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Entrepreneurs and other leaders are sometimes asked, “If you knew you could accomplish any one task without failing, what would you attempt to do?” Such a question allows one to dream a bit, temporarily factoring out potential obstacles to refocus on important goals. But it also can help the Christian leader to hear afresh the call of God that once pounded within his breast before being drowned out by the noise of disbelief.
Few things are more gut-wrenching for a Christian than failure to obey the call of God, and that failure can take many forms. Sometimes, like Jonah, we “just say no” and jump on the first boat going in the opposite direction. But more commonly, we disobey through partial or conditional obedience. Fortunately, God is gracious and accomplishes His will in spite of our disbelief. But whenever we obey God on our terms, our joy is diminished and the glory of victory dimmed.
In Judges 4, Barak received a clear call from God to perform a certain task. Deborah, the prophetess and judge of Israel, had revealed to Barak God’s command to defeat King Jabin’s forces at the River Kishon. Barak eventually went into battle and even performed a mighty task, but he did so on his own terms—namely, by insisting that Deborah go with him. This may seem like a small disbelief to many of us—perhaps because we so often respond to God like this—but Deborah’s estimation of it is made clear in her sizzling acquiescence to his request. She said, “OK, I’ll go with you, but the glory of victory will go to a woman” (my paraphrase). If we can lay aside the political correctness of our day for just a moment, we can readily see that Deborah was slapping Barak’s hands. The very task that the mighty warrior was reluctant to perform would now be accomplished single-handedly by a woman—perhaps not even an Israelite.
God has ways of slapping our disobedient hands. Just when we think a task is too great to manage, we find God calling someone less qualified to perform it—and often with flying colors. Just when we think we cannot give financially to the work of the kingdom, we see a family with half the income and twice the number of children joyfully giving far more. Just when we are feeling sorry about our own physical limitations, we see a severely crippled person living joyfully and even ministering boldly for God.
Thankfully, Jesus Christ was not like Barak. He obeyed God completely. He accomplished the task set before Him without condition. Those of us who belong to Christ, being empowered by the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, should find our obedience becoming less conditional and more complete. Lord, may it be so.