INTRODUCTION
I spent the first 20 years of my career in Human Resources. At one point, I was working for a major consulting firm. We were looking for consultants in my practice area who were multi-lingual with strong international negotiation skills.
I came across the resume of a young man that was PRETTY impressive. He'd secured a Masters Degree in Organizational Psychology from a prominent HBCU and claimed he spoke SIX languages.
I was excited to meet this young man fresh out of grad school. Impressed with his credentials, I had done my homework. I wanted to impress him too! So I began our interview in French. "Moi a propos de toi?" I watched his confident smile TRANSFORM into sheer panic.
"Sorry," he stammered, "my French is a bit rusty today."
When I switched to Spanish, "yo sobre ti," he SUDDENLY developed an urgent need to use the restroom! He excused himself and upon his return, he CONFESSED that his language fluency consisted of knowing how to order his favorite drink in different countries. And his international negotiation skills? Haggling with street vendors while on vacation!
So I asked him, "WHY did you inflate your skills and experience so drastically?" He looked me square in the eye and said, "Well, the posting said 'must be creative and have excellent story-telling skills'... I just provided you an EXAMPLE of both of those."
He had me there!
In this hyper-competitive world, the resume has become our professional identity card. We meticulously craft these documents — highlighting our achievements, strategically MINIMIZING our failures, and positioning ourselves to appear IMPRESSIVE. Some of us have spent HUNDREDS of dollars on resume writers, THOUSANDS of dollars on degrees and COUNTLESS hours learning our trade. We have climbed corporate ladders, broke through glass ceilings, and accumulated the titles and achievements society celebrates.
We understand the POWER of credentials. One well-crafted document can OPEN DOORS that generations before us found FIRMLY CLOSED. For many in our community, these hard-earned credentials represent not just personal achievement but the COLLECTIVE PROGRESS of a people who were once DENIED the right to read, let alone earn advanced degrees or professional accolades. In this fiercely competitive landscape, the résumé has become our professional credential. Even the most inexperienced, inept, ignorant, infantile and insufferable can — appropriate others accomplishments and scapegoat their short comings to position themselves useful. I mean take a look up the street at the whitest house, but I digress.
Some of us have spent THOUSANDS of dollars on degrees and COUNTLESS hours learning our trade. We have climbed corporate ladders, broke through glass ceilings, and accumulated the titles and achievements society celebrates.
We understand the POWER of real, true, earned credentials. One well crafted document can OPEN DOORS that generations before us found FIRMLY AND SYSTEMATICALLY CLOSED. For many in our community, these hard-earned qualifications represent not just a personal achievement but the COLLECTIVE PROGRSS of a people who were once DENIED the right to read, let alone earn advanced degrees or professional accolades.
We stand on the SHOULDERS of ancestors who through their literal BLOOD, SWEAT, and TEARS founded HBCUs so that we might earn these advanced degrees. Mary McCloud Bethune who founded Bethune Cookman and Elizabeth Evelyn Wright who founded Voorhees University. Their sacrifice and their vision — currently being threatened by the talking head occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Our ancestors created educational sanctuaries where our intellect and creativity could FLOURISH despite a society determined to limit our potential.
But what happens, family? WHAT HAPPENS when God's divine purposes require someone WITHOUT impressive credentials? WHAT HAPPENS when deliverance manifests NOT through the perceived powerful, the titled, or the conventionally qualified? WHAT HAPPENS when instead liberation comes through the seemingly ORDINARY, the OVERLOOKED, and the UNDERESTIMATED?
THIS was precisely Jael's reality! No royal lineage! No political appointment! No political office! No military commission! Just a woman LIVING IN A TENT who became, through ONE DECISIVE MOMENT, the unlikely hero who liberated Israel from TWENTY YEARS of brutal oppression. Her story FUNDAMENTALLY CHALLENGES our entrenched assumptions about who possesses the capacity to accomplish divine purpose. Her story CHALLENGES everything we have been taught about WHO is equipped to get the job done.
In a culture OBSESSED with credentials and achievements, what has Jael shown us is needed for our spiritual resumes? Well I’m going to give you three and leave you BE. The first thing Jael shows us is needed for our spiritual resume is
Point 1: PURPOSEFUL POSITIONING
It’s right here in verse 17: "Sisera (SAY SA RA), meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite."
WHO WAS JAEL? Not an Israelite princess! Not a prophet like Deborah! Not a military commander like Barak! Scripture introduces her SIMPLY as "the wife of Heber the Kenite."
Some would suggest her resume was ORDINARY. Her credentials UNREMARKABLE! A tent-dwelling woman, member of a nomadic tribe, identified primarily through her husband’s name. In that patriarchal society, she possessed NO official standing, NO recognized authority, NO impressive title!
