Judges 4:17-22 - Providential Governance Through Means

Judges 4:17-22
17 Now Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid.” And he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.19 He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a bottle of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him. 20 He said to her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there anyone here?’ that you shall say, ‘No.’” 21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and seized a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died. 22 And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” And he entered with her, and behold Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.

Message: Providential Governance Through Means

Time: Jewish tradition says that Samuel wrote Judges. Samuel, one of the last judges, that God raised up to rescue His people. This is a sequel to book of Joshua and spans from 14th century and ends about 300 years later.  The pattern of behavior in the book of Judges is clear: the people rebelled through idolatry and disbelief, God brought judgment through foreign oppression, God raised up a deliverer—or judge, and the people repented and turned back to God. When the people fell back into sin, the cycle started over again.

What the Lord is Saying:

The topic recently in this study of God's sovereignty has been God's providence, which, in a way, expresses his ongoing work through history. God is active in controlling all activity in creation. He decreed and created all and is active in preserving creation for his intended purpose. His creation benefits followers and non-followers. Thus he preserves but he also governs things. He governs the big things of life, like the dynasties of nations and their effects on society, but he also governs small things, things we might consider defining as chance (rolling the dice or flipping a coin).

The Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 11 states - "God's works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions." God never takes a break in our lives.

My father spoke last night about all of the little decisions that occurred in leading up to him going to the BSU when he was at Tulane because they were offering a free meal and my mom was getting up to speak and when my dad saw her he had great desire for her. And spending time with her his grades suffered and he had to not spend time with her but have a standing date in order to get his studies back in order. His roommate, T - was his nickname - wanted him to go to the dinner and my dad was saying he had too much to study but the guy would never give up. So finally he relented and went. And he talked about how he ended up at Tulane from a recommendation from someone at college. He had dated a lot at Baylor but never at Tulane. And he emphasized these are the events and how we all are here. For me, I was thinking it was all divine providence. God governs the events of our lives and everything works out in our lives for His good purposes. He has a plan and that was His plan for me even way back then.
God works in established means or He works through people and physical laws, personalities, and decisions to bring about His purposes. He does not suspend natural processes or override plans and choices but He works in their decisions to bring about His purposes. This is what He did with my dad and what He does throughout our lives. There is purpose and order in our lives.

Judges 4:17-22 records the story of Jael and Sisera. Sisera is a commander of the Canaanites. He had lost a battle against the Israelites, led by Deborah and Barak. Sisera fled to Jael, someone he thought an ally, but Jael drove a tent peg through his skull while he was asleep. This fulfilled a prophecy that a woman would get the glory for killing Sisera (Deborah predicted this). Jael, a woman, was someone trained in erecting and dismantling tents. Numerous times she had hammered a tent peg and that skill was used to deliver the Israelites when the need arose. God worked through Jael's skill to bring about the fulfillment of prophecy.

Promise: God works through means so we do not know how the Lord may use us and our talents but we do know that He can use anything for His purposes.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the way you orchestrate events in our lives and how you do in fact work everything out for Your good. You have done this throughout history. Thank you for showing me how you work in our lives and I want to thank you for Your good work.

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with March being about the sovereign providence of God and looking at how the Bible reveals His control over all things.