The Only Stupid Question Is One Not Asked!

What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Acts 17:28

Sometimes, even as Christians we struggle to grasp how much we depend on God. After all, we don’t see Him and hear Him, so it is easy to perceive Him as distant. But we are reminded by Paul’s words that God not only created us, but He continuously sustains us. God didn’t just create us and then step aside. Rather, He actively maintains the universe, continuing to make a place for us to live and glorify Him.

Lord, thank You for creating me, in Your image and as Your offspring. Thank You for faithfully watching over Your creation and holding all things together. Thank You for making a place for me in Your creation, and as Your child. Please remain with me and sustain me, so that my life may bring You honor and glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Even as Solomon warned his son to refuse the enticements of the world, the flesh, and the Devil, so you also. Our Lord has warned us to do the same in this verse from Proverbs. We are your sons and your daughters, and you provide us with the instruction we need to follow you. Those who have cast off any purpose to obey your law and live in a continual, unrepentant practice of sin, sinners, love to cause others to fall. But however great the allurement or enticement may be, we cannot be forced to sin against our own wills. We must choose to yield ourselves to God instead of to sin (Romans 6:13).

Amen

The book of Isaiah follows the Jewish people during their exile from Babylon. Times were tough: the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadrezzar, and the Jewish people were enslaved for decades. In Isaiah 40, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The Jewish people are permitted to return to Jerusalem, ending their exile, but a long trek is ahead of them. With this context in mind, I believe Isaiah 40:11 begins to make a lot more sense.

What is the longest walk you have ever been on? How about the longest walk in the summer in the desert? Now imagine that you don’t know when you will arrive, what will be there when you arrive, and that each day brings you to a new place that you have possibly never been before. Imagine the fear you would feel, the insecurity you would be wracked with on a daily basis, and the anxiety you would feel towards the unknown you would encounter every single day. There is an answer, however, a guiding hope that will lead you when you are lost. It is the Lord our Shepherd. This imaginary exercise can only paint a very loose picture of what the exiles of Jerusalem were truly feeling. They were enslaved for decades, broken and tortured, split from their families and had their faith decimated. They continued to trust in God, and God never abandoned them.

The rejoicing tone of this verse can be easily felt. Wandering in the desert, tired and lost, the Jews are finally allowed to return home. Their faith wavered, their will was tested, but God fed his flock, gathered and carried them, and gently led those with children. A shepnherd can carry a baby lamb and will see the mother of the baby follow closely, the most intimate and gentle experience that a shepherd can perform.

What can we take for this verse that we can use in our lives? First trust in God. He will not abandon us and will always be there for us when we ask Him to be. He’s even there when we don’t ask Him to be.

Second think of others that we can act as a shepherd towards. Carry those that need to be carried when they need it, leading those who need to be led when they need us.

Lastly be wise enough to recognize not everyone is in control of our lives. God has a plan for the Hebrews in the Book of Isaiah and although it may be impossible for many of them to realize God’s plan for their lives at the time, He followed through with His plan like or not. I have had the same problems within my life thinking I am able to control everything there comes a time in everyone’s life when we need help and God is the only way no matter what!

Your plans Father God are so much better than any plan I have for myself. I ask You for help and You will help, but in your way! Thank You Father God for hearing our prayers in Jesus We come to you, Lord, honestly confessing that we are often tempted to go astray, that the world’s sinful enticements still have too much pull on our hearts. But being your children, the desire of our heart of hearts is to refuse to consent to temptations and to please you. Help us to be men and women of virtue, possessing the moral fortitude (inner strength) needed to overcome the world I pray this in Jesus name Amen.

Women at the Western (Wailing) Wall, the first two on the left are tourists from Africa and Asia. The rest of them are Israeli Jewish.


“The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward.”  (Matthew 10:41)


Shalom Delana,

One of the least recognized yet significant roles women play is that of prophet.

