I’m going to use the story of a little unknown woman in the Old Testament to illustrate how we can allow God to use an unlikely victor to transform our lives only if we just obey His Word. Read about Jael in Judges 4:17-24.
You are what you worship. If we’re being honest a lot of people are worshiping things or people they know nothing about. And wonder why they are confused about who they are. I did unknowingly myself thinking horoscopes were harmless. Everyone was reading them, right? They are in newspapers, magazines and even online now. But they are not harmless. They tell you what to think, how to behave, what to expect. Even though stars can’t lead us. People still follow them. Before you think to say well we don’t know Christ because we can’t see Him but we can see stars. Why yes, we can know Him. He left behind teachings, the example of how to walk in this life and His Word for us to get to know Him more intimately.
Even though in Judges, Jael wasn’t a Jew she and her family lived around them. If you read in the Old Testament there were other peoples who lived around the Jews but were not. They observed and sometimes they imitated what they saw. And in this blog post I want to demonstrate how Jael imitated what she saw which helped usher in 40 years of peace for the children of Israel when Deborah was the Judge. We can take these lessons and apply them into our own lives. Things that seem out of reach yet they’re actually within our control.
Before we can apply those lessons there are two things we must acknowledge.
- Choose who or what you align with.
- God and you working together against your common enemy is the principle behind spiritual warfare.
What is spiritual warfare? Conflict in the invisible spiritual realm simultaneously fought in the visible physical realm. Satan may have power but he does not have any authority. We’re not fighting for victory but fighting from a position of victory. Believers already are victorious. The moment Christ rose from the dead, we became victorious because Jesus conquered death. Remind yourself of that.
So now that we have acknowledged these two imperative thoughts, let’s dive into these 5 lessons I learned as I was reading about Jael’s story in Judges chapter 4.
Seize Your Opportunity
4 We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.
John 9:4 (AMP)
When the Holy Spirit prompts us to act, we usually don’t have long to think. Whew, if I can scream anything this is it. I have known to do or not do things but I chose to do what I wanted. Also during the time I was not in or attending church I often ignored my gut. Not realizing that was God trying to get my attention but I went with what I wanted. Or I waited a ridiculous amount of time to get started and by that time I was ready it was too late. I didn’t use wisdom. Remember this, “Don’t think too long; you must act in wisdom.” Not acting in wisdom quite often led to some hurtful and disappointing results. However, sometimes God allows negative conditions or circumstances in our lives in order to accomplish positive goals. Honestly a lot of my negative conditions and circumstances happened because I didn’t follow God’s path for me nor His timeline.
Use Your Resources
10 Just as each one of you has received a special gift [a spiritual talent, an ability graciously given by God], employ it in serving one another as [is appropriate for] good stewards of God’s multi-faceted grace [faithfully using the diverse, varied gifts and abilities granted to Christians by God’s unmerited favor].
I Peter 4:10 (AMP)
Talents, skills, gifts, abilities have been given to you. Your spiritual gifts are all about God and not about you. You’re here to benefit others. Use the resources God has given you in your situation(s). As II Corinthians 3:5 reminds us, we’re not qualified or adequate yet God has qualified us and given us adequacy by the Spirit. Don’t allow your life to be a wasteful display of a blessing God bestowed through you to bless others. Use what you got or you might not have it for long.
Free The Oppressed
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me (the Messiah), Because He has anointed Me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent Me to announce release (pardon, forgiveness) to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed (downtrodden, bruised, crushed by tragedy), 19 to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the favor of God abound greatly].”
Luke 4:18-19, Ephesians 5:11 (AMP)
11 Do not participate in the worthless and unproductive deeds of darkness, but instead expose them [by exemplifying personal integrity, moral courage, and godly character];
You can’t fight every battle but God gives us all assigned battles to fight. Jesus’ ministry is the Gospel Jesus preaches that saves us from hell and also saves us to prevent and/or stop others from living in hell on earth. We do this by absorbing Christ through cultivating an intimate walk and relationship with Him. The shameful deeds will be exposed by your walk and words. Truth is the light. Don’t get so caught up following religious and cultural rules that we miss the calling of God to challenge evil and oppression in the world. There is a whole lot of that in the world. Your walk and the words you use will expose the evilness to free someone from the oppression that is trying to drown them out of this life.
Glorify God
20 You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honor and glorify God with your body.
I Corinthians 6:20 (AMP
Have a sense of honor for and fear of God. You can’t say you love God but desecrate your body. You accomplish little to nothing with a weakened, exhausted, worn down body. If your body is a temple, why are you destroying it? That’s a question for me too. I’ve done my fair share of destruction to my temple. And as I’ve repaired what damage I could. I pray that my body is being used now to glorify God in all aspects I can. We must glorify God with the small and large parts of our life. As I Corinthians 10:31 tell us, no matter what we do whether we eat or drink, do it to the glory of God. As Believers we are being watched closely. So let’s do our best to glorify God in all that we do publicly and more importantly, privately.
Trust Your Calling
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight [living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in God’s promises]
II Corinthians 5:7 (AMP)
Discern God’s voice over all other outside noise. At least for me, it’s usually a soft whisper yet it’s abundantly clear when I hear God’s voice. And I’m learning not to move or make decisions until I hear God’s voice. Even though we can’t see the eternal reality God promised, we still have to act because we are confident He’s telling us the truth. Colossians 2: 13-15 reminds us God made us alive again. And removed our sins by nailing them to the cross. This alone lets us know we have a calling to fulfill. If Jesus fulfilled His with a painful natural ending, then why aren’t we willing to fulfill ours?
Cultural norms were broken in Judges 4:9, “fall by the hand of a woman.” This fulfilled Deborah’s prophecy. Quick recap, Sisera’s kingdom was at peace with the Kenites. Jael was the wife of Heber the Kenite. Sisera is killed by Jael by driving a tent peg into his forehead. Deborah and Jael were instrumental in bringing 40 years of peace to which Israel enjoyed.
Trust God rather than submit to fear when facing what seems like insurmountable circumstances as Jael did when Sisera ran into her tent. Jael was a woman so she couldn’t go on the battlefield. That meant she had to employ other or different tactics using limited means to accomplish a seismic shift. This is how Jael became the unlikely victor.
Leave a Reply