Sing Out-It’s Ok

Judges 5

Have you ever watched a show that broke out into a song, Disney films are renown for that. You could be watching Beauty and the Beast and all of sudden cups and a candlestick are singing. At the end of the movies there usually is some happy ending and with that happy ending means a song. Now some of you may be all about those movies, good for you and I know when our kids come I will need to be too. Now besides movies have you ever been so excited about something that you just sang about it? Just wondering…

Here in this chapter we see something that was common to the Israelites when God has delivered them from the hands of their enemies, a song breaks out. This is the song of Deborah and Barak after God had delivered the Canaanites into their hands and the people are free from the bondage of the enemy. 

A Cool Song

We see throughout the Bible many recorded songs and they are not all just in the book of Psalms. Remember we read after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea all safe from the pursuing Egyptians and God let the walls of the water fall on them they broke out in song (Exodus 15). Singing is a very special privilege and it shows that we were created to sing to our God. How cool is it that we can sing out loud to an awesome God as an act of worship. God is deserving of all of our praise, he has done mighty acts and will continue to do mighty acts for us and for his glory. Psalm 150 tells us to praise the Lord for all of his mighty deeds and according to his excellent greatness. This is what Deborah did, praised God for hiss greatness.

She praised God because the people actually took leadership. She praised God because he was the one that went out before them in battle and delivered the enemy into their hands. She praised God for the different tribes stepping up and fighting. She praised Jael who drove a tent peg into the head of Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army. She praised God for who he is and ends the song with this, “So may all of your enemies perish, O Lord! But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might.” 

You may have read this and say, “I don’t get how this could be a song.” “It is not that catchy.” We need to not think about the catchiness of the song but the words. God is great and greatly to be praised. There is no enemy to powerful for God. There is no enemy that he cannot overcome. Do you praise God for all that he has done? It was 1 Leper out of the 10 that came back and thanked Jesus for healing him. How appreciative are you for eternal healing? 

I talked with a boy on Wednesday night who was sharing how times are difficult at home. His dad lost his job, his mom same thing. He was somewhat freaked out because he did not know what to do. I told him to praise the Lord because God will not drop his promise of taking care of his children. He will give them everything they need to live. Be content in that and praise the Lord for his never ending promise. May we learn to do the same thing during good or bad. May we be able to sing out loud even when our plans may change but not for God. May we sing out loud for his never ending love and grace and mercy.

Full of Integrity

Judges 4

Do you have any habits that are bad? Maybe it is like not washing your hands or something like. We have habits all the time. They are either good or bad but we are full of habits. The weird thing with habits is that sometimes we do not even know when we do them because we are constantly. Sometimes it is important for us to be able to be aware of all the stuff we do.

In this chapter of Judges we see the same story again. Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died.

Deborah

This time Israel was under the oppression of the Canaanites. The king of the Canaanites was Jabin and he had 900 chariots. The chariot during this time was a very great advantage when it comes to war. It would be like infantry against a tank, the tank has a huge advantage. The king suppressed the people of Israel for over 20 years.

Deborah was the judge during this time. God raised her up. We see that she was wise as people would go to her to handle their problems and we see that she was brave as she was not afraid to even gather the troops and to go up to war. We do not see a woman taking the leadership role that much in the Bible but here is a woman who leads.

God delivered the Canaanites and the 900 chariots into Israeli’s hands. The general of the Canaanites got away and fled to the tent of Heber and Jael. Jael took Sisera into the tent and gave him water and he fell asleep. While he was asleep she took a tent peg and hammered it into his head. The Israelites were delivered from the Canaanites.

