Sermon Series: The Nobility of God's Nobodies

Deborah and Barak: 

Handling Life's "Impossibles"

Judges 4:1-16

PSBC 10/1/00

In a nutshell: Satan uses many tactics to get our focus off of our Great Commission. One of those tactics is to bring seemingly impossible situations into our lives. However, we can defeat this tactic by keeping three important principles in mind: 1. Circumstances are not the truth, and a cry to God sets His power in motion. 2. Fear can make circumstances seem like they are the truth, but trust in God can overcome that fear. 3. The truth of any circumstance is realized only in the power of God. Deborah and Barak demonstrate these to us.

I. Introduction

A. Bear Advisory

Evidently with all the fires in the western part of the United States this past summer, food for wild animals is in short supply. Therefore, humans have come into contact with many more wild animals than usual. And human contact with wild bears has become an especially huge problem. The state of Montana has decided to handle this growing problem by issuing an advisory. Their Department of Fish and Game has posted a bulletin, that contains the following information: "We advise that outdoorsmen wear noisy little bells on their clothing so as not to startle bears that aren't expecting them. We also advise outdoorsmen to carry pepper spray with them in case of an encounter with a bear. It is also a good idea to watch out for fresh signs of bear activity. Outdoorsmen should recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear dung. Black bear dung is smaller and contains lots of berries and squirrel fur. Grizzly bear dung is larger and contains little bells and smells like pepper spray."

B. Common Problems

As human beings, were called upon to deal with a lot of problems, aren't we?
-Some problems are age related–we find that our bodies really are not created for eternity, and they do eventually wear out and so there are problems associated with the use and abuse we've given our them over the years.
-Others of us have problems that are stage related–we find our selves having to juggle our schedules, our spouse's schedules, our children's schedules, ministry schedule's, and work schedules... while trying to maintain our sanity or marriage and our friendships.
-Still other problems come because of decisions we made in our past...our brains aren't as sharp now, because we chose to do drugs at an earlier age; we're reaping the consequences of past decisions, because we chose to listen to the wrong person or the wrong advice; or we were short sighted and selfish with our money in past years, and find that we are now hurting financially.

These and many other problems are common to everyone, in one way, shape or form.

C. Christian Problems

But there is a whole other category of problems that can occur in a Christian person's life, that doesn't occur in a non- believer's life, because of Whom we've trusted for salvation, and what we've been called to do because of that salvation.

Most of you know by now that as followers of Jesus Christ, we have a very specific set of marching orders... a very specific commission–we call it the Great Commission...

Matthew 28:19-20
19 (Jesus said)...Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

And because our God has an enemy, whom the Bible identifies as Satan, we find our selves with this unique set of problems whenever we try to carry out God's Great Commission. Don't be ignorant to the fact that Satan wants to stop us from attempting Great Commission work by deflecting our efforts somewhere else, that isn't Great Commission work.

-One of the ways Satan does this is by getting us consumed with making a living and getting ahead financially so we don't have the time or energy to carry out the Great Commission.
-Another way he'll try to stop the Great Commission from getting accomplished through our lives is by getting us so busy doing activities for our selves, or our children, or with our friends, or family, that we don't do anything intentional that advances the Kingdom of God.
-Yet another way he tries to take our focus off of the Great Commission is by getting Christians to be at odds with each other. This gets our best mental, physical and emotional efforts focused on arguing and complaining among themselves, rather than partnering with each other to do Great Commission work.
-And still another way he diverts us is to make us so proud that we are un-teachable and unwilling to learn what is necessary to accomplish Great Commission work.

But, friends, I don't intend to speak to any of those tactics of Satan this morning. Each of those is worthy of another message at another time. However, what God wants us to consider this morning is a tactic of Satan that I've not mentioned yet. But like all the rest of his tactics, it is designed to take our minds off of Great Commission work, and focus them somewhere else.

