Read Judges 4:1-7

Read Judges 4:1-7

After Ehud died, the people of Israel sinned against the Lord again. ²So the Lord let them be conquered by Jabin, a Canaanite king who ruled in the city of Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived at Harosheth-of-the-Gentiles. ³Jabin had 900 iron chariots, and he ruled the people of Israel with cruelty and violence for twenty years. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help.

4 Now Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet, and she was serving as a judge for the Israelites at that time. ⁵She used to sit under a certain palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel would go there for her decisions. ⁶One day she sent for Barak son of Abinoam from the city of Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, has given you this command: ‘Take ten thousand men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them to Mount Tabor. ⁷I will bring Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, to fight against you at the River Kishon. He will have his chariots and soldiers, but I will give you victory over him.’ ”

Think

Last week the people promised to serve God; and the generation that made that promise kept it.  But the next generation and the next failed.  The phrase: "Then the people of Israel sinned against the Lord and..." Is a refrain in the book of Judges.

But God raised up Judges who would set the people on the right path again.

Pray

Lord, thank you for those who speak up for you when we wander away.  Help me to hear you calling me back.  And guide me as I do my best to call others back to you.