Stand strong in the Lord and do not waver left or right (Joshua 23:5). There will be people that will fall away and get distracted. There will be some that do not get distracted. There will be some that are called to lead and some that will not listen to that call. Deborah was there and not afraid to lead and to even go to war. She new that the Lord was the one who was in charge. We need to remember that our integrity is what needs to be what shines. In 1st Timothy 3:7 Paul tells Timothy to make sure that outsiders even look at you with respect. He was telling Timothy that even those that are not believers need to be able to see that you are full of integrity. How do your friends at school look at you? Do you act one way around them and then another around your church family? We need to be the same for the Lord whoever we around

Left-Handed Craziness

Judges 3

Have you ever wondered what was your purpose was on this earth? I also wondered that because I was left handed. You know it is hard being left-handed in a right handed world. Left handers smudge the ink when they write. They can not just pick up a mitt and play some baseball unless for some reason there happened to be a left handed mitt (A rare specialty). As a left-handed person you actually had to buy left handed scissors. Spiral bound notebooks were not very fun because the spiral would be in the way when you write on the right page. Even to play the guitar you need a left-handed guitar which costs double the price of a right handed one. Man oh man, I wondered why was I left handed. Today, I figure out that I am left-handed because left-handed people are better looking, smarter, and funnier than those that are right-handed (this may not be true but at least I think it). 

Today we are going to read about a couple of the first Judges that delivered Israel in the time of suppression from the different surrounding nations. 

Othniel

This man was raised up by God for the deliverance of the people of Israel. The reason why the people of Israel were in need of deliverance was because they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They served after Baal, and Asheroth (idols of the Canaanites). Because of this, king of Mesopotamia reigned over them for 8 years. They cried out to God for help and he raised up Othniel who was a relative of Caleb (see Numbers 14; 32:12; and Joshua 14:6) Through God using Othniel they were delivered from the king. He made war on the king and they were set free.

Ehud

The same cycle as before took place. All of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. The Lord allowed King Eglon, who was king over Moab to take over Israel. Again the people cried out for help and God raised up Ehud who was a left handed man. Ehud knew the trouble of being left-handed. Ehud was like an Israeli ninja because he assassinated King Eglon in his chamber and fled without being caught. He rallied all of Israel to make war on Moab and God was with them. 

Shamgar

Not much is said about this judge but that he killed 600 Philistines with an ox-goad. An ox-goad was about 10 feet long and about 6 inches around. It had a sharp metal tip and was used to prod and turn oxen. The other end was flat and had curved blade for cleaning a plow. With this farm tool, he killed 600 Philistines. The other part we see is that he served Israel. He was a good leader as he wanted to serve his country and not himself.

These men were raised by God at the right time to deliver the people from the hands of the enemy. You may be thinking what am I here for or what is my purpose and I wish I could tell you each in detail what you will be doing in a specific way. The only think I can tell you is to seek after the Lord with all your heart. When you do, you will see what your purpose is for. Ephesians 5:15-17 says, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

The Next Generation

Judges 2

When my wife told me that she was pregnant I was really excited. I was somewhat afraid because I know I am responsible in how I raise my children. I need to raise them up in the ways of the Lord and the reason is so that they may need to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and not depart from Him. In this chapter Joshua passed away and all the elders have died too. All that is left are a new generation that does not know the Lord.

Israel is Unfaithful

In verse 11 we read that this new generation did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They abandoned the Lord and served after the idols. They went after fake gods. These gods were what the other inhabitants worshiped. Because of this the Lord gave them into the hands of the enemy. This was a warning that Joshua gave them and Moses, but yet this new generation did not know or even listen. 

God Still Cares

God will raise up Judges to save them out of the hand of the enemy. Even though He did this but they still did not stop completely. They would stop when the time was bad but when they were delivered by God they would fall into the same cycle again. A generation that was delivered would die and the new ones would forget who God is and fall into sin again. 

We can be like this when it comes to sin in our life. We can get far into sin and get so far we cry out for help, God who is faithful will rescue us. But when life is good we can forsake God and fall into sin again and cry for help, God will rescue us. We need to not fall into this cycle which many Christians do. They all live for the Lord on days when they are hard, but when life is good they can forget God. Where do you fall into with that mold? Are you someone who follows after the Lord no matter when life is hard or good? Do you know that God is there when things are tough and when things are good? Do you know that God has our plans all laid out? Don’t be like the next generation that forsook God, be one that passes on the knowledge of the Lord.