“And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword.”
– Judges 4:15
So notice this language, the Lord did this before Barak. “The Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword.” The way this verse is intentional to tell us that it was God who did this work. It is God who fought on behalf of his people. Not Barak did this, but the Lord did this before Barak. Not Barak did this before the Lord. I mean, there’s a sense in which, yes, that is true. Barack was acting in Judges chapter four in this battle before the Lord but ultimately it was God who is acting on behalf of his people. And this is the picture we see all throughout the Bible and it’s where I want to encourage you today.
God’s Grace in Our Lives
The only way you and I can live in holiness is by his grace working on our behalf at every moment.
Yes, you and I, and we see this all over God’s word, we pray according to this reality, most days on this podcast, we are called to obey God today, before the Lord, to walk with God in obedience to his command. But based on Judges 4:15 and pictures of this that we see all over the Bible, I want to remind you, I want to encourage you today that as you act before the Lord, as you obey the word of God, as you live before the Lord, God is always, always, always working, fighting on behalf of his people, on your behalf.
God is for all who trust in him as you walk in obedience to his commands. One, the only way you’re able to do that is by his grace in you, by his work for you. The only way you and I can live in holiness, the only way you and I can live in obedience to God is by his grace working on our behalf at every moment.
Judges 4:15 Prays for God to Work in Our Favor
And as we do, when we face challenges in this world, as we face temptations, as we walked through trials, to know that in the middle of those temptations, in the middle of those trials, God is working for us. So we pray, God, thank you. Thank you today for your promise to help us to give us everything we need to fight for us amidst battles with temptation.
God, that you are with us, that your spirit lives in us, that you enable us by your power in us to walk in obedience to your commands, and in so doing to experience life to the full. God, we praise you for your work on our behalf all the time. Help us not to forget this reality, that you are fighting for us and you promise to fight for us. God, I pray, especially for those who are listening to this right now and are walking through all kinds of trials or challenges, or even amidst specific struggles with sin.
Praying for the Spread of the Gospel
So God, I pray that they would know you are for them, you are with them, that you would help them to walk in obedience to your word, to walk in step with your spirit during these days and that you would give them all the strength they need, you would give them the comfort, the courage they need, the peace they need. Oh God, we pray that you would give them everything they need to walk in obedience to your commands before you and to experience your power working on their behalf. God, I pray for this in my own life, I pray for this over every single person who’s listening to this right now, and God, I’m just compelled to pray this specifically for those who are working around the world right now for the spread of the Gospel, to really hard, difficult to reach people.
God, I read this and I think about missionaries and brothers and sisters in parts of the world where they are on the front lines sharing the Gospel where it’s never been shared before. I think about the Tajik people today. God, we pray for the spread of the Gospel among Tajik Muslims in so many different countries.
Judges 4:15 Prays for Grace and Strength when Sharing the Gospel
So God, we pray that you would give grace and favor and success and strength to those who are on the front lines sharing the Gospel with Tajik today and thousands of other people groups like them. God, even as we pray for that in our own lives, wherever we are, we pray for grace. God, we pray for your power working in us to spread the gospel through us today. And God, we pray for that around the world, particularly in places of urgent spiritual and physical need, where the battles are harder than any of us can imagine.
God, we pray that you would work before them on their behalf, for the spread of your word and your grace and your love and your glory through them. God, we pray for this in our lives and the lives of people around us and the lives of people far from us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
