Scripture Daily

Context No. 2308 of 4322 · Judges

Context · Reflection

Judges 4:1-7: in context

1The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, when Ehud was dead. 2The LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles. 3The children of Israel cried to the LORD, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years. 4Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time. 5She lived under Deborah’s palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, “Hasn’t the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded, ‘Go and lead the way to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? 7I will draw to you, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.’”

When Israel is oppressed by Jabin king of Canaan, whose commander Sisera has nine hundred iron chariots, God raises up Deborah, a prophetess who judges Israel. She summons Barak and delivers God's command: has not the LORD commanded, go and gather ten thousand men at Mount Tabor? And she adds God's promise: I will draw Sisera and his chariots to the river Kishon, and I will deliver him into your hand. God's command to fight comes joined to his promise to give the victory.

What stands out here is that God's command is joined to his promise. God does not merely command Barak to go against a stronger enemy and leave him to manage the outcome; he commands and promises together: go, and I will deliver Sisera into your hand. The command comes with the assurance that God himself will accomplish what he calls Barak to do, drawing the enemy out and giving the victory. Barak is not sent to attempt the impossible on his own; he is sent with God's promise to bring about the deliverance. This is a pattern in how God calls us. When God commands us to do something, especially something beyond our own strength, he does not leave us to accomplish it alone; his commands come joined to his promise to work in and through us to accomplish what he calls us to. God's callings are not tasks he sets and then abandons us to; they come with his promise to bring about the outcome. It is God who works in you, Paul says, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. When God commands, he also enables and accomplishes. This gives us confidence to obey God's commands, even the daunting ones. We can hesitate to obey what God calls us to, especially when it seems beyond our strength, fearing that we cannot accomplish it. But God's commands come with his promise: I will deliver him into your hand. We go in obedience not trusting our own ability to accomplish the task, but trusting God's promise to bring about the outcome. He who calls you, Paul says, is faithful, who will also do it. The One who commands is the One who accomplishes; and so we may obey with confidence, resting on his promise. This calls us to obey God's commands trusting his promise to accomplish what he calls us to. God commanded Barak to go against Sisera and promised to deliver the enemy into his hand; and God's commands to us likewise come joined to his promise to work in and through us to bring about the outcome. When God calls us to something, even beyond our strength, we are called to obey, not trusting our own ability but his promise to accomplish it, going forward as Barak went, in obedience to God's command and reliance on his promise to give the victory. God's commands come with his promise; and we obey trusting the God who both commands and accomplishes what he calls us to do.

When God calls me to something, especially something beyond my own strength, do I hesitate to obey, fearing I cannot accomplish it, or can God's command to Barak, joined to his promise, I will deliver Sisera into your hand, teach me that God's commands come with his promise to work in and through me to accomplish what he calls me to, so that I obey with confidence, trusting not my own ability but his promise to bring about the outcome, as the One who commands is also the One who accomplishes?

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