The Bible story that Bobbi is going to read for us this morning is not a pretty story. It's a blood and guts story of war and intrigue. And it's one that is somewhat less familiar than some of the other Old Testament stories. It takes place during the period of the Judges. That places it after the Exodus, after Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt and to the Promised Land, after the twelve tribes had settled down to make the Promised Land their home. But before the time of the King—Saul, David, Solomon.

God had told the people to occupy the land. To take it over from the Canaanites. And God had told them to stay away from other gods. But instead of following what God said, the Israelites became lazy and allowed the Canaanites back in; worse than that, they also worshiped some of the Canaanite gods.

It was a chaotic and dangerous time in the life of Israel. The nation itself was often without leadership, and there were marauding armies that would attack and plunder. From time to time during this anarchy, God would raise up a leader to rescue the people from themselves and from their enemies. You may have heard of Gideon and Samson, who were among the leaders of the time. These leaders were called judges. And they would settle legal disputes as a part of their job, but beyond that they were also military and political leaders as well. Among this list of great leaders was one woman by the name of Deborah. And this is her story.

In light of the rising frequency of grizzly bear encounters with humans, the Montana Department of Fish and Game is advising hikers, hunters, and fishermen to take extra precautions and keep alert for bears while in the field. "We advise that outdoorsmen wear noisy little bells on their clothing so as not to startle bears that aren't expecting them. We also advise outdoorsmen to carry pepper spray with them in case of an encounter with a bear. It is also a good idea to watch out for fresh signs of bear activity. Outdoorsmen should recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear dung. Black bear dung is smaller and contains lots of berries and squirrel fur. Grizzly bear dung has little bells in it and smells like pepper spray." (Pastor's Story File, 15.10.1)

Well, if you're going to be in grizzly country, I guess you'd better learn how to protect yourself. And that's what our Bible story is about.

For Deborah and her contemporaries the grizzly had a name. Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army. And his marauding troops were hungry, eager to have the Israelites for lunch. For twenty years already, this grizzly had been chewing around the borders of Israel—and as our story says it, making life miserable for the Israelites. Within Israel things were just about as bad. There was so much violence that people didn't even dare travel the main roads. They sneaked around on the back roads instead. The life of the community was paralyzed because there was an absence of leadership. Because of that, when Israel's enemies did attack, they were met with little or no resistance.

From a historical standpoint, we could describe what was happening in Israel as a part of a cycle that happens any time somebody starts a new movement. There is great energy at the beginning, and then when a certain goal is reached, lethargy sets in. After reaching the Promised Land, after some of the initial battles with the inhabitants of the land, who can blame the Israelites for flagging a bit in zeal? We have experienced something like that as a congregation. After we were chartered in 1997, we got stuck on a plateau that was tough to get off. We stopped growing, and in many ways we stopped reaching for goals and stretching. We stayed in that position for at least a year.

When we find ourselves in a time of lethargy, we need to ask ourselves some questions: where is God in our life? Are we still following, or have we let something else take precedence? Are we just resting alongside the road for a brief while, or have we parked the car and turned off the engine?

I understand that in dental schools there is a proverb that goes something like this: You don't have to floss all of your teeth. That's surprising news, and it raises the question, which teeth don't I have to floss? And the answer is you only have to floss the ones you plan to keep. In the life of faith, there are some disciplines that we certainly don't have to do: pray, study our Bible, worship. . .We only have to do them if we want to stay close to God. (Story File, 15.5.1)

This time in the history of Israel forms an important link in the formation of the people of God. God had told the Israelites to occupy the land, to push back the Canaanites and take full possession of the land that God had promised. And God told them to stay away from the Canaanites and their pagan gods. In our day when we prize inclusiveness and believe that God calls divers people together to worship God, it's hard for us to understand the exclusivity that God demanded of these early Israelites. God's insistence on exclusiveness had as its goal the formation of a people. A people who would one day be the doorway to the kingdom of God for the rest of the world. And the main point was that they needed to be exclusive in their devotion to God. Not just for God's sake, and not just for those who would benefit from it later, but for their own sake as well. God was their defender, their rock, their comforter, their leader. If they wanted to be protected, comforted, led in a good direction, then they needed to stay close to God. But the Israelites thought, oh, what's it gonna hurt? Why not get to know the Canaanites a little better? Why not turn our enemies into friends? And while in your friend's house, why not burn a little incense to a pagan god. You don't want to offend anyone. Who's the wiser? That attitude, of course, was the beginning of their downslide.