I call this tactic, the problem of the impossibles. The impossibles are those times in our lives when we are so overwhelmed by circumstances or conflicts or difficulties that we come to our wit's end, seemingly have no place to go for relief, and we realize the complete vacuum in our resources to be able to solve whatever it is that we're facing. And the negative result of impossibles in our life is that they can do something to us that God doesn't want to have done–they can it take our focus off of the Great Commission and place it on our circumstances.

To help us understand issue better, we're going to look at two people who learned some important principles about handling an impossible situation in their lives–a man by the name of Barak, and a woman by the name of Deborah. From them I hope we can learn three important things we can apply to our lives when we are faced with impossible problems, both in our personal lives and in the life of our church. Their story is found in Judges 4. And that's where I'd like you to turn in your Bibles this morning...

II. Circumstances are not the truth, but a cry to God sets His power in motion.

Judges 4:1-3
1 After Ehud died, the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the LORD.
2 So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim.
3 Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the LORD for help.

The evil Israel did, was the same evil they did repeatedly throughout this period of their history.
-They worshiped the Canaanite gods in direct violation to one of the 10 Commandments,
-they intermarried with the Canaanite people in direct violation to the law God had given to Moses,
-and they did whatever was right in their own eyes regardless of what God had taught them in the past.

Jabin was a city-state king of Canaanite heritage, and lived up at the northern end of the Promised Land in a town called Hazor. His hired gun, was a guy by the name of Sisera, who was a Philistine general with extensive military experience. The Philistines at this time in history had a monopoly on the making of iron, because they had the secret on how to manufacture it, and they wouldn't share that secret with anyone. So, in a war, they became impossible to defeat–after all, what good were weapons of stone and wood against weapons of iron?

So, right away, at the beginning of this story of Deborah and Barak, we are introduced to an impossible situation...There was a king who hated the Jews; He commanded an army that was very good at killing enemies; And there was a general who controlled iron chariots and iron weapons when everyone else fought with sticks and stones.

That sounds like an IMPOSSIBLE to me! And the question we face this morning is... how do you take an impossible situation and change it so there is freedom and life and joy again? Or to say it another way... How do you make an impossible situation, possible again? The last seven words of verse 3 tell us that starting point..."They cried to the Lord for help."

Here's the first spiritual principle regarding impossibles that I want you to remember this morning... Circumstances are not the truth, but a cry to God sets His power in motion.

The Israelites were overwhelmed by their circumstances. But then they cried out to God, it's as if God said, "Finally, I can deliver you–just watch me work."

Are you facing something in your life that is an impossible right now? Is there something that's overwhelming you? What is it that's putting pressure on your life? What doesn't seem to go away that is affecting your decisions or the way you live?

Satan wants to use those impossibles to defeat you and take your mind off of God's Great Commission work. Those impossibles aren't the measure of what's true in your life–to realize this, you need to start at the beginning point of overcoming circumstances. Call on God and ask for His help!

Satan tried to do this with our church last week in the area of our finances. But we very wisely realized that circumstances were not a measure of the truth about our church–The truth is we are God's church, not man's church. God has all the resources needed to meet the financial obligations we need to be a FORCE for Jesus Christ–so we cried out to God at the end of the service last Sunday morning, and all through this week people of our church have been praying. And God supplied our needs so we didn't have to borrow money at the end of the month to pay our bills.

In Israel's case, in our story, God chose to use a godly woman by the name of Deborah. She was to be the catalyst for God's deliverance from this impossible situation.

III. Fear can make circumstances seem like they are the truth, but trust in God can overcome that fear.

Judges 4:4-5
4 Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.
5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.

I think this is one of the most humorous twists in the Old Testament. You see, the name Deborah means "honey bee". Now, put that into the context of the first three verses of the chapter. Here you have 900 iron chariots, and thousands of armed mercenaries running around, oppressing God's people. Then God's people collectively cry out to God for help. And what does God do? He uses a woman, sitting under a palm tree, who is so powerful, that her name is "honey bee".