What's more, her people — the Kenites — weren't even fully aligned with Israel. Verse 17 tells us they had "an alliance with Jabin," the Canaanite king who had been OPPRESSING Israel for TWENTY YEARS! She belonged to the so-called neutral group, between conflicting powers.
By societal norms, Jael SHOULD HAVE BEEN irrelevant to this moment in Israel's history. Like David before her, her résumé LACKED the qualifications that typically matter.
How many of us have DISQUALIFIED OURSELVES from God’s purpose because our resumes seem ordinary, our credentials appear inadequate? We tell ourselves, "I'm JUST a teacher," "I'm ONLY a homemaker," "I'm NOTHING BUT an environmental services worker." Don’t let this yet to be United States of America fool you into thinking that God only uses people with impressive credentials, like the Politian, the activist, the pastor, the wealthy philanthropist or the influential celebrity.
MY GOD'S operates on DIFFERENT PRINCIPLES! The God I serve has brought down rulers from their thrones and LIFTED UP the humble!
Your ordinary résumé DOESN’T DISQUALIFY YOU from extraordinary purpose! Your seemingly modest position DOESN’T DETERMINE your divine potential! The absence of impressive titles DOES NOT INDICATE an absence of divine calling!
I'm reminded of a woman my grandfather told me about named Miss Rosetta. Miss Rosetta cleaned homes in Brownsville, Tennessee for DECADES. She had no formal education beyond eighth grade. Her resume would have been DISMISSED by most employers. Yet in those homes, she became a SPIRITUAL MOTHER to dozens of children who grew up to serve as pastors, teachers, and community leaders. My grandfather eulogized Miss Rosetta, and at her funeral, person after person testified: "Miss Rosetta taught me to pray!" "Miss Rosetta showed me what faith looks like!" "Miss Rosetta CHANGED the trajectory of my life!" One prominent judge REMOVED his robe during his tribute and declared, "I may wear this on the bench, but Miss Rosetta wore the MANTLE of God's authority EVERY DAY!"
Like Jael, Miss Rosetta's position DIDN'T determine her purpose. Though her resume read "domestic worker," her impact was that of a PROPHET, a PRIEST, and a DELIVERER!
Is there anybody in here who can testify that their position didn’t determine their purpose.
SOMEBODY OUGHT TO THANK GOD FOR THEIR MISS ROSETTA!
If position doesn't determine purpose, what DOES MATTER when God is assembling his army? Jael's narrative reveals a second essential element for our spiritual résumés, and that is…..
Point 2: PIVOTAL POSITIONING
Verses 18-21 reveal when Sisera (SAY SA RA) — the military strategist who had TERRORIZED Israel for twenty years — sought sanctuary in Jael's tent, she faced a PIVOTAL MOMENT of decision.
She COULD HAVE turned him away. She COULD HAVE simply hidden him as requested. She COULD HAVE alerted others to his presence. But Jael did something ASTONISHINGLY BOLD!
Pastor Bell, I often wondered why she isn’t talked about in the same ways that David is….I mean he had slingshot from feet away. She took a peg, up close and personal….
First, she welcomed him with reassuring hospitality: "Come, my lord, come right in. Don't be afraid." She covered him with a blanket, gave him MILK when he asked for water. She created a false sense of security.
Then, verse 21 tells us Jael, after making him comfortable, TOOK HIM OUT! It was Sisera (SAY SA RA) versus tent peg, and the TENT PEG WON!
Through ONE DECISIVE ACT of courage, this tent-dwelling woman accomplished what Barak the warrior and an ENTIRE Israelite army failed to achieve! She eliminated a military genius who had oppressed God's people for TWO DECADES! This seemingly ordinary woman FULFILLED Deborah's prophetic declaration that "the LORD will deliver Sisera (SAY SA RA) into the hands of a woman."
What qualifies an individual for divine deployment? Not position or credentials, but DECISIVE COURAGE in pivotal moments!
God strategically positions each of us at crucial crossroads where we must choose: Will we embrace conventional security or SACRED RISK? Will we play it SAFE or step out on FAITH. Will we perpetuate respectability politics or align DEFINATIVELY with divine purposes? Will we HESITATE or ACT DECISIVELY when divine opportunity presents itself? Will we remain SILENT when we should have spoken up? Unless you’re under a rock, you have to know we are in that moment right now.
These moments often come UNEXPECTEDLY, as they did for Jael. We don't get weeks to prepare or committees to consult. The moment ARRIVES, and you must decide: courage or comfort? Action or avoidance? Purpose or preservation?
Some of us need to hear this word today: God is LESS INTERESTED in your impressive credentials than in your COURAGEOUS DECISIONS! He's looking for people who, when divine opportunity knocks, will answer with BOLD, DECISIVE ACTION!
Dr. Kenneth Clark, the psychologist whose research on racial identity in children became CENTRAL to the Brown v. Board of Education case. When asked to testify before the Supreme Court, this quiet academic faced a PIVOTAL moment of decision.