The Israelites discovered at that time in their history what many of us have also learned. When we push God to the margins of our life, life becomes chaotic and purposeless and weak. When we let other things become more important than God—to eclipse God's presence in our life—then we tend to lose touch with our purpose. With who we are and why we're here. And we then become vulnerable to the enemy of our soul. Our defenses are weak and ineffective. Our motivation sags.

Imagine that you are the coach of a small high school football team. And this Friday night you are playing the Giants. It would not be a pretty sight, would it? That's the Israelites against the fearsome Canaanite army. Now imagine that your team has the ball, but the offensive line refuses to go out on the field. Instead they are on the sidelines flirting with the cheerleaders from the other team. That's the flavor, at least, of what was going on in Israel. It seemed hopeless.

This is the environment into which Deborah emerged. With her strength of character and her willingness to be obedient, she became the instrument that God used to lift Israel from its lethargy and rescue the nation from its present danger.

In chapter 5 (which we didn't read), Deborah's song of victory, she compares herself to a mother protecting her children. And so she was, by the grace of God. She was not elected or appointed by the people, but like her male counterparts, she was someone who was recognized as having the call of God. She had that special charisma and wisdom and leadership ability that only comes from God's Spirit. And no one seemed to mind that it was a woman who was doing this.

Of course Deborah did not accomplish the task alone. Every leader needs followers. General Milktoast Barak was at her side, and he did do his general's work, though he seemed both reluctant and fearful. The image that springs to mind is of Deborah the mother hen, and Barak the frightened little chick. And Deborah did not take his task from him, though one gets the distinct impression that she could have easily led troops into battle. She was clear that this was Barak's job. But she did want to make sure that he understood a couple of things:. 1. God was orchestrating the victory. And, 2. The biggest applause at the end of the day would go to a woman. That woman, of course, was the beautiful and demure Jael, who was quite adept with a hammer and tent peg.

Of course there were also the foot soldiers. You may remember that there were twelve tribes of Israel, and only a couple of them are mentioned here as going into battle. In Deborah's song we learn what was going on with some of the other tribes: The tribe of Reuben took so long with committee meetings and decision making that they never made it to the battlefield. The people of Gilead, said, in effect, it's not our problem. Our lives are not directly affected by this guy Sisera, so why should we risk our lives? The tribes of Dan and Asher were busy merchants, and they were too busy doing business with the Phoenicians to bother to come. How contemporary can you get? Any one of us could borrow any one of those stalling techniques to keep from doing what God is calling us to do. Nothing is lost in the translation.

One Sunday morning a pastor was shaking hands with the congregation as they filed out of church, and noticed a man that hadn't been around for a while. The pastor said to this man, "You need to join the Army of the Lord!" The man replied, "I'm already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor." The pastor said, "How come I don't see you except at Christmas and Easter?" The man whispered back, "I'm in the secret service." (internet)

God's agenda was carried out, despite the apathy of a large portion of Israel. And that's just as true today. God will do what God will do, whether we get involved personally or not. But it's better for us if we get involved in God's agenda. Because that is where we will find life and hope and purpose.

I pray that none of us will have to ever strategize for a battle as Deborah and Barak did, or create a plan to kill an enemy as Jael did. I pray that those days can be left in the history books.

And I also pray that we will understand God's call to us, for this time and place, and that we will not become weak and ineffective in the working out of our call. There are grizzlies without and within, that will threaten to keep us from doing the outreach and the evangelism and the mission work that God has called us to do. Let us not push God to the margins of our life; let us not become apathetic and disobedient to that call. Instead, like Deborah, let us rise to the challenge in spite of the dangers, knowing that the power of God will overcome every obstacle if we continue in faith.

A couple of years ago, Newsweek magazine carried a story about mountain climbers. Men who climb mountains are referred to as "Mountain Men." I don't know what women who climb mountains are called. But it's estimated that there are about 60,000 serious mountain climbers in the United States. But in the upper echelons of serious climbers is a small elite group known as "hard men." For them, climbing mountains and scaling sheer rock faces is a way of life. In many cases climbing is part of their whole commitment to life. Their ultimate experience is called free soloing. Climbing with no equipment and no safety ropes. John Baker is considered by many to be the best of the hard men. . . .His own wife says she cannot believe his dedication. When John isn't climbing, he is often to be found in his California home hanging by his fingertips to strengthen his arms and hands. He asks, "Where are the hard men and women for Jesus? Where are those who will bring all of their energies to bear for the sake of Christ?" (Story File, 14.3.5) My fervent hope is that many of those hard men and women are staring back at me right now.