Deborah was a woman who held four jobs (does that sound like any of you ladies?) First, she was a judge. That means she was the one who handed out wisdom and justice. Her court room was in Bethel, near the southern end of Canaan. Second, if you look at verse 7 of chapter 5 of Judges, she is called a "mother in Israel". That means she had a family that she was responsible for, by encouraging them, feeding them and helping them mature. Third, she was a wife. She knew first hand that men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Finally, she was a prophetess–one who speaks God's Word to God's people. Which means she didn't tell people what she thought, she told people what God thought. That's where she got her authority, and that's why people came to her. They wanted to know God thoughts.

So, while "honey bee" is sitting under the palm tree giving out godly advice and justice to the people who have came to her, she says to one of her helpers, "I want you to go all the way to the northern border of Canaan, to Kedesh, and ask Barak to come and see me." Now the interesting thing is that the city of Hazor, where wicked king Jabin lived, is just 8 miles away from Kedesh, where Barak lived.

When Barak finally shows up, Deborah tells him what God wants him to do...

Judges 4:6-7
6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, "The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: `Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor.
7 I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.'"

Now, if you were Barak, and you faced an impossible situation, like...
...living right next door to your arch-enemy,
...knowing first-hand just how big and powerful that enemy was,
...having lived all your adult life in complete fear of that enemy...,
...plus you knew the facts to be, that you don't even have an army,
...and everyone you know has sticks and stones for weapons,
...now a girl by the name of "honey bee" is asking you to go to war... how would you respond?

This is how Barak responds...

Judges 4:8
8 Barak said to her, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go."

In other words, "I'm afraid. Please hold my hand. Because if you don't, I won't go."

And the interesting thing is that Deborah doesn't put him down for his fear. Look at what she says...

Judges 4:9-10
9 "Very well," Deborah said, "I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman." So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh,
10 where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

What's interesting here to me is that Deborah agrees to go as co-commander, at a time when women just didn't do this kind of thing–and she predicts (remember she's a prophetess, so she speaks for God) a victory. But she also says that another women will get credit for defeating General Sisera–not Barak or her. The last part of this chapter, that we won't get into this morning tells us that this woman was Jael, who finished Sisera off, with a hammer and a wooden stake. You can read that part of the story this afternoon, on your own.

But, here's the second principle I want you to remember when you face the IMPOSSIBLES in your life... Fear can make circumstances seem like they are the truth, but trust in God can overcome that fear.

Barak looked at the facts:
-he didn't have an army.
-all the people he knew fought with sticks and stones.
-And sticks and stones were no match for iron chariots and iron weapons.

Illustration: It reminds me of the second year that I pastored the West County Fellowship church-plant in Chesterfield, Missouri, we had grown to a church of 60 people, and adopted a faith-based budget, based on what we felt God wanted us to do as a church to advance His Kingdom. But by the end of the summer, we were running $20,000 behind in our budget. It was coming down to "do we pay our bills or do we pay the pastor?" at the end of the month.

I shared the situation with our people one Sunday morning, like I did with you all last week. Several people started to panic, and most of the suggestions they made involved cuts to the budget. But God led me to say this... "Our leaders invested much time and prayer in putting this budget together, based on where we felt God was leading us. We spent a week in prayer as a church before we voted on this budget. And we approved it unanimously, believing that God led us to stretch beyond where we had ever been before. Now, who changed–us or God?" No one would answer that question. So, I called the people to a week of prayer like I did with you all, last week. And encouraged them to ask God to do something only He could do.

In the meantime, our Board met that Sunday night to take care of some business that had accumulated over the summer. One of those points of business was a small stock gift that had been given to the church several months before. I had found out that it was worth about $5000 dollars when we received it. The Board felt that we shouldn't be in the stock business, so we decided to sell it that next day. Well, the day we sold it, was the day that that stock hit its highest point. And that $5000 stock gift was now worth just over $20,000. God had wiped out our deficit, and during the next months provided everything we needed to meet and exceed our faith-based budget.

