[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:08] Welcome back to the Nomad Pastor Podcast.
[00:00:10] Today we're going to jump back in with episode five, and we're going to talk about Deborah. And before we do that, though, I do want to apologize. I know it's been three or four weeks since an episode has come out, but, you know, sometimes life happens. And so one thing I do want to do is I kind of want to recap the first four episodes and just take a few minutes to do that. Just kind of remind us where we've been in Judges, and then we'll dive right in.
[00:00:40] So first we did episode one. That's kind of where we set the stage. Joshua's gone, the leadership is absent, and Israel is actually in the land that God promised them. But they're not anchored in God anymore, right?
[00:00:55] And Judges introduces this nation with blessings, but they don't have obedience.
[00:01:03] They have this freedom without faithfulness. And so what's going on is Scripture is telling us that everyone did what was right in their own eyes.
[00:01:12] And that phrase, doing what's right in your own eyes, kind of. It becomes the backbone of the Book of Judges.
[00:01:20] And if we're honest, look at the world right now, today, the world that we're living in today, people are doing what is right in their own eyes.
[00:01:33] Then we move to episode two, and we learn about kind of the cycle that defines the entire Book of Judges. That cycle is Israel rebels. God allows consequences to that rebellion. The people cry out to God, and then God raises a deliverer.
[00:01:53] Then there is this peace for some time, and. And then that cycle just repeats.
[00:01:59] Usually it is worse than before, but it is still a repetitive cycle, right? Israel rebels. God allows consequences to it. They cry out, God raises the deliverer, and then there is peace. And then they start all over again and rebel.
[00:02:15] We see this not just in Israel's story, but, you know, it's a pattern for all of us. It's a pattern of kind of like the human heart. When we push God aside, right? We rebel.
[00:02:31] You know, God just allows whatever consequence there is to our rebellion. And then we're like, God, please help us. And then he does.
[00:02:39] And then we forget and we do it again.
[00:02:43] And then we move to episode three, where we have our first Judge.
[00:02:48] He's quiet, he's faithful, he's obedient. There's not any drama in that. God shows us what leadership was meant to look like before showing us what happens when it collapses.
[00:03:01] That first Judge is Othniel, and he brought 40 years of peace through obedience.
[00:03:11] That's an amazing thing because he wasn't this charismatic guy.
[00:03:18] And that, you know, faithfulness is important. But that faithfulness didn't stop the fall forever.
[00:03:26] It delayed it right, 40 years.
[00:03:31] And then we went to episode four, and the tone shifts a little bit. We meet Ehud, and the story starts to become uncomfortable. I think if you read Judges and you're not uncomfortable, you probably should go reread it, right? Pray about it and reread it, right? Because the deliverance becomes Messy in episode 4, God still rescues his people.
[00:03:59] But the method reflected, that's something different. We learn a hard truth.
[00:04:09] And as people drift further and further away from God, that rescue is not always clean.
[00:04:18] Ehud forced us to ask whether we want God's deliverance or do we want God himself.
[00:04:26] So then that brings us to today.
[00:04:30] Because when leaders hesitate, when our courage weakens, or when our obedience becomes negotiable, God is still going to move forward.
[00:04:43] And sometimes he does raise leaders. But the culture never stops. It doesn't change. And frankly, it's people, they don't expect.
[00:04:53] And when I say expect, we have to think about the time that what's going on in Judges right now? And so today we're going to talk about Deborah and Judges. Chapter four opens with words that we.
[00:05:09] We should recognize just all too well, right?
[00:05:13] The sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, right? Othniel is gone, Ehud is gone. And once again, the people drift.
[00:05:22] God allows Israel to fall under oppression, this time under Jabin, King of Canaan, and his commander Sisera.
[00:05:33] And Scripture tells us that Sisera had like 900 iron chariots.
[00:05:39] And that detail, that specific detail, it really matters because in that time, iron chariots were the symbol of this overwhelming military power, right?
[00:05:56] If you had iron chariots, you were great.
[00:06:00] And so to have 900 iron chariots, that. That is something that we can't overlook.
[00:06:07] So when we see that, we know that Israel is just drastically outmatched. They are afraid and they are intimidated.
[00:06:16] And so they live under this oppression for 20 years.
[00:06:23] And the unfortunate thing is when you are thinking about fear and oppression, fear and oppression, 20 years is a long time. That's long enough for the fear to become normal, for it to be normalized, for you to be oppressed. It's long enough for people to kind of, not even kind of. It's long enough for people to lower their expectations.
[00:06:46] It's long enough for a nation to forget what freedom feels like.
[00:06:53] And it is in this environment that God raises Deborah.
[00:06:58] And before I talk about Who Deborah was. I just want you to think about that, right. That 20 years is long enough.
[00:07:05] And I want you to think about what's going on in our society and culture today.
[00:07:10] Things are changing drastically.
[00:07:14] And I pray that we don't get to a day that this feels normal, that we don't get to a day in time that it feels normal for the country and people and us as a society to be going through what we're going through today.
[00:07:33] I just want you to sit in that for a little bit. Right.
[00:07:36] So who was Deborah?