Nevertheless, in the Bible, prophecy is a gender-neutral gift of the Spirit.

“Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.”  (1 Corinthians 14:1)

God uses men and women to speak on His behalf.

Let’s look at three women prophets who embraced their destiny, spoke out, and saved Israel from destruction

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The Role of the Prophet

“Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven.  He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.”  (Acts 21:8-9)

What is a prophet?

In Hebrew, the word for prophet is navi.  Some believe the word comes from the verb nava, which means to bubble up.  But some modern linguists lean more toward the source being the Akkadian verb nabu, meaning to call.

Some scholars believe the word navi comes from the term niv sefatayim, meaning fruit of the lips, which emphasizes the prophet’s role as a speaker.

Regardless of the source of the word, the mission of the prophet throughout the Bible is clear — to speak on behalf of God.

The only way prophets have known what God wanted them to say is when He told them through His Spirit (Ruach in Hebrew), as He did with Ezekiel:

“Then the Ruach [Spirit] of the LORD came on me, and He told me to say: ‘This is what the LORD says: That is what you are saying, you leaders in Israel, but I know what is going through your mind.'”  (Ezekiel 11:5)

A woman named Deborah was also empowered by Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) to be both a prophet and a judge during the time when Jabin, the king of Canaan, was oppressing Israel.  As such, God placed Deborah as a key leader in Israel.

Judge Deborah the Prophet and Warrior Speaks Out

“Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.”  (Judges 4:4)

In Judaism, women are traditionally revered as “the mother of life” and as being endowed with a deeper sense of understanding than men.

We read in Judges 4:5 that Deborah was a judge.

She “used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment.”

The people of Israel in 12th century BC revered Deborah for her judgment and leadership abilities so much that she even directed men in battle as their Commander-in-Chief.

She was not only a prophet and a judge, she was a warrior.

During Deborah’s leadership, the people of Israel had been living for 20 years under the oppression of the king of Canaan. 

They needed deliverance, so she called for a respected man of war named Barak and prophesied:

“The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you:  ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor.  I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.'”  (Judges 4:6-7)

The Song of Deborah, by Gustav Dore

Respecting her anointing by Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) and placement by God in Israel for such a time as this, Barak told Deborah that he would not go into battle without her:

“Barak said to her, ‘If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.'”  (Judges 4:8)

Barak perhaps made a common miscalculation.

While he seemed certain of Deborah’s anointing, he also seemed to doubt God’s ability to use him when distanced from her leadership.

It wasn’t enough to hear God’s destiny over his life — that God would give the enemy into his hands.  Barak needed His spokesperson for the destiny to be there, too, and he perhaps idolized her as a “good luck charm” or a guarantor of success.

Because Barak had more faith in God’s spokesperson over God’s prophetic word, God modified Barak’s destiny:

“‘Certainly I will go with you,’ said Deborah.  ‘But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.'”  (Judges 4:9)


“Yael went out to meet Sisera” (Judges 4:18) Image from page 315 of  The Art Bible (1896)

God empowered another woman to take the glory that could have gone to Barak, if only he had enough faith to believe it would happen as God said.

After all, he gathered ten thousand troops and pursued the enemy as they fled.

He did the work, but it was a woman, not a soldier, who killed Jabin’s army commander, Sisera.

Completely defeated, Sisera fled from Barak and went to the tent of Yael the wife of Heber the Kenite, who was a metal smith. 

It is possible he went there to have his weapons of battle fixed since the Kenites were at peace with the Canaanites.

While sleeping in Yael’s tent, she killed him by hammering a peg through his head, thus fulfilling Deborah’s prophecy that God would deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.  (Judges 4:21-22)

God is not a respecter of persons that He would only give wisdom, courage, and advance knowledge about civil matters or battle strategies to men alone. 

He empowers women with such abilities, too.

A Jewish Israeli woman soldier holding her gun, protecting a Jerusalem  street along with her male comrade.


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Delana Zakrzewski

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