CONFIDENCE IN MAN

• DAY 231
• FEAR FILE: BARAK
• SCRIPTURES: JUDGES 4

Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”  And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!”

JUDGES 4:6-8

When we talk about dependence on man, we often think it is putting every single thing that we have, our whole hope, our whole focus on humans, but it’s not always like that. Sometimes it could mean that you are hoping on them in one area. Maybe you’re hoping they give you some kind of support, some kind of approval, some kind of green light before you go do something. And there is nothing wrong in wanting these from your community of godly friends except when it becomes a hindrance to doing what God wants or it begins to replace your hope in God.

A Company For Success

In our text today, we have Barak. God sent Deborah to ask him to go deliver Israel. God had already provided all he needed and set everything up. He chose the enemy, the location for the battle, the army to fight with Barak, and when the fight is to hold. But Barak refused to go at God’s word, he wanted Deborah to go with him.

When I read this I judged Barak, big time. I said why would you do that, Barak, is God not enough for you? Then I realized, I would have probably chosen Deborah too. Who wouldn’t? She was a powerful judge and prophetess. A strong influential woman, wise too. That is a combination for success. The only problem was, his choice meant that God wasn’t enough. That’s putting your confidence in man right there. And because he said this, because of this mentality, the glory he should have gotten from that fight was directed to another, a woman precisely.

Another’s Glory

If we put our focus and our confidence on man, we inadvertently exchange His glory and we lose the glory that God had packaged for us in the process. What we fail to realize is that when God gets the glory, we also get glory. And so if he’s not going to get the glory through our life then he will get it through another person that has the confidence to completely depend upon him.

In this season, God is putting a lot of dreams in our hearts as thoughts and ideas and we cannot be waiting for one endorsement from somebody somewhere before we move forward to take a step. Instead, we ought to trust the Word of God and believe that He’s going to come through for us and not depend on any man or on ourselves. Because the truth is that if you depend on man and on chariots, you’re going to experience failure. But if you put your confidence and your trust in God, then you’re going to see success like you have never experienced before.

So if this is you and you’re waiting on somebody to endorse a particular thing before you go ahead and do it, now would be a good time for you to repent and to tell God I trust you completely. I trust that when You gave me that word, You are backing me and You are going with me. And I believe absolutely in Your ability. I trust you totally.

Shalom.