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"She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, 'Hasn't the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, "Go, deploy the troops on Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the Naphtalites and Zebulunites? Then I will lure Sisera, commander of Jabin's army, his chariots, and his infantry at the Wadi Kishon to fight against you, and I will hand him over to you."' Barak said to her, 'If you will go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go.' 'I will gladly go with you,' she said, 'but you will receive no honor on the road you are about to take, because the Lord will sell Sisera to a woman.' So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh."
(Judges 4:6-9, CSB)
If you skipped over the passage at the top of today's devo, take a moment to read it... and then read it again! For the next few days, we are going to learn about a guy named Barak. Barak's story is found in Judges 4-5. The main story is about a Judge of Israel named Deborah, but Barak is a key character in this story as well.
To give a little context, at this point in the story, Israel has abandoned God again and has been captured by an evil nation. Deborah the Judge then gives Barak God's instructions for what he must do to get the Israelites out of the evil nation's control. Deborah gives Barak some specific instructions, but Barak will only do them on one stipulation: Deborah must come with him.
Barak makes the mistake of not obeying the Lord at His word and wanting Deborah to come along just for backup. If we are not careful, we can make the same mistake that Barak makes. We can be studying God's word and walking in a right relationship with him; however, when God commands us to do something, we give God a conditional reply. For example: God calls us to go share the Gospel with someone, and we give God an "if..." or God commands us to get rid of certain sins in our lives, and instead of repentance, we give God an "if..."
"Ifs" are a dangerous response to a command of God. When Barak gives God his "if", it costs him the reward that he wanted. Deborah tells Barak that he will not get to kill the evil commander Sisera. Because Barak didn't do what the Lord commanded, he misses out on his blessing. If we are not careful, we will miss out on the blessings of obedience to God's word if we respond to God's commands with our "ifs".
What commands has God given you today? What will be your answer? Will your "yes" be on the table, and will you be obedient to what He has called you to do?
May we be people who read the commands of God, the Scriptures, and respond with an emphatic "yes", not an "if".
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