Heroes of the OT:
Deborah
Judges 4:1-10
March 15, 2009
I want to start with a question—Is respect given or earned? Should respect just be automatically given or does respect need to be earned? I tend to think that it is both. Although our culture tends to withhold respect until it is earned, sometimes it is a matter of trust and faith to give a certain amount of respect before it is earned.
Here is another dilemma that I’ve been thinking about—Can respect be bought? Is it really respect if it is bought then? Can you pay somebody to be respectful of you?
I got to thinking about this on our cruise. Here we have hundreds of people who are literally there to wait hand and foot on us passengers. Many of these were from other countries. Yet, it was strange to have so many people who worked on the ship warmly greet you. Many would have the biggest smile for you.
Our room steward, Denny, was so nice and seemed to genuinely show concern and respect to our family. It was amazing. So as I thought about this issue of respect, which we are going to talk about today, I also began to wonder if respect can be bought.
How many of you have been on a cruise? This was our first and it was only because of my parents that we were able to go. And they do everything for you. It was kind of weird. Our room stewards at least three times a day came in and clean up our room. They made the beds and not just in the morning but in the afternoon if you had come back and sat on the bed and pillows, they straightened it up again. Constantly coming in including turning the bed down so it was ready for us. One time I got up at three in the morning to visit the closet called that we called a bathroom (that’s another story) and I swear that when I came back, someone had come and made the bed. Kind of freaky… who, what? And the thing was that Kendra was still in it! Really weird…
Kendra and I were kind of lost the first couple of nights back home. We kept looking to see if someone had made our bed and then put chocolates on our beds before we went to sleep. I tried to talk Kendra into taking over where Denny had left off but she gave me the death look so I know that is not happening. As Rodney Dangerfield used to say, “No respect.”
Ever feel like someone wasn’t giving you any respect? We all have. And I’m sure that today’s hero, Deborah, felt that way. Deborah was a woman when it definitely was not a beneficial to being a woman. Yet, somehow in a world dominated by men where women were subjugated and often treated as little more than property, she achieved an amazing status.
The Scriptures tells that she was a mother that became a mother to all of Israel. She was a prophetess. She heard from God and relayed those messages to the people. And the people respected her. They respected her wisdom and her insight. She brought forth the Word of the Lord and they came to her to settle disputes just like they had done with Moses and would do with Solomon.
But things weren’t well in Israel. This was a period of history when Israel would often stray from their faithful worship of the Lord and worship everything else. When that would happen, God would raise up someone, a judge, to get them back on the right track. Then they would do well for a little while and get off track again. This happened again and again. Deborah was one of the people that God chose to help lead Israel back to faithfulness.
Well, because of Israel’s lack of faith, God had allowed them to follow their own desires and this led to them being dominated by King Jabin who had a guy named Sisera that commanded 900 chariots. This was pretty powerful. One chariot equaled about 15 foot solders depending on terrain and battle conditions. Israel was oppressed. They asked God to help them and God did by raising up a woman, Deborah.
God directed Deborah to enlist the help of Barack who gathered ten thousand foot soldiers. Deborah told Barack how to attack, when to attack, and where. She said God would lead Sisera to a place, Kishon River, where the chariots would not be such an advantage. There God would help the Israelites defeat Sisera. Barack would be a hero.
One little problem. Barack wasn’t quite sure of this. Which is understandable since Deborah was a woman. Barack wanted Deborah to come along as he probably saw her as some sort of good luck charm. The Scripture tells us that Barack didn’t quite have enough faith to believe what God had said. So God gave the honor of slaying the enemy commander to another woman.
Barack met Sisera and routed his army but Sisera got away on foot. Sisera ran to what he thought was an allies’ tent to hide while Barack and his men chased and killed the rest of the soldiers. Jael was the wife of Heber and when Sisera laid down exhausted to sleep, she killed him by driving a tent peg through his temple. Barack came and found Sisera and then Deborah led the people in worship where she detailed in song all that God had done.