His colleagues WARNED him that public testimony could jeopardize his career. His university suggested more "neutral" language. But in that DECISIVE moment, he chose CLARITY over caution, TRUTH over college professor tenure!
His courageous testimony — that segregation caused PSYCHOLOGICAL DAMAGE to children — helped CHANGE the course of American history! Later, he reflected: "I wasn't the most qualified expert they could have called. But I was WILLING to speak the truth CLEARLY when the moment demanded it."
Like Jael, Dr. Clark UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT! Dr. Clark understood that history turns NOT on our credentials but on our COURAGE, NOT on our titles but on our DECISIVE ACTIONS in pivotal moments!
I need for y'all to understand something! The dismantling of the Department of Education means the DISMANTLING of Brown v. Board of Education! It is the DOE that ENFORCES desegregation! It is the DOE that ADMINISTERS the programs that ensure equal educational opportunities! It is the DOE that INVESTIGATES discrimination complaints and ENSURES that schools comply with civil rights laws! It is the DOE that provides the federal oversight to ensure that educational opportunity isn't determined solely by local resources and prejudices!
God has pulled YOUR RESUME, beloved, to the TOP OF THE STACK because we have WORK TO DO!
TELL YOUR NEIGHBOR "WE'VE GOT WORK TO DO!"
Beyond her ordinary position and her decisive courage, Jael's narrative reveals a third essential component for our spiritual résumés, sand that is..
Point 3: PROPHETIC POSITIONING
And this is what shouted me. Before Sisera (SAY SA RA) ever sought refuge in Jael's tent, Prophetess Deborah had already declared: "The LORD will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman."
Jael wasn't acting through arbitrary impulse! She wasn’t acting randomly. Jael was IN POSITION to fulfill a prophecy. Jael occupied PRECISE PROPHETIC POSITIONING to fulfill divine proclamation! She likely had NO IDEA that she was Deborah's wildest dream. Her decisive action aligned PERFECTLY with God's declared intention to use a woman to defeat Sisera.
But this isn't the only thing I see here. Jael didn't lose sight of WHO IS IN POWER! Though her clan had an alliance with Jabin, Jael CHOSE to align herself with GOD! Jael is teaching us something here yall for such a time as this. In that pivotal moment, she positioned herself within God's unfolding redemptive narrative rather than perpetuating her community's political neutrality amid surrounding chaos. She didn’t sit as an observer with her hands in her lap saying but I’m tired. She didn’t get somebody else to do it. She didn’t wait for somebody to save her. Jael CHOSE alignment with DIVINE PURPOSE.
This explains why Deborah's song in Judges 5:24-27 celebrates Jael with such EXUBERANCE: "Most blessed of women be Jael... Her hand reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman's hammer." Jael received blessing because she ALIGNED herself with God's redemptive purposes!
Our spiritual resume should show ALIGNMENT with God's purposes, not just personal achievement! Like Jael, we need to position ourselves within God's unfolding narrative rather than creating our own separate stories. See, sometimes we've made up in our minds what success looks like. Sometimes we're chasing promotions, stockpiling achievements, and polishing our personal brand for the world to see. But God is calling us into a GREATER STORY! A story where significance isn't about accomplishment but ALIGNMENT! Sometimes we are so busy positioning ourselves based on what we see with our finite vision TODAY, that we forget what we see today is NOT the finished product.
I encourage that we WATCH to what God is doing in our generation! We have to be in tune to RECOGNIZE prophetic moments when they arrive! It means being WILLING to break from SOCIETY’S expectations when they conflict with divine purposes!
Some of us have been maintaining comfortable neutrality, like Jael's clan initially did. You've been CAREFUL not to offend either side, keeping your options open, playing it politically safe. But God may be calling you to take a DEFINITIVE STAND, to align DECISIVELY with His purposes even when it costs you relationships or security!
Others of us have been WAITING for official validation before acting on what God has already shown us. You're waiting for the TITLE before embracing the CALLING, for the POSITION before fulfilling the PURPOSE. Jael reminds us that alignment with God's purposes is MORE IMPORTANT than official credentials!
SOMEBODY SAY "ALIGN ME WITH MY ASSIGNMENT, LORD!"
This reminds me of a woman at my granddad’s church….Ms. Maxine. Ms Maxine felt called to address food insecurity in our community. She had NO nutrition degree, NO nonprofit experience, NO grant-writing expertise — just a CLEAR conviction and a church basement!
When she went seeking funding for a food pantry she was encouraged to wait until she had the proper credentials, she replied, "People are hungry TODAY! God has shown me what to do, and I'm going to do it NOW!" She started small — just meals for a dozen families. But she had ALIGNED herself with God's heart for the hungry!
