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"Then Deborah said to Barak, 'Go! This is the day the Lord has handed Sisera over to you. Hasn't the Lord gone before you?' So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him."
(Judges 4:14, CSB)
Welcome to Day Two of learning about our friend Barak! If you have not read yesterday's Part 1 in our series about Barak, I recommend you go read it to catch up on what you missed, or better yet, go read Judges 4:1-13! In today's passage, we see Judge Deborah tell Barak a very specific command: Go!
Barak is commanded to go down and fight the evil nation that has taken over Israel! Barak is given a command plus two truths to accompany him. The command is go, but look at the truths that Deborah reminds him of. The first one is an encouragement of victory: "This is the day the Lord has handed Sisera over to you." Deborah reminds Barak that God has given him the victory, and he just needs to go fight! The second truth, in the form of a question, is, "Hasn't the Lord gone before you?" The second truth is the encouragement of God's presence going before Barak on the battlefield.
Barak has another choice to make in response to Deborah's command. Will Barak do what he did earlier in the chapter? Will he ask for Deborah's presence through the battle? Will Barak not trust in what God has commanded and encouraged with him? What is Barak's response? "So Barak came down from Mount Tabor..." Barak obeyed the command from God to go down to fight. Barak ends up defeating this great foe because the Lord had given Sisera and the evil nation over to Barak and the Israelites. The Lord was with Barak and gave them victory.
We may not be fighting an evil nation, but we can learn a couple lessons from Barak. One, the two truths that Deborah shared with Barak are applicable to us in the 21st century! We can KNOW that the Lord is in control of the day that we are going to live. We may not have a Sisera to conquer, but I think we can all agree that each day brings its own problems and obstacles to conquer. With each day bringing all these troubles, we can rest in the truth and encouragement that God is in control of our day! The other truth we can cling to is the encouragement of God's presence. Barak knew that the Lord had gone before him, and we can know that as well. Not only is the Lord in control of our day, but He has gone before us! He is in control and has made a way for us!
Now, these two truths are a great encouragement to us, but they are not the promise of an easy victory. Barak still had to go down from Mount Tabor and fight for the victory that God had promised. Barak knew who was in control and knew who went before him. With this knowledge, Barak obeyed the command to go! We can adopt the same attitude: we can know that God is in control and that God goes before us. We may not necessarily know what the victory looks like, but if God tells us to go, and we know that He is in control and goes before us, the results are in the hands of an almighty, loving God in whom we can always put our trust!
May we be people who are obedient to the commands of God in the battles of life!
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