Little is Much! | Judges 4-5

INTRODUCTION

We all have great plans and desires in life. We want to do something significant in life. But most of the time we feel weak and inadequate. So when opportunities come we seize to take hold of them. Do you feel insignificant today? God wants to use you no matter what your condition.

HF: Today, I want to speak about how God can use you no matter what your situation in life. Today being International Women’s Day, I want to speak in the context of two women in the Bible.

BACKGROUND

In Judges 4, the children of Israel were in evil ways. God had delivered them on several occasions, but it seems like each time when peace came to Israel they got careless and became wicked.

Judges 4:2

So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim.

Now, there was an evil, Canaanite king in the land. The children of Israel were to have driven the Canaanites out in the name of the Lord. Now, because of sin, the enemy seemed to be powerful and Israel helpless. The Canaanite general was a man by the name of Sisera. It is said Sisera probably commanded an army of 1 lakh soldiers. The Bible says he had 900 chariots of iron. In today’s language, we could say he had 900 tanks in his army. So this was a very powerful king who was ruling over the children of Israel.

Deborah, the Judge of Israel

On this day there was a woman by the name of Deborah. She was one of the Judges of Israel. God had raised her to give them the word of God. Deborah told Israel’s commander Barak that God had commanded that he gather up his army in a certain direction and God would draw Sisera and his army to them, and Israel would defeat them in the name of the Lord.

Barack was afraid to go. Here is this great military man who said to Deborah, “Ok I will go if you go with me.” It shows you how afraid the people of Israel were of this Canaanite king. I am sure that Barak was certain that he was going to be defeated.

Deborah agreed that she would accompany the army. But she told Barak that because he would not believe the Lord and insisted that she go along with him, Barak would not get the honour of defeating Sisera. That would go to another person; it would go to a woman.

So Barak called the men of war and God drew Sisera and his army to them. Now here is Sisera, his 900 chariots of iron, and the one lakh soldiers and the Israelites on the other side. Oh! God’s people were outnumbered. In man’s view, this was a hopeless endeavour. They were really outnumbered but listen God gave them victory.

APPLICATION

I do not know if you are sitting here facing an enemy today, you are obeying the word of God. You have been outnumbered, and outsmarted by people, your calculations have gone wrong, the enemy is all around you. God is faithful to give us his victory. He that has called you is faithful. If you are on the Lord’s side, the victory is yours.

So there was a great victory that day. The army of Sisera was destroyed. Finally, Sisera fled by foot. As he was fleeing, he came near the tent of a woman, Jael. She was a Kenite, a descendant of Moses’ father-in-law. Jael went out to meet him and invited him to come into her tent. Sisera asked her to hide him there. She comforted him, gave him milk for him to drink when he asked for water and provided a blanket for him. He asked her to be on the lookout and if anybody came out asking for a man she was to say no.

So Sisera, the great general of the Canaanite army, tired after the war and being on the run, exhausted, comforted by Jael went to sound sleep inside the tent. Jael seized the opportunity. She took a tent peg and a hammer and while Sisera was fast asleep drove the tent peg through his head pinned him to the ground and killed him. God gave a great victory.

This is an OT story from the book of Judges, but there are some great lessons for us to learn from this historic event in Israel.

1. God sometimes judges his people.

Judges 4:1-2

¹Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. ²So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.

A person comes to the Lord Jesus Christ and experiences peace with God. Soon there is joy and prosperity. Then comes a time when he gets complacent in his commitments to God and God sometimes judges the person to draw him back to His presence. That is a principle we find throughout the scripture. God sometimes judges us, by the oppression of the enemy.

If you look today, God’s people by and far have wandered far from him. I am talking about the universal church of God and individual believers. There is a lot of apathy among God’s people today. In many cases, God’s people live just like the world. So I wonder if we are not experiencing today God’s judgement today in some form or the other.

Apostle Paul talks about the suffering of a Christian in

1 Peter 4:17

For it is time for judgement, to begin with God’s household. We have been saved from the wrath of God but we are also judged by God while we are here.

But I have good news for you. If God’s people return to him, he can forgive us and give us victory. God is still in charge and the victory is ours.

2. You are important to God.

Every person; whether boy or girl, man or woman, great or small is important to God. Let me talk to sisters, you are very important to God.

Look at Jael. She is a woman in the tent, just a housewife, not much ability. But God used Jael in a wonderful and mighty way. What does that say? Every person is important for God.

I am speaking to some sisters who say, “I am nobody. I am not that important, my husband goes to work. And I am always in the kitchen, everyone’s schedule is my schedule, no one cares for me, I have no rest. I do not know if my life can be productive.”

Dear sister, so was Jael. She was a nobody. Even though she was not the greatest in her house, even though she was not the big number 1 in the land, God had kept a significant role for her. She served God very effectively and God commended her for it.

Judges 5:24

“Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

You are important to God. Don’t ever say I am nobody. You are somebody in Jesus Christ. You have a great role to play in moulding up your family. God wants to use the little things that you do for his glory.