Deborah had gained an amazing amount of respect in a day and age that had all the cards stacked against. There are several things that we can pull out of this to help us. These things will help us in the mental and emotional health of our lives. It will help how we think about ourselves and others as well as how we feel about ourselves. This in turn will help us be healthy in our relationships.
Deborah—Worthy of Respect
• Respect yourself
The first thing that we see is that Deborah had an immense self-respect. She was confident in how God had made her and how God was using her. She didn’t need to prove herself to others. Now she didn’t run over others but she followed her convictions. She stood up for herself when needed like when Barack showed a lack of confidence in her words. She didn’t take it personally but simply told Barack that because he was lacking in faith, he would miss out on the honor and glory of having completed the task that God has assigned.
If you really want to earn the respect of others, you begin by respecting yourself. This means doing what is right in God’s eyes. Not cutting corners. Not engaging in lifestyles and activities that you know would be wrong in God’s eyes. Lying, cheating, stealing, being selfish, outbursts of rage and anger, constantly breaking promises, manipulating people, gossiping, slandering people, and so on. These are all examples of ways that we destroy our own self-respect and dignity when we engage in these. Sure we hurt others but we hurt ourselves perhaps even more.
If you want to build a sense of respect in yourself, follow your convictions. Follow those things that you know to be right and pure and true and noble and right in God’s eyes. If you set realistic expectations for yourself through these then you will usually exceed the expectations of others and you won’t be bothered when others place unrealistic expectations on you.
o Follow your convictions
o Set realistic expectations for yourself
• Respect others
First of course, see the first one about respecting yourself.
Gaining the respect of others always begins by respecting yourself.
Do you know somebody who constantly disrespects others? I’ve known some people who do it intentionally even to specific groups like women and I’ve known some who disrespect others (either consistently or constantly) without even realizing that they are doing it.
Those who abuse others whether it is verbally or physically usually don’t have a sense of self-respect. People who “lord it over others” as Jesus said usually are insecure about themselves. People who abuse children, spouses, drugs, alcohol, even employees and subordinates often have a severe deficiency of self-respect. They might respect some people but feel the need make others, even certain others, degraded.
Deborah wasn’t afraid to respect others. She respected Barack. Even though he doubted, she didn’t berate him. She told him the consequences. She didn’t try to take over for Barack. She went with him to support him. She was secure enough to serve Barack as advisor. She gave God the credit in song and wasn’t afraid to let everyone know of Barack’s part in the victory as well as a woman named Jael. Because of this, Israel enjoyed peace for forty years.
o Give people their due
o Be secure enough to serve others
Mac was a hard driving, though businessman in his 70s. He had been a church member for many years. But one Wednesday night as he heard the associate share his testimony, he realized that he had never personally trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior. Though he had been involved in a lot of religious activity, he never really had a clear idea of what it meant to be a Christian.
After spending a few days pondering and asking the associate questions, Mac made up his mind. At the Sunday night service of their church, he decided to come forward to make a public profession of his faith in Christ. The associate was down front serving as a counselor, and was deeply moved by the sight of this tough old businessman coming forward to receive Christ in childlike faith. They were both in tears as they stood before the pastor. "This is tremendous!" the pastor exclaimed. He told the associate, "This man is one of the most brilliant businessmen in our city! He’s wealthy, he’s talented, and we need to put him to work! I want you to see that Mac is totally involved in what you are doing. We want to take full advantage of what he can do."
The associate said he will never forget Mac, his eyes full of tears, speaking with a sincere, trembling voice: "Pastor, I don’t need a job. I need the Lord."
The people of Israel didn’t really need a judge, a leader, a prophetess, or even self-respect. They needed the Lord. They needed to return to the Lord and follow His ways. They had lost their self-respect because they had sacrificed it on the altar of idols.
We’ve come to worship. We’ve come to seek His face. We’ve come to give God glory while declaring our own need for the Lord. If you’ve come here today, lacking self-respect, lacking purpose, lacking fulfillment, lacking forgiveness then seek the Lord. He is here and is ready and willing to touch you.