[00:07:38] Deborah Judges teaches us that Deborah was a prophetess and a judge. She sat under a palm tree of Deborah, and the people came to her for judgment.
[00:07:55] That.
[00:07:57] That sentence right there, right? She sat under the palm tree of Deborah and the people came to her for judgment. That tells us a lot.
[00:08:05] And what it's teaching us is that Deborah wasn't like this conqueror. She didn't seize authority.
[00:08:11] She didn't go out and campaign for influence like we see politicians today.
[00:08:17] She was recognized.
[00:08:19] She was trusted, and people came to her. They sought her out. People came to her because she walked with God and she spoke the truth.
[00:08:32] So it's important to recognize that leadership that comes from God does not need self promotion, period. Hard stop.
[00:08:45] Deborah's authority flowed from her relationship with the Lord, not because of some title, not because of some position. It wasn't like she had this thing that said president and CEO.
[00:08:57] Deborah's authority came from her relationship with God, period.
[00:09:04] Now, in Judges, the story kind of turns to a moment that makes, I think, a lot of people uncomfortable, and it should.
[00:09:14] Deborah summons Barak, and she delivers a clear word from God. God has already spoken. God has already given direction on this matter, and God has already promised victory.
[00:09:28] But Barak's response is a little revealing.
[00:09:31] He says he will only go if Deborah goes with him.
[00:09:37] So for me, he's not being humble and asking her to go.
[00:09:42] He's hesitating. He has fear. This is a leader that's unwilling to completely and fully carry the responsibility that God has placed on him.
[00:09:57] So through his hesitation, through his fear, through his unwillingness, Deborah agrees to go.
[00:10:05] But what she does is she speaks truth at this point, right? Because because of the hesitation of Barak, the honor of this victory is going to go to a woman.
[00:10:18] And in that time, that's a big deal, because in that time, women were considered less than right. And I want to make it clear this isn't a punishment on Barak.
[00:10:32] It's a consequence, which are two totally different things. God doesn't Shame Barak. He doesn't remove him from the story.
[00:10:41] He simply moves forward without him.
[00:10:44] He moves forward without waiting on him to be completely obedient.
[00:10:50] And this is a principle that we see throughout Scripture and throughout history.
[00:10:55] When God calls leaders to stand and they refuse, God still accomplishes his will.
[00:11:03] He doesn't abandon his people while waiting on somebody who's reluctant to be the leader that he's calling.
[00:11:09] He says, okay, I'm going to keep going.
[00:11:14] You know, it reminds me of when God's walking on water. And I think It's Mark, chapter six, maybe verse 48.
[00:11:23] It talks about how he's walking on water and he's about to pass them by and they call out to him, the disciples in the boat, that scripture might be wrong. I believe it's 40 something, Mark, chapter 6, 45, 49 or something like that. But it's important to just think about that for a minute, right? He's about to pass them by.
[00:11:48] His will was to get to the other side. He's going to accomplish it.
[00:11:53] But when they called out, he didn't abandon his people.
[00:11:59] So this is where Deborah's story speaks directly to kind of what's going on today in this moment.
[00:12:09] We're not facing a talent shortage when it comes to things. We're facing a courage shortage.
[00:12:16] We have leaders who know the truth, but they're afraid to speak it.
[00:12:22] We have pastors who know the truth and they are afraid to speak it. And I'm not speaking to every pastor, but we see some pastors that are sitting in the pulpit and everything's like roses and, and fruit and vegetables or whatever it is, right? Roses and lollipops, unicorns and lollipops. I don't know the analogy, but everything's good.
[00:12:45] Say it and it will happen.
[00:12:48] There's problems in our country today, and we need church leaders who see the problem and confront it, not turn away.
[00:12:57] But today we have leaders who value comfort and approval and safety of over being obedient.
[00:13:06] And when pastors or leaders, church leaders, refuse to lead, God will raise others who are willing to do it.
[00:13:15] That's not disorder, that's God's mercy.
[00:13:23] So as we go back to Deborah and Barak, there's this battle, right? God has said, go do this. And Barak said, I'm not going to go without Deborah.
[00:13:32] So as this battle unfolds, it happens exactly as God promised, right?
[00:13:38] Sisera's army is thrown into confusion. The iron chariots, the 900 we talked about, they become useless. The power that this army trusted Collapses because it's happening exactly the way God said.
[00:13:53] So Sisera flees, and the final blow does not come from Barak, but it comes from Jael, another woman God uses in this story.
[00:14:05] So this story, it's not about elevating one group over another.
[00:14:13] It's about obedience, because God is going to accomplish his purpose through those people who are willing to act when others hesitate.
[00:14:28] And I think that's key, right, because there is this thing in Judges 5. It's the song of Deborah, right? Judges chapter 5 records the song of Deborah. And it's not a victory speech.
[00:14:42] It's theology set to music.
[00:14:46] Deborah praises God, honors those who stepped forward willingly, and names those who refuse to help.
[00:14:53] She doesn't sugarcoat it. She does not glorify the passivity.
[00:15:01] She says, here's the cowardice I saw, right? She reminds Israel of a simple truth, right? When leaders lead and people follow God, victory comes.
