It has been said that we never know what is on the other side of our obedience and for those of us who have deepened in this lifestyle of obedience, we know this to be true. We often overcomplicate obedience. In our human nature, we reason and try to understand, we often ask God for multiple confirmations before we step out in obedience. In this process, we unknowingly end up making obedience about us and not about God!
Deborah knew this! I believe Deborah had deep within her, a conviction that if God said it, He would fulfil it. Deborah was a judge and a prophetess in the nation of Israel. She would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. I imagine that she would have had countless conversations with God under that palm tree. The children of Israel would come to her for the Lord’s wisdom, guidance and answers to their inquiries. She had a decision to make inquiry after inquiry to be obedient to what God was saying to His people. This would have no doubt developed within her a heart of obedience to be able to speak God’s will over the lives of God’s people.
It was in the mundane of her every day that her heart of obedience was cultivated and it is the same for you and I. It is in the seemingly small and mundane that God watches and waits for our response of obedience to His word. Deborah was so obedient to the voice of God in one particular situation that called her to go to war with a commander of the Israelite Army, that it literally shifted the course of history and saved an entire nation. There is power in our obedience! Deborah believed the outcome of the battle was what God said it would and she didn’t waver from that. Deborah arose and went to battle. On the other side of Deborah’s obedience to God, the nation of Israel experienced 40 years of peace.
MIGHTY DEBORAH, what requires your obedience in this moment? What is awaiting on the other side of your obedience? Share below, we would love to pray with you as you take a step of obedience.Marianne Petersen
TDC Ambassador