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DEBORAH–BARAK–JAEL (IV)
MONDAY, JANUARY 16
Judges 4:17-24

Isaiah 31:1-5

 

“Favour is deceitful,

and beauty is vain…”

 

DEBORAH–BARAK–JAEL (IV)
 
Desperate men take desperate measures. Sisera, the captain of a defeated army, deserts both his position and his chariot. He resorts to escape by foot, and providence leads him to the tent of Jael. God’s Word must be fulfilled, for God is not a man that He should lie (Num 23:19); if He has spoken, it must come to pass for He will accomplish it.
 
Beauty and deception both lie in the eye of the beholder. When Sisera came across the tent of Jael, he saw a sanctuary and not the house of his slaughter. When he saw Jael, he saw hospitality and friendliness. It was a sight different from the one he had just fled from; and to him, his life like a bird escaped from the snare of the fowler, seemed to be spared. The invitation from Jael was readily accepted, the offer of refreshment gladly received, and with a false sense of security he was lulled into sleep. Little did he know, it was the sleep of death!
 
“Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent…for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died” (Judg 4:21). The panic and fear of the fleeing general were met by the calm and resolve of a woman with a mission. Like the parable of the unjust steward (Matt 16:1-8), the incident between Jael and Sisera serves to warn us. Unlike Sisera, we must learn to be careful and exercise caution in these last and perilous days, for we may never know where danger lurks. Moreover, like Jael, we must find courage and strength to take a stand for the truth and for that which is right even under difficult circumstances.
 
Above all, we must learn that God’s will is sovereign. Sisera and his 900 chariots were defeated and God’s Word accomplished exactly as had been proclaimed. Indeed, an “horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength” (Ps 33:17). God’s grace and mercy are immeasurable. The cries of His children (though they be stiff-necked) are heard and deliverance provided by His grace and mercy.
 
THOUGHT: (Read Psalm 20:7.)

PRAYER: Sovereign God over all, keep us in the strait and narrow way.

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