[00:15:16] But when they don't, everyone suffers.
[00:15:21] So if we look around our world today, institutions fail because leaders refuse to lead.
[00:15:31] Families struggle because the responsibility of leading your family is being given away.
[00:15:41] And you can say given away to a lot of different places and a lot of different things.
[00:15:47] Churches die because truth is softened or people are trying to avoid being offensive.
[00:15:55] Churches are weakened by the truth that is softened.
[00:16:02] Confusion grows because clarity requires courage.
[00:16:08] And when church leadership collapses, God will raise voices from unexpected places, not because he prefers disorder, but because he refuses to leave his people without direction.
[00:16:24] And I think the thing that we see a lot, I see it a lot. I don't want to say we. I'm going to just say things that I see a lot is God attempting to raise up new leadership in churches, and old leadership refuses to acknowledge it.
[00:16:45] And I'm not saying every time, right? Because I know there are people who just like, oh, I should be a leader of the church, and God's not really calling them to.
[00:16:55] I mean, I personally do not feel like God is calling me to be a leader of a church.
[00:17:02] God has said, I want you to go do some of these things, right? I want you to preach to the lost, and I want you to minister to this biker community, and I want you to do this podcast.
[00:17:14] God has said a lot of things to me.
[00:17:17] And there was a period of my life that I felt like, oh, I need to go plan a church and start a church and do these things. And when we really prayed about it, God wasn't asking me to do that.
[00:17:30] I'm doing what God asked me to do. So this isn't me talking about. And frankly, if my lead pastor or my church is listening, I'm definitely not talking about you. Right. And if anybody wants to know, I have an amazing church, an amazing pastoral staff, amazing elders, and if you want to know where it is, send me an email.
[00:17:50] I. I'll reply. You're always welcome to come. I mean, I'll tell you, it's Crossroads Fellowship in. In Lebanon, Tennessee.
[00:17:58] And it is just amazing.
[00:18:01] So I don't want anybody to hear this and be like, oh, he's talking about his church. I'm not.
[00:18:06] But I have visited hundreds of churches throughout the years and seen some of these problems.
[00:18:15] I've seen it in ministry. Right.
[00:18:18] God raises leaders in broken places, in quiet corners, in recovery programs.
[00:18:29] God will raise a leader from anywhere.
[00:18:32] And it's not because they look for authority, but because they're willing to obey.
[00:18:39] They're willing to obey when others hesitate.
[00:18:44] God is not limited by titles.
[00:18:48] He's not impressed by whatever position you're in or you think you're in.
[00:18:54] God is looking for people to be faithful, and Deborah was faithful.
[00:19:01] Barak hesitated. God used them both.
[00:19:05] But the story of this reminds us that obedience determines impact.
[00:19:11] So this episode should force us to ask some hard questions.
[00:19:17] First, where have I hesitated when God called me to lead?
[00:19:23] Think about a time in your life that you just. You couldn't explain it. You felt like, man, I'm supposed to be going to do that. And you hesitated.
[00:19:35] And then why did you hesitate in that situation?
[00:19:42] Why did you wait for someone else to step up?
[00:19:47] And what happened because you didn't listen.
[00:19:52] Where have you traded obedience for comfort?
[00:19:56] You see, because leadership is not about control.
[00:19:59] It's about responsibility.
[00:20:02] God does not call everyone to the same position, but he calls everyone to faithfulness.
[00:20:11] So as we get ready to close this, I want to remind you that Judges is going to probably continue to get darker and darker.
[00:20:19] The leaders that God calls are going to.
[00:20:24] They're going to be more flawed, and the consequences of this disobedience of Israel is going to grow heavier.
[00:20:34] So Deborah stands as this reminder that God still honors obedience in the middle of chaos, in the middle of a storm.
[00:20:44] So next episode, we are going to jump into Gideon and talk about insecurity and fear and what happens when God reduces us so that we stop trusting ourselves.
[00:20:59] I want to take the time to say thanks for listening.
[00:21:05] I've done Judges several times. Not on the podcast. I've read it several times. I've led small groups around Judges.
[00:21:12] But the study that I've been going through to build these podcasts has just grown deeper for me and I'm thankful for this platform to do it and hopefully that it's teaching you or you're getting a different perspective of judges of the outcome and kind of why things are done. And again, I just want to thank you for listening.
[00:21:34] If you like this, like it, share it, tell your friends.
[00:21:39] Send me an
[email protected] if you got questions or thoughts or if just something tweaked your interest and you want to know.
[00:21:46] And remember to find a good Bible believing church, go and be in community with other Christians. It is critical to your walk with Christ.
[00:21:58] It is one of the most important things you can do other than giving your life to God, other than saying Christ, you are my Lord and Savior but part of your faithfulness and obedience. Get to a church and if you don't know where one is, send me an email and I will do research and I will find you a good Bible believing church that is going to tell you the good, the bad and whatever else within the Bible without sugarcoating it.
[00:22:29] So as I close today again, this is Rick with the Nomad Pastor podcast. I just want to say thank you and remember to love God and love people.
