He will Fight

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

HE WILL FIGHT

Judges 5:19-23

19 "Kings came, they fought; the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, but they carried off no silver, no plunder. 20 From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera. 21 The river Kishon swept them away, the age-old river, the river Kishon. March on, my soul; be strong! 22 Then thundered the horses' hoofs — galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds. 23'Curse Meroz,' said the angel of the LORD. 'Curse its people bitterly, because they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.'

NIV

As the song of Deborah and Barak continues, we find it is about a war with the Canaanites, and as we see they were not interested in plunder, but instead fighting for the sake of liberty, life, and death. We can also see the LORD in this battle for Israel and the heavens, the stars fought against Sisera. They were attempting to forge the river to fight against Israel, but what looked like a great storm from heaven was thrown down on them, maybe even a hailstorm or heavy rain that caused the river to swell into flood stage and swept the army of Sisera away. But there is a problem that gives us a reason to ponder. Meroz was part of Israel, although the exact location is not known. It is thought to be an area somewhere near Samaria, but there is no evidence to support that. However, the problem is they were called to war, to assist the rest of Israel in this war against Sisera the king of Canaan, and they refused the calling of the LORD. We know that we live in the period of grace and it would be doubtful the Lord would curse anyone who is part of the community of faith. However, what about the calling of the Lord for our lives. Each person has been called out of the darkness into the Light. Some would rather live in the darkness than come into the Light to help the Lord, that is help advance His kingdom on earth. Would we agree if the Lord coursed them, for we know in the judgment their names would have been blotted out of the Book of Life and they would be cast into the lake of fire. However, what about us believers? Is it possible for us to refuse the calling of the Lord? Sure, we accepted his grace, we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but the word Lord carries a great meaning. He is our Lord, and when he calls us to our place within the church, whatever that is, we need to obey and come to help the Lord. In other words, it appears that we cannot just come to some church and sit and soak, so to speak, doing nothing, not being engaged, not responding to our call from the Lord. We cannot say, “The Lord has not called me”, “I am not qualified”,  “My life is already too busy” or some other lame excuse not to come to help the Lord. We all have a part and we all need to do that which the Lord has called us to. If we don’t, we wonder if we would hear, “Well done good and faithful servant, come enter into my rest”. Let us always be ready for whatever the Lord calls us to do. For when we respond the Lord fights for us.