Judges 4-5 record the cycle of judgment and release of the Israelites with the Canaanites. The Canaanites subjected Israel to slavery for twenty years. Then two leaders arose who God used to break the cycle of slavery: Deborah and Barak. Deborah challenged Barak to take the lead, because God would be with him, but Barak was unwilling to go into battle unless, Deborah went along. Thus, Deborah received the most glory in the battle, or I should say the second most. The LORD received the greatest glory as we read in Judges 4:15: 15And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. Judges 4:15 (ESV) The mercy of God toward the Israelites is incredible. Time after time they abandoned Him, yet He continued to fight for them. In this battle God used Deborah, and another woman, named Jael, to overcome the enemy. Chapter 5 contains “The Song of Deborah,” which recounts the victory.
We would think this great demonstration of God’s power and mercy would have caused the Israelites to follow Him out of gratitude for their freedom from slavery. Not so. Chapter 6 begins with the familiar statement, “The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD the gave them into the hands of…. This time it was Midian who subjected the Israelites to their rule, but once again it was not the power of Midian that caused this to happen. It was the judgment of God. When the Israelites cried out to God for deliverance, God sent a prophet to remind them how God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt and established them in the Promised Land. He also reminded them of the LORD’s command for them to obey Him, and no other gods. They had disobeyed.
But once again, God’s heart softened toward the Israelites and the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon. He told Gideon the Lord was with him. Gideon’s responded, “Please, sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” Judges 6:13 (ESV) How often our perspective leaves out our part in our circumstances. We can see why it didn’t seem to Gideon that the LORD was with them, but Gideon wasn’t seeing the Israelites role in their situation. Their sin was the direct cause of their situation. Even so, God had come to call Gideon to overthrow the Midianites.
Gideon’s call involved two important acts: First, Gideon tore down the altar of Baal. The people of the town wanted to kill Gideon for doing that, which shows how entrenched they were in forsaking God. Gideon’s father reasoned with the people, so they spared him. Second, Gideon asked the Lord for two, separate signs that it was really He who was calling him. You have probably heard the expression, “putting out a fleece.” It comes from Gideon’s request the the LORD confirm His intention to use Gideon, by making the ground dry and a fleece wet, or a fleece dry and the ground wet to show it was God. God gave both signs to Gideon and as we’ll see tomorrow, Gideon took leadership as Israel’s next judge.
As we return to John 13, the time is nearing for Jesus’ death. As we know, Jesus washed the disciples feet, the ultimate act of servanthood–next to dying on the cross for them and all of us! He gave them them the command to love one another. He told them one of them would betray Him. The detail in that experience that always troubles me is not a single disciple was certain it wouldn’t be he who denied Jesus. Peter asked John to have Jesus tell him which one it would be. Also, John tells us when Jesus identified Judas Iscariot, but giving him a piece of bread to eat that “Satan entered Judas.” What a chilling statement. Satan can only be one place at one time. We read often in the gospels of demons entering people and possessing them, but this what not a mere demon entering Judas–Satan himself entered Judas to ensure the betrayal of Jesus would take place. As we consider our lives as Jesus’ followers, how important it is not to become to sure of ourselves, or too sure that we will never deny or forsake Jesus. Only in the power fo the Holy Spirit do we have the power to remain faithful in every situation. Let’s call on the Holy Spirit to fill and empower us right now, that we will remain faithful whatever today’s circumstances bring us.