Day 67, or March the 8th. Don't miss out like
poor old Barak. Our thoughts today are from Judges
chapter 4, verses 6 and 7. She, that is Deborah,
sent for Barak, and said to him, The Lord, the
God of Israel, commands you. Go take with you
ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun, and
lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera,
the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots
and his troops, to the Kishon river, and give
him into your hands. Now the big picture surrounding
these verses. The book of Judges covers approximately
400 years of Israeli history, and is dominated
by a group of leaders called Judges. They ruled
the land until kings were appointed. The first
judge we hear about following Joshua was Othniel,
whose uncle was Caleb, one of the two spies who
went to Jericho. He defeated the Assyrians and
was succeeded by Ehud, who defeated the Moabites.
The next judge was Deborah, the only female judge
that we know about. She was called to defeat
the Canaanites after the leader of the army,
Barak, went to her for help. Events kept repeating
themselves. The people sinned and were conquered
by a neighbouring power, but each time God sent
a judge who conquered the oppressors and brought
peace. However, when the judge died, the people
soon slid back into their old sinful ways, and
God sent another judge to free them. And so the
cycle was repeated. And now our action step for
today. If you look at a list of judges you will
find Deborah but not Barak. Sadly, Barak was
called but preferred to see Deborah respond.
God gives us free will so we are able to respond
positively or negatively. We are not puppets
so we can miss out on what God has for us. Many
people in our churches are unfulfilled because
they have rejected the call of God. If they have
responded to the call for salvation, then they
are saved, but they often go on to be frustrated
and unfulfilled and wonder why. Check with God
today about His call on your life. Do it now.
Why risk losing out for another day?