Yesterday, we saw that God is with us at all times, and He wants us to be aware that He is with us. We must become more aware of His presence and maximise His presence in our lives daily. But, Gideon heard this same statement that God is with him, but he had a different reaction, just like many of us must have heard several times. Gideon asked the angel for proof that God is with him. He asked about the miracles the fathers spoke about, he wanted physical evidence of God’s presence. 

I remember watching a short video where a young lion cub was trying to stand its ground against a hyena. The hyena was almost on it before it suddenly turned back and ran away. The cub was trying to open its mouth and roar, but I saw behind it a large male lion charging in. Then it dawned on me why the hyena fled. It wasn’t the cub, it saw the lion coming. This is exactly the same way we are very feeble and powerless without the presence of the One who holds all power. 

Yesterday we saw how it is important to be aware of the workings of God in our lives. We saw it is easy to ignore many of the things that God does in our lives because they looked normal or like a product of luck or any other reason. But, we understand that God is at work. This is the foundation upon which Deborah writes her song, taking into account the things she had observed God do for Israel.

Yesterday we saw how it is important for us to always engage God’s presence by His Spirit in all that we do, and that we must not take the glory for ourselves as all glory belongs to God. This is what we see Deborah doing in chapter five, as she sings a song to glorify God for the defeat of their enemies and the victory that God has given to them.

Yesterday we started looking at the period when the Prophetess Deborah, was Judge of Israel, and how by obedience she instructed Barak according to the Word of God to lead Israel to battle against Jabin, the King of Canaan. Barak responded by saying that he will go, but on a condition. The condition is if Deborah was going with him. Why would he say this?

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?

After Othniel, Caleb’s brother, served as a judge over Israel for forty years, he died. This time again, the people of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab against Israel. He gathered to himself the people of Ammon and Amalek and defeated Israel, and took possession of the City of Palms. So the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.

Yesterday, we saw how God left some of the Canaanite nations, so that he might test Israel. This was a result of their very own choice to not fully obey God. As they continued in their disobedience, the Lord gave them up to these nations. The Lord strengthened the other nations, and they subjected Israel to servitude. This was a reminder of Egypt – where they had come from.

In Judges chapter 3, we see that God left a couple of the Canaanite nations behind because Israel was not faithful in driving them out. God had initially told Israel to drive out these nations, and they had failed to do so, instead they collected tributes from them. Therefore, God decided to use their very own disobedience as a medium of training for them. One might rightly say that it was a combination of both their choice and God’s will. 

The story of the Israelites here in the book of Judges is an interesting, yet fascinating one. Judges 2:11-13 shows us how rebellious, disobedient and godless the people became after the Elders were gone. They did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals and they forsook the Lord God. They did wherever pleased them and lived for themselves, even after all that God had done for them. As a result of this, the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So God delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.