The Song of Deborah and Barak
5 Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,
2 “That [a]the leaders led in Israel,
That the people volunteered,
Bless the Lord!
3 “Hear, O kings; give ear, O rulers!
I—to the Lord, I will sing,
I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel.
4 “Lord, when You went out from Seir,
When You marched from the field of Edom,
The earth quaked, the heavens also dripped,
Even the clouds dripped water.
5 “The mountains [b]quaked at the presence of the Lord,
This Sinai, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.
I had this thought a couple days ago, as I was reading through the story of Barak, which is echoed in verse 2. Without an army of people willing to fight, Barak would not have been able to do much. Sure, God could have just swept away the armies all by himself, but that’s not often the way God works.
In our churches, I think we sometimes expect people to just show up, meet God, and then stick around, without us doing much of anything. But God didn’t call any of us to fill a pew. He called us to be His hands and feet. He called us to serve those around us, to use the gifts that we have been given.
And so it is only right, that the first thing they give God thanks for, is that He moved the hearts of an army to show up, volunteer, and fight for their nation and their God.
If you want God to do amazing things in your community and in your church, show up! It’s not likely to happen without you, and even if it does, you’re going to miss out on something big.