3. God uses ordinary people.

As you read the account you will discover that Jale was not even an Israelite. She was a Kenite. She is just called Heber’s wife. And she was not a political person. Jale had no great reputation or great accomplishment of her own yet. The greater was Deborah, Siesera, Barak, and Heber, yet God used an ordinary person for his glory who seized the opportunity.

Dear friend, that is encouraging. You know what that tells us, God uses simple people. You may not be that talented or gifted but God still has plans to use you.

God is doing great things at City Harvest. Yes, God deserves all the credit; however, do you know that God is using all of us who are here, our help, our work, our prayers, and our support to the church for His glory?

God uses ordinary people, people who sometimes serve under the shadow of another. God will use ordinary people to do his work if they are just available to him and willing.

So, don’t call yourself a nobody in Jesus Christ. God uses the weak and foolish things of the world to shame the wise and the strong. Be available to him. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

4. Use what you have.

Jale did not have a chariot. She did not have military training or weapons. She was not a judge or prophetess like Deborah. Jale had nothing compared to the big money and items other men and women had, but Jale used what she had. What did she have? She had some milk and a blanket. She had a nail, a tent peg, and a hammer.

We think, “Could anybody do great work with those tools?” Yet, Jael used it for the glory of God.

Dear sister, you may think that you may have a little but that little is much in the hand of God. What do you have? You may look at your life today and say, “Really I have nothing.” Oh do not say that. Do you have a smile? Do you have the word of God in your hand? And Do you have children to whom you can minister to? What do you have? What has God given you? Jale simply used what she had, but oh how God put those things to use when she gave them over to the Lord.

Dear brothers at City Harvest? But what is it that you have? That small family, your small job, or that little salary? Use it for the glory of God and see how God will use you to bless others for His glory.

5. Pursue God’s will, even if you are alone.

Do right even when it hurts.

At this time in history one of the greatest virtues was the virtue of hospitality. If someone came to your tent, that person became your responsibility to protect them at all costs. That was the culture in which Jale lived. Moreover, the Kenites and the Canaanites were in alliance. In all probability, Jale should have protected Sisera in a worldly sense.

But what we fail to understand is that Heber and Jale is living in Israelite territory. They probably had come to know the God of Israel. So Jale here was doing the will of God.

But Jale knew that she was politically and culturally incorrect to do the will of God. The politically correct thing would have been to hide Sisera. Jale knew that she might be criticized. She was willing to risk everything, even that which was most precious, even her own personal reputation if need be in order to do the will of God. But now she was praised publicly by God in front of the people.

Judges 5:31

“So may all your enemies perish, Lord! But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.”

You may be a minority in the workplace. The world around us may practice corruption and wickedness. You may be alone, or you may be a minority; that is where God calls us to stand alone and pursue his will.

6. If you are not ready, God may use someone else.

Don’t lose God-given opportunities.

As we are in the Lord, God will time and again put in our hearts some vision or a task to do for him. Sometimes he gives us opportunities for something new or a new ministry. If we keep putting off those opportunities, God may use someone else.

Look at Jale. She seized her opportunity. She did not just sit around and wait for it to happen. And she sees Sisera coming and Jale goes out to meet Sisera. Did you get that? She did not just wait to see if he would stop by her tent, she went out to meet Sisera. She knew what she was supposed to do, so she took action.

Then let me say just a word to the men. Before you get offended just be reminded that I am one of you, ok. If men will not rise to the occasion, God may use women to do your work.

Barak should have done all of this. He was a military man. Barak had God’s call. Barak had the tools to do the job with God’s help but Barak was timid, he was afraid to do this. When he went to war against Sisera he did so reluctantly and hiding behind the courage of a woman. But God had another woman who would follow him more directly than would Barak. Her name was Jale. When this man would not rise to the occasion, God chose a woman to do so.

God is looking for people today who will put their hearts into his work in serving him. Seize your opportunities.

Deborah in this story too did capitalize on her opportunities. She was a lady like many here who did multitasking but she did an excellent job overall. She was a wife, mother, intercessor, judge, prophet, and also a hero who went to war. And she ceased all her opportunities.

Don’t be afraid to take up challenges for God. In the book of Esther when Haman plots against the Jews Mordecai persuades Esther to use the opportunity:

Esther 4:14

If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place.

CONCLUSION

Little is much in the hands of God. What is the little my dear brother and sister you have this morning? All through the Bible God used ordinary people, the little things they have and shame the wise. A little army is much when it is in God’s hands. A little weapon is much when it is in God’s hands. A life is much when it is in God’s hands. Little money is much when it is in God’s hands. Why don’t you place your little in God’s hands today? Seize every opportunity that comes your way.

Repent from your sins, repent from your shortcomings. You are important to God. He can give you the victory. God uses ordinary people. Decide to use the little you have. Do God’s will even if you are alone. Let’s Pray.