Judges chapter 4 verses 2-24
Deborah served the Lord during one of the darkest periods in Israel’s history. The book of Judges ends on a distressing note: ‘In those days there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes’, Judges chapter 21 verse 25. Put simply, the nation of Israel had descended into a state of anarchy. God was King but He was not honoured as such. Things had reached such a low ebb that God ‘sold’ the nation of Israel into the hand of their enemy, Jabin, king of Canaan, and he ‘harshly oppressed’ them for twenty years.

One woman stood between him and total defeat for Israel. Her name was DEBORAH and she could be found sitting ‘under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim’, verse 5. Clearly, she was well known in the area and respected for her wisdom. She was a prophetess and the people came to see her for sound judgement on various matters. Even men came to her for help, support and guidance. Indeed, on one occasion she stirred up a man, called BARAK, to fight against the enemy, when his faith was weak, verses 6-16.

Deborah reminds us of the words of Paul, the apostle, ‘But God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty’, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 27. It is no surprise to find her sitting under a palm tree called ‘the palm tree of Deborah’. The palm tree is always associated with victory in the Bible. Deborah was a personal victor at a time, when so many others were not. Let us pray and ask God to strengthen our faith, so that we too, like Deborah, can be personally victorious during these difficult times!