Deborah has actively served God in a really difficult context. His world was full of the worst kind of moral and cultural degradation. We saw something about the miserable context of the judges in the last chapter; we know the kind of evil that was growing among God’s people. Deborah served God while surrounded by men who did not serve Him. Judges 4 begins with the following refrain: “The children of Israel still did what was wrong before the Lord after Aod’s death?”(4,1)? And this time the Lord had delivered them into the hands of the king of Canaan and his military commander Sisara. God’s people suffered under the cruel oppression of Sisara, with their nine hundred iron chariot. Was a man who had the dominant vision of nations, in the sense that women were?One or two uteruses for each man? (5, 30) In the midst of all this turbulence, Deborah sitting under his palm, firmly administering god’s righteousness, is a truly astonishing image.
By raising Deborah and including this story in his inspired word, God sends an encouraging message about women and their potential to actively serve God, even in the midst of the worst evils. We have already seen that when evil is not limited, women are often the greatest victims of the oppression of cruel men; however, some of the brightest lights appear in these darker places in the history of salvation, of women who are called to serve God, and who have done so faithfully, playing a crucial role in the history of redemption.
- Can we remember Rahab.
- Also surrounded? In his case.
- In a city of disbelievers in Jericho.
- Who practiced the worst kind of evil against each other (see Jos 2).
- Rahab was a prostitute.
- A participant in a sinful culture.
- It is surprising that.
- Among all the inhabitants of Jericho.
- God attracted this woman to him and.
- By his grace.
- Rahab returned his fidelity to the one true God.
- Protecting the spies sent by God’s people and.
- Ultimately.
- Apart from this lineage.
- From which he promised that the Savior would come.
A few generations later, in the time of the judges, Ruth came out of a culture without God and heard the call to follow the one true God. In divine providence, did you meet and marry a family of God’s people who were strangers to your country, Moab, later as a widow, accompanying your mother-in-law, also a widow, returned to Bethlehem of Judah.
The book that bears his name offers a vivid flash of God’s good hand upon his people, even in this dark period of disobedience, especially through pious servants like Ruth and Boaz, the man who loved and protected this pious woman. Are they all like lights, in the dark, does the existence of a Ruth, a Rahab or a Deborah in such difficult contexts certainly say a lot about these women of faith?And it shows even more about the faithful God they trusted and served.
What kind of context did God put you in to serve Him?Perhaps you are blessed by pious and understanding people around you?Or maybe every day you face ungodly attitudes and actions that fill the path of struggle. despise their values or, who knows, the invasion of pornography into their homes and families. Close to home and in the culture around us, as believers, we constantly face all kinds of “evils in the eyes of the Lord”. The stories of women like Deborah remind us of how God uses faithful people, including strong and pious women, for their good purposes, even in the darkest circumstances.
However, what was the origin of Deborah’s strength?None of us are good or strong on our own. Deborah didn’t mean to be either. As strong as she is, Deborah will not simply emerge from the shadows like a bright, strong heroine. And we can rejoice in it, because it’s us. Normal human beings, sinners like her, you have to listen to this woman’s story and see how she brought to light a dark period that was part of the story in which God placed her.
What does God really say about women?Is there any way to see this message not only as something to believe, but also to appreciate?
In this pleasant conversational book, Kathleen Nielson discusses the scriptures with which women struggle more, openly or not, especially within churches: pastoral ministry, submission, abuse, etc. Join Kathleen in her quest for honest answers to difficult questions and be amazed by the beauty of God’s plan for women.