WEEKLY REFLECTION by Pastor Lap Dinh on ‭‭Judges‬ ‭4‬:‭8‬-‭9‬

“Then 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.” She said, “I will certainly go with you; however, the fame shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.” Judges 4:8-9

The story of Deborah stands out as a good example that when male leadership fails, God will use female ones. How did Barak fail? Clearly, he dropped the leadership. Perhaps, he was afraid to lose as he didn't want to face the battle and take responsibility. Today's equivalent of Barak's word for a husband would be, "Honey, if you will go to work with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go to work." As a result of the Fall in Genesis 3, men who are unregenerated or not yet being born again and not being discipled, tend to depend on women. When a boy is raised by a mother with the father's absence, he naturally or likely grows to learn, seek, or depend on women's decisions. This intensifies when the mom is controlling or aggressive. Even when he comes to know the Lord if he is not discipled and has a weak relationship with Him and does not take time to build friendship with other males, he is likely to become a "female-dependent" guy who, unconsciously most of the time, seeks affirmation/assurance from female figures. One thing we need to be clear about is that males and females are of equal standing before Jesus. But each gender (just two) has different God-ordained/given roles. This is why He designed them to be together in the holy matrimony/covenant. And the husband leads by loving the wife. The wife loves the husband by submitting to him. Both are to submit to the Lord. Now those who heard a clear/special calling from the Lord to be single, still he/she is to stay faithful, stay submitted to Jesus and His appointed/ordained male leadership in the Body of Christ.