Has the Lord not commanded?

6 Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun;
7 and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”

Judges 4:6-7 (NKJV)

After the death of Ehud, the people of Israel disappointed again and went their own way, and this time put under service to Jabin, King of Canaan for twenty years. This time around, the Judge was the Prophetess Deborah. But what did she do?

We see in this passage that she waited to receive a Word from God after Israel had cried out to God, and she received the Word from God to deploy ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and Zebulun led by Barak. Even though a few other tribes later joined in as mentioned in Deborah’s song in chapter five. Barak was instructed specifically to lead with these tribes. 

This is a good example of how obedience to God sometimes looks like. Deborah and Barak didn’t bother asking questions, they moved swiftly to action. This isn’t to say there won’t be questions in your heart. Definitely, many times we have a lot of questions based on God’s instructions. But it is a man or woman of faith that has learned to obey first and ask questions later. Truth be told, many people who choose to ask questions on God’s instructions do so out of doubt while some do it to get clarity. But, in reality we have seen consistently in the Scriptures, to obey first, questions would be answered later if God desires, and some answers we may never know. It is always about trusting God, irrespective of how we think it could also play out.

Therefore, have you stayed enough with God on a request that He has given you instructions. What have you done about those instructions, or are you still sceptical about doing it? You are encouraged today to follow the instructions of the Lord. They may many times not make sense, but it is about trusting that God has got your best interest at heart and that He is going to bring beauty out of the ashes. One day, you will sit down and laugh at yourself at how you obeyed those instructions that didn’t make sense, but they all gave results that led up to where you are today. Our trust walk with God is a journey, and we must walk it each day with the help of God.

PRAYER

Father, I have ignored your instructions sometimes because my mind couldn’t understand them. Forgive me for my disobedience and help me to always do your word promptly as you speak them to me. I bring every situation in my life, my family and people around me, that you give instructions to me on what to do, and help me to obey them.