Deborah and Barak: Mentoring is Under God's Authority and Means Coming Alongside
6 July 2024
Have you ever stopped to watch small children who are just beginning to venture out on their own? They are forever looking back, not only to ascertain that their caregiver is watching, but also to make sure that their caregiver is present so that if they should falter, they will be caught. Sometimes this catching is physical, but often this catching involves a simple assurance of presence and support.
Caregivers, whether they are parents, guardians, aunts, uncles, siblings, teachers, etc., have a special role to play in the life of all those who are placed under their care. God built us to live in community. This means we have an innate sense of our need for others. Caregivers who are Christ-followers must seek to care as Christ guides them and must take the time to intentionally seek out God’s best for those whom they are teaching, leading, and guiding. It is essential that Christian caregivers recognize that those who fall under their care have been granted to them for a time, and that all caring must be enacted as God desires it to be accomplished.
God often has words for His people that we as caregivers, as mentors, are asked to communicate. These are not our words; they are His and we must be faithful in communicating them accurately and appropriately, even when what we are asked to say is difficult for others to hear. God has also instructed His followers to come alongside one another and support one another, lifting each other up and helping to keep each other’s feet from faltering, especially after those difficult words have been uttered (Hebrews 10:19-39).
Pay attention here, though! When we utter difficult words, those words are never to estrange, but always to bring back into the fold. They are to increase spiritual growth, not to send people packing. And because we cannot know everything, we must abide in God so that the Holy Spirit will always be our guide to saying the right words at the right time and being the right support in the right manner.
As a Prophet and a Judge in Israel, Deborah listened closely to God. She was focused on imparting to others His words, His decisions, not her own. When she was instructed by God to let Barak know that he had been commanded to go to war, she did not hesitate to share the message which she had been given. So steadfast was Deborah in God’s authority and in her love of seeing others obey God and grow in Him, that she did not falter when Barak asked her to go to war with him.
We don’t know a lot about Deborah. From Judges 4, we know that people came to her regularly to inquire of her wisdom, of her words from God. She must have been respected and trusted and known as a woman of God because not only did the people keep coming to have their disputes solved, but they also came so often to her in the same place that the palm she sat under actually gained her name and was known as the “Palm of Deborah.”
We also know that when Deborah received a word from the Lord that she was to pass on to Barak, Barak did not scoff when summoned by a woman. He not only came to hear what Deborah had to say, but he refused to go to war without her when he heard God’s instructions to him. And when Deborah responded that she would go but that her going meant that Barak’s enemy, Sisera, would be delivered into a woman’s hands rather than his, Barak stood by his decision to have Deborah accompany him.
Can you imagine having to call someone to you just to tell them that God had told them they have to go to war? While this was Barak’s job and he was well-prepared to follow through, I can’t imagine that Barak would have loved the thought of the impending loss of life that could very likely come to the army under his care.
Was Barak afraid to go to war without Deborah? Or was he just more confidant with a strong woman of God by his side? Did it even matter that she was a woman or simply that she was the current prophet and judge of Israel? Even though Sisera was delivered into the hands of Jael rather than Barak, and Barak would not go to war with Deborah, Barak certainly is listed among those who faithfully followed after God (Hebrews 11:32-34). Needing the healthy support of another believer to get through a difficult time does not make us any less faithful to God.
And Deborah: she did not hesitate. Deborah who had been placed in the position by God to guide Israel, did not hesitate to step beside the one whom she was guiding with difficult words and help support him, help empower him to accomplishment, to not only following God’s command on his life, but to bringing all of Israel into forty years of peace (Judges 5:31b).
God never meant for us to do life alone!
When we mentor, we are given the task of sharing God’s words, not our own. And when we drop those words on people, which it will sometimes feel as if we are doing, we must be prepared to come alongside, supporting and empowering forward movement, because often the one who has a difficult task to undertake will feel as if they are going to falter. Don’t confuse coming alongside and empowering forward movement as taking the place of God who does the moving in conjunction with the mentee. Rather, coming alongside our mentees lets them know that they are not alone, that we are there as part of their God-given community, to help them move closer to that finish line.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart…See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:1-3, 15, NIV
Deborah’s imparting of God’s words to Barak and then her willingness to come alongside him helped to move the entire nation of Israel into peace, into a time when they were following God more closely. This was not about Deborah following God more closely, although I am certain she must have been blessed due to her obedience, but about Deborah coming alongside others and opening space to empower them in their spiritual journeys.
As mentors, we are called to run the race with endurance which requires that we come alongside others, opening space to empower them to do the same.