Friends, don't ever forget, as long as you are involved in God's business..., seeking to fulfill His agenda–His Great Commission–in your personal life and in our corporate life as a church–He will see that all your needs and our needs are met. Fear can make circumstances seem like they are the truth, but trust in God can overcome that fear. That's the second principle we learn from this chapter in Deborah and Barak's life.

IV. The truth of any circumstance is realized only in the power of God.

Now, let's finish the story to find out the third principle for dealing with the impossibles...

Judges 4:12-13
12 When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,
13 Sisera gathered together his nine hundred iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River.

Well, Barak managed to get 10,000 men with sticks and stones to voluntarily follow him into the forest on Mount Tabor, to get ready to attack Sisera's army. Through his spies, Sisera hears about this rebellion, and immediately sets out to squash it with his full complement of heavily armed soldiers, iron chariots and horses.

Can you imagine the conversation that Barak and Deborah had in the forest. I think it went something like this (on tape)
"What are we supposed to do?"
"I don't know, I'm waiting for God to tell me."
"You're waiting for what?"
"God will tell us what to do and when to do it."
"Well, what's the signal for us to start fighting?"
"I'll shout "GO"!
"Then what do we do?"
"I imagine you're supposed to chase after the enemy."
"But they're chasing after us, how can we chase after them?"
"I don't know, but your job is to just run like crazy when I tell you to go, and chase the enemy."
"O.K., but I hope you and God know what you're doing!" Look at what happened next...

Judges 4:14-16
14 Then Deborah said to Barak, "Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone ahead of you?" So Barak went down Mount Tabor, followed by ten thousand men.
15 At Barak's advance, the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot.
16 But Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim. All the troops of Sisera fell by the sword; not a man was left.
If you read chapter 5 of Judges, you'll find out some of the details that are left out in these three verses of narrative. You see, according to...

Judges 5:20-22 this is what happened...
20 From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.
21 The river Kishon swept them away, the age-old river, the river Kishon. March on, my soul; be strong!
22 Then thundered the horses' hoofs– galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.

What happened was that God sent a thundering rainstorm to that mountain area. It came down so fast and so hard that it drenched the mountain side, ran off into all the little streams and creeks and rivers, and caused a flash flood that overtook and enveloped Sisera and his army and chariots and horses. As they tried to escape by running up the mountain side, Deborah cried, "GO", and Barak's men went running down the mountain side and attacked the army of Sisera. And the enemy army of Sisera was obliterated that day, and Israel was in bondage to Sisera and Jabin no longer. God had demonstrated who was really in control and did something only He could do. So, the real truth about this impossible situation was finally revealed to Deborah and Barak through God's power.

So, here's the third principle for dealing with the impossible situations of our lives...

The truth of any circumstance is realized only in the power of God.

V. Conclusion

So, what impossible are you facing? Is it drug or substance related? Is it relationship related? Is related to finances? Is it medical? Is it emotional? Is it unfair? Does it seem hopeless? Is it anything else? I guarantee, whatever it is, it is taking your mind and focus off of doing Great Commission work in the Coachella Valley and the world (as we've been called to do as a church!) So, don't be duped by the devil. Nothing is impossible in your life, when you're doing what God wants done.

Don't forget these three principles from Deborah and Barak's story...

1. Circumstances are not the truth, and a cry to God sets His power in motion.
2. Fear can make circumstances seem like they are the truth, but trust in God can overcome that fear.
3. The truth of any circumstance is realized only in the power of God.

And keep in mind that the same God who helped Deborah and Barak is the same God who says the words on the front of your bulletin this morning to you, personally...

Hebrews 13:5b (NLT)
5b For God has said, "I will never fail you. I will never forsake you."

Amen.