Warrior Mums
Speaker: Pastor Darin Browne
TO ALL THE MUMS – HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!
I was going to do a nice celebration of motherhood this morning, but given the state of our society, and the blatant attacks on the family and children, I have opted for a call to arms for mums. Our kids and grandkids need us right now. Let me introduce you to a mother in Israel named Deborah.
SOLD OUT
Judges 4:1-2 (ESV)
And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD after Ehud died. And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.
Israel had forsaken their God, ignoring Him and His laws, and chased other Gods. The result is an interesting Hebrew word, it says the Lord sold them into the hands of their enemies. Hebrew MAKAR, which means selling oneself into slavery. God let them reap what they sowed, and the people were oppressed.
Look at our world today. Homosexuality, transgenderism, euthanasia, abortion, it’s a mess, and how many of these great evils target our kids? Our world is in such a state not because God cannot save, but because He is allowing us to reap as a society what we have sowed over many years.
Romans 1:24 (ESV)
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonouring of their bodies among themselves,
Tony Evans said, “If you demand to worship false gods, God will eventually let you be ruled by your preferences.” I like what Larry Norman sang…”What a mess the world is in, I wonder who began it, don’t ask me, I’m only visiting this planet.”
Ancient Israel too was a compromising, confused mess…but into the breach stepped a woman, a mother, a warrior…Deborah!
Judges 5:7 (ESV)
The villagers ceased in Israel; they ceased to be until I arose;
I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel.
MUMS, YOU’RE WONDER WOMEN
Judges 4:4 (ESV)
Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
Deborah is described as LAPPIDOTH ESHETH, which means wife of LAPPIDOTH, but also woman of fire, torches, or light. Woman of Ignite one might say.
I hope you mums are fired up this morning for your families. Our nation desperately needs mothers who care enough to stand for righteousness. Marvel and DC comic heros have nothing on a godly mum. And Deborah was one of them. She was a judge, a leader, a kind of prime minister over her people, a bit like a a better version of Jacinta Arden or Julia Gillard, because she stood for righteousness. She summoned the head of the army, a guy named Barak, and told him to marshal 10,000 troops to fight for her people. God said,
Judges 4:7 (ESV)
And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?”
So, the order came, but Barak was hesitant.
Judges 4:8 (ESV)
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.”
THE POWER OF WORDS
Proverbs 18:21 (ESV)
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.
Deborah gave the necessary order, expecting immediate obedience, but found a nervous commander. I think her response is interesting.
She could have called him out, she could have embarrassed Barak, called him a coward, told him to toughen up princess! But she didn’t. In kindness she prophesied over him.
Judges 4:9 (ESV)
And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
Ladies, your tongue is the sword with which you fight this battle, but it can be a blessing or a curse to your family. James was right.
James 3:3-4 (ESV)
If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.
Mums, your words can bring kindness and encouragement. Your speech can direct your kids and grandkids in their lives, their morals, their futures, their destinies. Or your speech can destroy them and scar them for life.
James 3:5 (ESV)
So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!
Deborah chose not to call out Barak, but instead to call him up. To prophesy to him, and then to join him directly in this great endeavour. She backed up her speech with actions, and this mother went to war for her children!
Will Durant said, “Talk is cheap because supply always exceeds demand.” This mum followed up her positive talk with positive action.
Mums, you can do that today. Always speak with love and graciousness, and I know it’s difficult at times, but always speak the truth in love.
DEB TRUSTED GOD AND GOT INVOLVED
Hands off parenting is not going to work in the 21st century. If you let teachers, politicians, media, and social media shape your child, their life will be destroyed. Deborah was a hands-on mum in Israel, she actually went into battle for her people.
Now Sisera had a huge army, at least 4 times what the Israelites had. He also had 900 chariots of iron, his own tank division. Deborah and Balak faced insurmountable odds, they were outnumbered, outclassed, and outgunned. But they had something Sisera didn’t. The Lord!
Judges 4:14-15 (ESV)
And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the LORD has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the LORD go out before you?” (Notice the positive encouraging message to Barak…It was “Don’t be afraid, Barak, you’ve got God and God’s got this!”) So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot.
