler before her,
saying “What's the matter with you? Go in there and fight that
guy,” only to have him respond with “Okay....but only if you go
with me.” What a wimp. The kids laughed. Barak was really
pathetic.At the end of the story, Deborah and Barak had defeated Sisera, the enemy commander, and Sisera was killed by Jael—a woman, just as Deborah told Barak would happen before the battle. Deborah and Barak sang (that would be the whole next chapter), and all was well.
I asked the guys to vote whether they thought Barak lived by faith, or didn't. The vote was an even split. The guys who voted “no” voted that way because Barak's faith was quite weak. The guys who voted “yes” did so because Barak obeyed—he needed convincing to obey, but in the end he did it. My vote would have been “no” as well, but Hebrews 11 names Barak as a person who lived by faith, so it would seem the Bible votes “yes.”
I told the guys two things to take away from this story:
#1) Don't underestimate/undervalue women. God made them in His image too, and He uses them to do extraordinary things.
#2) Even a guy with pathetically weak faith can be counted as a man who lived by faith, if he listens and obeys.