Before Ms. Maxine died she was able to see her program feed HUNDREDS monthly. She even received an honorary doctorate from UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS. She accepted it with grace but told us that following Sunday at church, "The real degree came when I said YES to God before anyone else validated my calling."
See, when we position ourselves in God's unfolding plans on our jobs, in our homes and communities, we can discover that playing our position and faithful obedience can carry MORE WEIGHT than the fancy credentials we can put on our resumes!
Like Maxine, like Jael, our MOST IMPORTANT credential is our WILLINGNESS to align ourselves with God's purposes, whether or not we have the official qualifications the world recognizes or not!
Like Maxine, like Jael, our MOST SIGNIFICANT credential remains our WILLINGNESS to align with divine purposes, regardless of whether we possess conventional qualifications!
As I looked at these three dimensions of Jael's spiritual résumé — her ordinary position, her decisive courage, and her prophetic alignment — I began to feel a little quickening in my spirit, because I was confronted in that moment with this essential truth…..and that is that God is looking to make some additional DEI Hires. God is looking for some Divinely Empowered Individuals.
AND THAT'S GOOD NEWS! THAT'S THE GOOD NEWS that changes EVERYTHING: Is there anybody here who can help me close this sermon an testify that God is still writing WORLD-CHANGING RESUMES for ORDINARY PEOPLE! You ain't got to trust me... trust the One who has the FINEST resume we will ever see!
TRUST THE ONE whose résumé reads CREATOR — who spoke galaxies into existence!
TRUST THE ONE whose résumé reads DELIVERER —the parter of the RED SEA!
TRUST THE PROVIDER — who rained manna from heaven for forty years!
TRUST THE WAYMAKER — who put a river in the dessert and a highway through the wilderness!
TRUST THE HEALER — who restored sight to the blind and MADE THE LAME TO WALK!
His résumé reads RESURRECTOR — who summoned the dead back to life!
And the God with THAT RÉSUMÉ still chooses to employ PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND ME!
YOU NEED SOME BIBLE FOR THAT!
TRUST THE ONE who CHOSE….. A shepherd boy to defeat a giant!
TRUST THE ONE who CHOSE….A stuttering fugitive to confront Pharaoh!
TRUST THE ONE who CHOSE…..Two Mary’s to bring the good news.
God SPECIALIZES in using people whose earthly resumes DON'T MATCH their heavenly assignments!
My Bible says, "He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble." God is STILL in the business of EXALTING the lowly and USING the overlooked!
When Jael stood over the defeated Sisera (SAY SA RA), the world saw just a tent-dwelling woman, but GOD saw a DELIVERER! The political powers saw just a nomad's wife, but GOD saw a HISTORY-MAKER! The armies saw just a civilian bystander, but GOD saw an INSTRUMENT OF JUSTICE!
And that same GOD sees YOU! GLORY!
The God whose resume includes PARTING SEAS and RAISING THE DEAD sees divine potential in YOU! So what are you waiting for? Your ordinary position DOESN'T LIMIT your extraordinary purpose! Your lack of credentials DOESN'T DISQUALIFY you from your divine calling! If you were waiting on a sign…..THIS IS IT. You’ve got work to do.
I FEEL LIKE PREACHING THIS THING...
LOOK AT GOD'S RESUME AGAIN: He takes FISHERMEN and makes them FISHERS OF MEN! He takes TAX COLLECTORS and makes them GOSPEL WRITERS! He takes PERSECUTORS and makes them APOSTLES! He takes TENT-MAKERS and makes them CHURCH PLANTERS!
The same God who used Jael's tent peg, who empowered Deborah's prophecy, who worked through Esther's courage — that SAME GOD is WORKING THROUGH YOU!
YOUR resume reads "TEACHER" – God reads "NATION SHAPER"! YOUR resume reads "PARENT" – God reads "DESTINY MOLDER"! YOUR resume reads "STUDENT" – God reads "FUTURE LEADER"! YOUR resume reads "LABORER" – God reads "KINGDOM BUILDER"!
The God whose resume reads "I AM THAT I AM" wants to add YOUR NAME to His list of unlikely instruments! The God who declares "I do not change" is STILL using ordinary people for extraordinary purposes! The God who promised "I will never leave you nor forsake you" is STANDING WITH YOU in your divine assignment!
And by His amazing grace, that opportunity is available to EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US today! So WAIT UPON THE LORD…..
BECAUSE THEY THAT WAIT... UPON THE LORD SHALL RENEW THEIR STRENGTH! THEY SHALL MOUNT UP WITH WINGS AS EAGLES! THEY SHALL RUN AND NOT BE WEARY! THEY SHALL WALK AND NOT FAINT! ARE YOU READY TO WAIT ON HIM….ARE YOU READY BE IN ACTIVE DEVOLTION TO HIS WILL AND HIS WAY.
WAIT I SAY ON THE LORD!