This is the Lord’s message to you today as mums. Trust God, commit your kids to Him, but also step up and be the mother God has destined you to be. If you don’t fight for your kids, who will?
I want to prophesy to you mothers and grandmothers. This is the hour to pray up a storm for your kids and grand kids. Turn off the TV or Facebook for a time and pray for them. Keep sharing the gospel with them, keep talking them up, because mothers have a special role in reaching our generation. God’s come through before, and He will again. Esther 4:14…
who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Psalms 9:10 (ESV)
And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Deborah and Barak defeated Sisera and his mighty army, and chariots, and she wrote this beautiful song in Judges 5. But that’s not the end of the story.
DRIVING HOME THE POINT
Sisera escaped and fled to the tent of an ally. Heber the Kenite was an ally of Canaanite king Jabaan, Sisera’s king. Heber compromised with the enemy, and as I look around this world, I see lots of compromise with the enemy.
So many parents play into all the social and sexual changes the government and media promote, in the name of inclusion. Now they can exclude Christians in the name of inclusion. They talk about hate speech, but they hate us because we don’t bow and scrape to their clearly flawed ideas.
We don’t need mums who give in and float with the tide of public opinion like dead fish, we need live fish, mums who will stand for truth and preach it to their kids and pray like crazy for them.
Heber was a compromising guy, and friend of Sisera’s boss, so Sisera escaped to his tents. But his wife Jael knew the one true God, and she bravely stepped up. She took him in and hid him under a rug, even gave him some milk. Sisera thought he was safe, after all, a girl and an ally can’t hurt you, can she?
WRONG!
Judges 4:20-21 (ESV)
And he said to her, “Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.'” But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So, he died.
Jael wanted to make a point, and something entered Sisera’s head that had never entered it before. That situation was intense, or at least in Jael’s tent, and she drove the point home. Like Deborah, Jael was a fighting woman, who knew how to not compromise or give in, but instead protect her people. I believe we have mums just like that here today!
Love doesn’t remain silent when someone is headed for destruction. It doesn’t enable and empower their destruction. Love cares for them, proclaims truth and lives and accepts them, regardless of their decision. But love does not remain silent! If someone is on the train tracks as a train approaches, love says get off the tracks, not I empower your delusion of identifying as a train!
Mums, proclaim truth and pray for your kids!
EMPATHY IN MILITANCY
Something fascinating occurs in how Deborah responded to the news that Barak had obtained total victory. She broke into song, a song full of praise and giving the glory to the Lord. She trusted God, saw victory, and gave the glory to Him. Judges 5 is her victory song!
Let me ask you, when things are going well for you, do you take the time to thank God? When you or your family win, do you celebrate by praising God, or do you forget Him. Deborah focussed her attention on God and celebrated.
Judges 5:11-12 (ESV)
To the sound of musicians at the watering places, there they repeat the righteous triumphs of the LORD, the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel.
“Then down to the gates marched the people of the LORD.
“Awake, awake, Deborah!
Awake, awake, break out in a song!
Arise, Barak, lead away your captives,
O son of Abinoam.
But here’s what really touches me about Deborah. In the middle of a song of victory, she stops to empathise with the mother of the man who wanted to kill her and enslave her nation. In the middle of militancy, she had empathy. She cares for those who hurt.
Judges 5:27-28 (ESV)
Between her (Jael) feet he (Sisera) sank, he fell, he lay still;
between her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell – dead.
“Out of the window she peered, the mother of Sisera wailed through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’
This remarkable mother of Israel hurt even for her enemy’s mother. She is full of compassion, even for the fallen, for enemies, because Deborah truly knew God’s love. What a mum! Do you want to be that kind of mum?
THE BEST SUPERPOWER MUMS CAN HAVE
Mums, the greatest asset you have is your connection to God and His limitless love. Who wants to be a super mum? Who wants to be full of compassion and love? Mums…who wants to fight for their children and grandchildren?
Psalms 37:4 (ESV)
Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Mums, your children and grandchildren, this generation, needs strength and stability and righteousness, and above all love. You can pray with strength and power.
