Day 78 - Judges 4-5

ONE-YEAR JOURNEY OF THE BIBLE
Day 78 - Judges 4-5 (The Other Most Blessed Woman in the Bible)
(To View Past Posts Click: http://tonyvicreyes1-yearbible.blogspot.com/)

"Most blessed among women is Jael, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Blessed is she among women in tents. ...She stretched her hand to the tent peg, Her right hand to the workmen's hammer; She pounded Sisera, she pierced his head, She split and struck through his temple.  At her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still; At her feet he sank, he fell; Where he sank, there he fell dead."  (Judges 5:24-27) 

A careful reading of out text above and the entire Scripture reading for today would reveal the violent act of Jael in killing Sisera by driving a tent peg into his temple while he slept trusting Jael will keep him safe as he hid in her tent.  So, how in the world was Jael honored by God through Israel's leader and judge Deborah?

In order to understand this puzzle, we need to view it in its context, specifically, the context of war in which Israel was engaged with Jabin, king of Canaan and his commander Sisera.  During those days, it was not the practice of Israel to keep prisoners; it was kill or be killed.  Jael knew the high price of letting Sisera slip away and she was not willing to let that happen.  She did what she did out of patriotism and loyalty to her people and to her God.  As a result, she received the highest honor bestowed upon a woman next only to that of the blessed mother of Jesus.

"So what?"  I believe the "so what?" of this Bible story is this, among other "so whats?": In life, there comes a once in a lifetime opportunity for a person to rise into greatness, as in the case of Jael.  Rocognizing it is half of the battle won; the other half is implemenation.

I think about the 21 Egyptian Christians murdered by ISIS recently who rose to greatness in the sight of God and of man by choosing death rather than denying their faith in Christ.  Many men and women make the same choices everyday and in doing so seize their opportunity for greatness.

Of course, most of us will never be put in a situation of being forced to deny or die for our faith but, all of us face daily choices that spell the difference between greatness and mediocrity.   For us who are followers of Christ, we must constantly choose to either drive the death blow to sin by forsaking it or, let sin slip away taking us as its hostage.  

Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Jacob, was such a man who constantly chose greatness over mediocrity.  When pressed daily by his master's wife to lie with her, he chose to run away from her even when it cost him his freedom as we know he ended up in prison because she falsely accused him of rape.

So what?  I say, so what about you?  Will you be able to recognize your moments of oppportunity for greatness and choose to seize it?  Or, will you continue in living a defeated life because you refuse to drum up enough courage to drive the death blow to sin that has kept you as its slave for so long?  The choice is yours.  Yet you are not alone in your struggle; thanks be to God who is always with us, waiting for us to ask His help to defeat sin in our life.