Judges 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen)

Max Lucado Daily: Knitted Together

“You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13, NIV

“Knitted together” is how the psalmist described the process of God making man. Not manufactured or mass-produced, but knitted. Each thread of personality tenderly intertwined. Each string of temperament deliberately selected . . .

The Creator, the master weaver, threading together the soul.

Each one different. No two alike. None identical.

Judges 5

The Song of Deborah

1 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:
2 “When the princes in Israel take the lead,
when the people willingly offer themselves—
praise the LORD!

3 “Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!
I, even I, will sing to[c] the LORD;
I will praise the LORD, the God of Israel, in song.

4 “When you, LORD, went out from Seir,
when you marched from the land of Edom,
the earth shook, the heavens poured,
the clouds poured down water.
5 The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of Sinai,
before the LORD, the God of Israel.

6 “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,
in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned;
travelers took to winding paths.
7 Villagers in Israel would not fight;
they held back until I, Deborah, arose,
until I arose, a mother in Israel.
8 God chose new leaders
when war came to the city gates,
but not a shield or spear was seen
among forty thousand in Israel.
9 My heart is with Israel’s princes,
with the willing volunteers among the people.
Praise the LORD!

10 “You who ride on white donkeys,
sitting on your saddle blankets,
and you who walk along the road,
consider 11 the voice of the singers[d] at the watering places.
They recite the victories of the LORD,
the victories of his villagers in Israel.

“Then the people of the LORD
went down to the city gates.
12 ‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah!
Wake up, wake up, break out in song!
Arise, Barak!
Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam.’

13 “The remnant of the nobles came down;
the people of the LORD came down to me against the mighty.
14 Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek;
Benjamin was with the people who followed you.
From Makir captains came down,
from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s[e] staff.
15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
yes, Issachar was with Barak,
sent under his command into the valley.
In the districts of Reuben
there was much searching of heart.
16 Why did you stay among the sheep pens[f]
to hear the whistling for the flocks?
In the districts of Reuben
there was much searching of heart.
17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan.
And Dan, why did he linger by the ships?
Asher remained on the coast
and stayed in his coves.
18 The people of Zebulun risked their very lives;
so did Naphtali on the terraced fields.

19 “Kings came, they fought,
the kings of Canaan fought.
At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo,
they took no plunder of silver.
20 From the heavens the stars fought,
from their courses they fought against Sisera.
21 The river Kishon swept them away,
the age-old river, the river Kishon.
March on, my soul; be strong!
22 Then thundered the horses’ hooves—
galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.
23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the LORD.
‘Curse its people bitterly,
because they did not come to help the LORD,
to help the LORD against the mighty.’

24 “Most blessed of women be Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk;
in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
26 Her hand reached for the tent peg,
her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,
she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 At her feet he sank,
he fell; there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell;
where he sank, there he fell—dead.

28 “Through the window peered Sisera’s mother;
behind the lattice she cried out,
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’
29 The wisest of her ladies answer her;
indeed, she keeps saying to herself,
30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils:
a woman or two for each man,
colorful garments as plunder for Sisera,
colorful garments embroidered,
highly embroidered garments for my neck—
all this as plunder?’

31 “So may all your enemies perish, LORD!
But may all who love you be like the sun
when it rises in its strength.”

Then the land had peace forty years.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: 1 Samuel 20:30-42

30 Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? 31 As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!”

32 “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. 33 But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.

34 Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David.

35 In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him, 36 and he said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37 When the boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” 38 Then he shouted, “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. 39 (The boy knew nothing about all this; only Jonathan and David knew.) 40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, “Go, carry them back to town.”

41 After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most.

42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.[a

Friends In The Night

August 17, 2011 — by Anne Cetas

The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. —1 Samuel 18:1

Do you have someone you could call in the middle of the night if you needed help? Bible teacher Ray Pritchard calls these people “2 a.m. friends.” If you have an emergency, this kind of friend would ask you two questions: “Where are you?” and “What do you need?”
Friends like that are crucial during difficult times. Jonathan was that type of friend for David. Jonathan’s father, King Saul—who was filled with envy at David’s popularity and God’s blessing on him—tried to kill him (1 Sam. 19:9-10). David escaped and asked his friend for help (ch. 20). While David hid in the field, Jonathan sat at dinner with his father and quickly realized that Saul did indeed intend to kill David (vv.24-34).
Because of their deep friendship, Jonathan “was grieved for David” (v.34). He warned him of his father’s plan and told him he should leave (vv.41-42). David recognized what a good friend he had in Jonathan. The Bible says they wept together, “but David more so” (v.41). Their souls were “knit” together.
Do you have loving Christian friends you can count on in a crisis? Are you someone your friends would call a “2 a.m. friend”?


