Trusting God Before the Battle

Synopsis     Judges 4:21-5:8     6/10/2108

Jael killed Sisera with a tent peg and a mallet. When Barak came to the tent looking for information concerning Sisera, Jael showed him Sisera’s dead body.

Deborah sang a song to the Lord concerning the Israelite victory over the Canaanites. In it, she recounted how the rain had flooded the roads making the chariots worthless. The song also mentioned how the Israelites had won the battle even though none of the soldiers kept actual weapons.

Professional Army versus God’s Guerillas

The professional army of the Canaanites, who dominated the lowlands, was defeated by an Israelite army made of mountain people who lacked basic military equipment and weapons. The victory was facilitated through flooding rains that appear to have swept away resources and bogged down the chariots in mud – rendering them a useless liability.

In the time of Joshua, God specifically forbade the Israelites from keeping captured military hardware – especially chariots. He seemed less interested in the Israelite’s military prowess and more interested in their capacity for faith.

Trusting God Before the Battle

We live in a world where power projection is a basic strategic capacity. A nation that cannot project power upon other nations, has the terms of more powerful nations imposed on it. This is the basic premise of most foreign policy. This is the universal fear of most nations.

In America, this translates into a huge commitment of resources to maintain a large standing military with the most technologically advanced weapons systems in the world. I don’t think most Americans don’t really like spending so much money on the military. But the fear is that if we don’t then we, and our allies, will be exploited by other nations. The hundred years old motto of Teddy Roosevelt still resounds; “Speak softly but carry a big stick.” Which is, of course, another way of saying, “I trust the stick”. That’s what a professional army does for a ruler.

But God calls me to total vulnerability. He calls me to remain weak and unpolished and even, somewhat unprepared – at least in the ways of defending my faith. He wants to show me a vast and powerful army swept away in a flood that only He could do.

But I can’t have it both ways. I can’t desire to be in control and insist on forcing my own agenda and simultaneously anticipate the wonders that only He can do. I have to choose.

Trusting and knowing that God’s power is made perfect in weakness, the Way of Givenness is a willingness to receive what has been given.

“For the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.” Luke 12:12