Recovery Devotional 337 Of Mousy Men

JMD Devotional 337 Judges 4:1-9 Of Mousy Men

BUT AFTER Ehud died the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth-hagoiim [fortress or city of the nations]. Then the Israelites cried to the Lord, for [Jabin] had 900 chariots of iron and had severely oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time.

She sat under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. And she sent and called Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded [you], Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun? And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you at the river Kishon with his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him into your hand?

And Barak said to her, If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go. And she said, I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the trip you take will not be for your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.

13-15 Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even 900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him from Harosheth-hagoiim to the river Kishon. And Deborah said to Barak, Up! For this is the day when the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Is not the Lord gone out before you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. And the Lord confused and terrified Sisera and all his chariot drivers and all his army before Barak with the sword. And Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled on foot.

Men hate to be nagged; and they receive it with great irritation. But the essence of nagging is a reminder of one’s responsibilities. The irritation comes from the shame of knowing we should do better. Barak had to be reminded of God’s command, and had to be pushed and prodded like an old mule, and found sitting on his responsibilities again was told to “Get up and engage the enemy! (Fight like a man!)” God bless the women who courageously nag us; God have mercy on the weak men who need it! Feminine shoulders carry most churches because too many men are Baraks. Men are to be the spiritual leaders of their households; what kind of leader needs constant reminding of his responsibilities? How inspiring is that kind of ‘leadership’? We owe our wives and our Church and our Lord better service than this.

Dear God,

This has been hard to write because I have been there: passive, distracted, less spiritual, and sitting when I should be charging forward. Forgive the men of Your Church (and me) for failing to lead as men. I have also sometimes gone too far and lorded my maleness over my spouse: teach us servant leadership and help us to love, cherish and respect our wives and the women of the Church. They are worthy of great praise for carrying the load and covering our backs while we slept. Lord God, wake us up, help us stand; use our aggressive tendencies under Your Spirit’s control to further Your kingdom.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

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