Thank God for you, good friend of mine,
Seldom is friendship such as thine;
How very much I wish to be
As helpful as you’ve been to me. —Clark


A true friend stands with us in times of trial.



My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
August 17th, 2011

Are You Discouraged or Devoted?

. . . Jesus . . . said to him, ’You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have . . . and come, follow Me.’ But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich —Luke 18:22-23

Have you ever heard the Master say something very difficult to you? If you haven’t, I question whether you have ever heard Him say anything at all. Jesus says a tremendous amount to us that we listen to, but do not actually hear. And once we do hear Him, His words are harsh and unyielding.
Jesus did not show the least concern that this rich young ruler should do what He told him, nor did Jesus make any attempt to keep this man with Him. He simply said to him, “Sell all that you have . . . and come, follow Me.” Our Lord never pleaded with him; He never tried to lure him— He simply spoke the strictest words that human ears have ever heard, and then left him alone.
Have I ever heard Jesus say something difficult and unyielding to me? Has He said something personally to me to which I have deliberately listened— not something I can explain for the sake of others, but something I have heard Him say directly to me? This man understood what Jesus said. He heard it clearly, realizing the full impact of its meaning, and it broke his heart. He did not go away as a defiant person, but as one who was sorrowful and discouraged. He had come to Jesus on fire with zeal and determination, but the words of Jesus simply froze him. Instead of producing enthusiastic devotion to Jesus, they produced heartbreaking discouragement. And Jesus did not go after him, but let him go. Our Lord knows perfectly well that once His word is truly heard, it will bear fruit sooner or later. What is so terrible is that some of us prevent His words from bearing fruit in our present life. I wonder what we will say when we finally make up our minds to be devoted to Him on that particular point? One thing is certain— He will never throw our past failures back in our faces.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

The Short Trip From Fit to Fat - #6418

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Our local high school football players survived grueling triple practice sessions one summer. Our sons were on the team, and I know. But you know what? It was then off season, and I noticed then that several of them were going for a relatively simple one-mile run. I mean, simple compared to those triple sessions. Well, when they got back, they were totally wiped out, they were gasping for breath, they were sore, they were exhausted. My son was among them, and he summed up what he learned that day. He kind of collapsed in the car when I picked him up after the little run, and he said, "You know, dad, it doesn't take long to get out of condition." Well, he's right--especially when it comes to your heart.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Short Trip From Fit to Fat."

Now our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Timothy 4, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 7. Paul says, "Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."

Now, this word train...where Paul says, "train yourself to be Godly." It's an interesting word. If you looked at it in the original Greek language that the New Testament was written in, it's the word gymnazo. Does that sound like any word we have today? Well, of course, gymnasium. We go to the gymnasium. That's where we get the word gymnasium from this gymnazo word. It's talking about workouts, exercise, and staying fit.

And I think it's appropriate that God should suggest that staying in shape spiritually is something like staying in shape physically. He's saying, "Train to be Godly. Go to the gym to be Godly. Work out; exercise to be Godly."

See, as our football players discovered, it doesn't take long to get out of condition. You just can't miss many days, or you lose most of the conditioning you've gained. I know what happens when I'm off the treadmill for a few days. I get back on it and I'm like, "Oh, boy! I've got to work my way back up again." When am I going to learn that you can't be spiritually strong if you only have an occasional workout? It wouldn't work physically; it doesn't work spiritually. Oh, we go to the retreat, we go to the big conference, we get the Sunday sermon from the pastor who preaches so well, we get occasional binges of Bible study where we do it and then we quit, we do it and we quit.

You can't stay in condition unless you exercise consistently. Our binges usually just bring us back to the condition we were in before. We just get back to zero. We never really grow; we never really expand spiritually the distance we can run, or the weight we can lift, or the challenges we can handle. We get stuck at one level, and we fall back through neglect, then we make it up on a spiritual binge, and then we repeat the process over and over again.

Why don't we try Paul's better idea? He says, "Train yourself to be Godly." Get in a regular, consistent program. And commitment is the key, whether it's physical or spiritual. You have to set a time to get into God's Word. When do you do that? When is your non-negotiable time to be with Jesus? You have to set the alarm, you have to set a place where you're going to do it, and then all day long you live with discipline, staying within the boundaries, creating good habits that keep you on track.


You know there is no such thing as a spiritual day off. King David took one and he paid for it the rest of his life. See, you step into spiritual adulthood the day you commit yourself to the daily discipline of life in Christ.

You know, in sports and in spiritual growth it doesn't take long to get out of condition.