Focal passages: Judges 4:1-9; 5:1-5
I will never forget my friend William*. He was very outgoing with a magnetic personality. He would not, however, have considered himself a spiritual leader. You can imagine his surprise when I came and asked him to pray about teaching adult Sunday School.
Someone had observed in a men’s study that William asked great questions and made insightful comments from his own time of studying God’s Word. I was overjoyed when, not that much later, William was not only leading an adult Sunday School class but also leading a men’s Bible study that involved nearly 100 men.
God allowed me to use my faith in Him and the influence He had given to me to call someone else to greater faith in, and service of, Him for the advance of His Kingdom. Afterward, we had the opportunity to rejoice together at all we had seen God do and to praise God for what He had done. Such was the case with Deborah. As judge and prophetess, she was a faithful servant of the one true God, even during the time of the judges – a period marked by the rollercoaster experiences of idolatry and disobedience, followed by repentance and God’s deliverance, followed by further idolatry and disobedience. Deborah not only walked by faith in God and in faithful service to Him, but she also used her influence to call others to an active faith as well, seen in her enlistment of Barak. She was also quick to sing praise to God, then, for His powerful work.
This is a repeating pattern we see in God’s work throughout scripture. God does His work in and through one of His faithful servants who then uses his or her example and influence to call others to faithful service to God as well. As a result, God’s Kingdom is advanced, God receives glory, and those who have been used by God praise Him for what He has done. Who has God put in your life that you could encourage toward greater faith and obedience for God’s glory and the advance of His Kingdom?
* Name changed