Perfect Timing

May 4

Judges 5

Psalm 55:9-15

Proverbs 12:25-26

Luke 21:1-19

Perfect Timing

“The peasantry ceased; they ceased in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel.  God chose new leaders; then war was in the gates.  Not a shield or a spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.”  Judges 5:7-8 LSB

Yesterday, we read how God used Deborah to defeat the enemy of Israel.  Judges 5 gives us more information.  Hazor was one of the cities that Joshua had conquered.  Apparently by this time, it had been rebuilt.  Jabin was the king and Sisera was the commander of his army.  They had 900 chariots.  We read in Judges 5:8 that Israel did not have one shield or spear to the 40,000 soldiers in Israel.  They were outnumbered and without hope.  God was letting them experience the consequences of their disobedience and sin.  This went on for 20 years and then God decided it was time to intervene.  God knew exactly the point when they had been punished enough. 

Judges 5:4, 20-22 tells us how God defeated Jabin’s army.  When they were vulnerable out in the open in the valley beside the Kishon River, God sent torrential rains and caused the river to overflow. The heavy, iron chariots were suddenly stuck in the mud and they couldn’t move.  At that moment Barak’s army came down Mount Tabor and Sisera’s army was thrown into such confusion that the whole army fell by the sword and not a single man was left.  This is interesting because we read earlier that the Israelites did not have any swords or spears.  The only swords on the battlefield were the ones that Sisera’s army brought, so the entire army fell by their own swords.  

God is more interested in our growth and development than He is concerned with our comfort.  The Israelites were disobedient and God allowed them to experience the consequences of their sin.  God does the same thing in our lives.  He wants us to learn from our bad decisions so that we won’t do the same things again.  He allows us to experience the pain and heartache from our disobedience.  But just as with the Israelites, He knows the exact point when we have learned our lesson and it is time to intervene on our behalf.  God is loving and merciful.  He will not allow us to continue in our sin because He knows what is best for us and He knows that sin never leads to peace and joy in our lives.  But when it is time, He will use whatever means are necessary to rescue us and bring us back to Him.  His timing and methods are always perfect.