When Confidence Is Required

PRAYER:

Lord, as we begin this new week, give us fresh eyes. Through the life of Deborah and her calling, empower us to see our own calling and to confidently take Your hand and follow. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

MEMORY VERSE:

‘So may all your enemies perish, Lord! But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.’ Then the land had peace forty years. — Judges 5:31

Please read Deborah’s story in Judges 4.

Judges 4:1 begins by setting the backdrop, “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Cold toward God, the Israelites “again” chose their way against God’s.

This is not the first time the Bible records such a description of God’s people. Earlier in this same book, Judges 3:7 (ESV) tells us, “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.”

So like us, the Israelites were easily distracted. Their cravings cried out for a physical god they could touch, see, and smell. They wanted what the other countries had: a god they could carry into war. Yet no matter how hard they sprinted from Jehovah, they never found what they were looking for in the other direction. Every time they ran, their cravings only created more captivity.

In this oppressing climate, we are introduced to Deborah. The judge most committed to honoring God and following His ways explicitly, her obedience prepared her for the unique work God had gifted her for.

First Corinthians 12:18 tells us,

But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.

God reassures us that He knew exactly what He was doing when He created us, giving each of us the particular gifts He has chosen for us to fulfill His purpose.

• Knowing our spiritual gift(s) is an important block in building our confidence. Knowing and then using our spiritual gifts reassures us of our purpose and place in God’s plan.

Have you come to recognize the spiritual gifts God has given you? If so, what are they?

To know that we belong, that we have a place, is a universal craving. When we know and begin using our spiritual gifts for “the common good,” as Paul calls it, we increase our understanding that we belong. The body of Christ is the place God designed for each and every one of us to have a place where that longing to contribute can be fulfilled. When we know, deep in the places that no one sees, that we belong and have a purpose, we can say no to the urge to compare. Because when I know what God has called me to, I can more easily celebrate what God has called you to.

• There is no reason for me to compare myself to you. We’re simply different, and our diversity is a beautiful thing!

Yes, some spiritual gifts get more applause than others. We can do our part, though, to safeguard the church from lifting up other brothers and sisters to a place God never intended them to be elevated. We must not confuse gifts on the forefront for gifts that are foremost. One gift is not more important than another. I learned this on Sunday mornings at 5:30 a.m.

As the rooster crowed, Greg and I would climb out of our car and make our way to the high school every other Sunday morning. (What a rooster was doing crowing in the middle of a major metropolitan city, I have no idea, but that’s another thing entirely.) The rooster’s noisy welcome always reminded me that Greg and I were up working before most people were considering moving.

The big box trucks already in place were evidence that another team had begun serving even before we did. It was time for us to turn the public school into a sanctuary. Being a part of a “portable church,” our congregation rented a local high school each week to meet. Our team, the set-up crew, did everything we could to try to change the atmosphere from academic to worshipful each week. Hanging drapes, setting up chairs, and transforming classrooms into children’s church rooms were all part of our volunteer description.

Most mornings, I was happy to be serving with my man. This type of physical work was a welcome change from the type of roles we each played during the week.

Other mornings, when my alarm went off at 4:45 a.m., my thoughts were not that positive. Sundays are for rest, so why am I not resting? And still other times it wasn’t my alarm tempting me to take my thoughts in the wrong direction. Hearing an invitation to a leaders’ meeting we were not a part of, or others receiving visible recognition, would try to root discontentment or jealousy in my mind. Greg and I have so many other talents and gifts that our church doesn’t know about. We’re serving when others are sleeping. It’s like we’re invisible. I knew my thoughts didn’t come from a good place. For sure it wasn’t the Holy Spirit telling me I needed to be seen! Those on my team had no idea that right there in that high school cafeteria, the enemy and I were having a knock-down brawl most weeks as I fought not to allow these thoughts any space in my mind and heart. I couldn’t stay caught in comparison because I knew if I did I would keep right on going all the way to resentment.

Comparison is a one-way road to resentment.

I knew in my head that the service Greg and I provided at church was not less important just because it was less visible. Paul’s words make this clear: “The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable” (1 Corinthians 12:22 ESV). He lets us know that comparison and competition have no place in the church. But we know that the battle against comparison is real!

Two of my gifts are serving and teaching. Your gifts are probably different than mine. While I might have the gift of teaching, you’re probably way better at hospitality, praying, or leading worship. The difference is how we see the gifts we do have rather than what we don’t have. Jesus gives us these gifts, and we have each been given gifts simply because we belong to Jesus. “But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose” (1 Corinthians 12:18 ESV).

• We need to see the gifts God has given us as our assets rather than allowing comparison to call out our deficits.

Have you also struggled with comparison and/or competition? What might this struggle say about where our confidence lays?

Competition and comparison destroy the common good Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 12:7. Common good used in 1 Corinthians 12:7 is the Greek word symphero, meaning “to bring together, to be helpful, be gained.”1 When we all bring our different, unique, not-one-gift-is-quite- like-mine to the body of Christ, we bring together what is helpful to all — we all gain. This is why we must guard our hearts. We must not allow room for the enemy to use us to break up the body of Christ. The enemy would love nothing more than to use what was meant to pull us together to pull us apart. Not only that, when we contrast our gift with another’s, we are telling God we don’t approve; He got it wrong.

Proverbs 27:17 gives us the solution:

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

We have the power to turn the enemy’s plan for dissension into our own personal growth plan; we can learn from each other.

Do you know of someone who has the same spiritual gift as you and has developed it? How can you learn from that person?

As we review the gifts Paul lists in 1 Corinthians 12, we come to prophecy, Deborah’s particular gift. One of only four female prophets for the Lord mentioned in the Bible, Deborah used her gift in her interactions with Barak, the commander of Israel’s army.

Why do you think God gave the gift of prophecy to Deborah at a time when her countrymen had been running from Him?

There is no doubt there would have been plenty of opposition to Deborah’s leadership; some would have thought her an “inappropriate” leader as a woman. Could God possibly have chosen Deborah for the sheer purpose of drawing attention to His greatness and for the common good of His people?

Bible commentator Matthew Henry describes Deborah’s relationship with God: “That she was intimately acquainted with God; she was a prophetess, one that was instructed in divine knowledge by the immediate inspiration of the Spirit of God, and had gifts of wisdom, to which she attained not in an ordinary way: she heard the words of God, and probably saw the visions of the Almighty.”2

Tough environments for our assignments can condition us to build our confidence on Christ alone. Deborah knew the source of her strength. She wasn’t leading others on her own. Instead, she fully relied on the supernatural strength God provided to take on an unlikely assignment.

Knowing and living out our spiritual gifts builds confidence as we understand our purpose and place in God’s plan. Then, when I know what God has called me to, I can celebrate what God has called you to. I can rest assured that when God gave me the gifts He gave me, He knew exactly what He was doing. He will use the right circumstances and environment for my gifts so that I can build my confidence on Christ alone.

1.Baker, ed., Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible NIV Edition, 2115.

2.http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/henry/jdg004.htm.

Excerpted with permission from Fearless Women of the Bible by Lynn Cowell, copyright Lynn Cowell.

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Your Turn

Are you operating in the source of your strength? If we’re going to operating in the calling of God, we need His confidence to walk into challenges regardless of fear! Are you ready to do it! Come share with us. ~ Devotionals Daily