You don’t hear the word gumption used very often. I like the sound of it. It makes me think of courage. It involves wisdom, discernment, spirit, ability, and judgment, among other things. It also requires good old-fashioned get-up-and go! When gumption is utilized in a godly way, I call it glorious. Join me this week as we look as some women who displayed glorious gumption in their lives and understand how we can do something similar!
Deborah
Barak told her, “I will go, but only if you go with me.”
“Very well,” she replied, “I will go with you. But you will receive no honor in this venture, for the Lord’s victory over Sisera will be at the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.
Judges 4:8-9, NLT
When was the last time God told you to do something and you got someone else to do it for you? As believers, the Holy Spirit prompts us to obey the Lord, but we sometimes ignore His commands. It doesn’t have to be anything over the top, either. It could be something as simple as a prompting to go to someone and share your story of what the Lord has done in your life. “Oh, that’s too hard, Lord. I would but I’m too nervous to go by myself.” We ignore the prompting.
Other times, we may half obey Him by modifying his command. We grab our best godly girlfriend and tell her something like, “Hey girl, I know how you love to share your testimony with others. Come see so-and-so with me. God’s got something for us to tell her.” We’ve just put our trust in someone else ahead of putting it in God. Is half obedience really obedience at all?
It’s not like God’s going to crumble and say His plan is ruined because we disobeyed Him. When we fail to obey God’s commands, He still accomplishes His plan, often with someone else who’s willing to obey. They get a blessing and we miss out. God still gets His glory.
This was the case for the people in today’s Dose verses. Read them. God told the prophetess Deborah to pass on His command to Barak to call out warriors and go to an appointed place for war. God even gave her instructions for Barak explaining what He (God) was going to do to give Barak the victory over the enemy (Judges 4:4-7). Barak chose to let Deborah lead, over God.
Deborah, however, rose to the challenge and was utilized to take part in the military campaign to overthrow the Canaanite tormentors. She put her faith squarely in the hands of God and acted without hesitation. Her trust was in God to protect and direct her. What glorious gumption this took!
God used Deborah to accomplish His task because of her wealth of faith and Barak’s lack of faith.
Sometimes we trust in people over God. We have the possibility of leading others to the Lord with our testimonies of how God is working in our lives, but when we don’t show the faith and courage to lead, God may decide not to use us.
Are you trusting in people over the Lord today?
Glorious gumption through trust in God,
Rita
[Read Judges 4 & 5 for more of this story]