October 2024
" I Got You, Babe” became the timeless hit of Sonny and Cher in 1965. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart on August 14 and remained at number one for three weeks. The tune and lyrics are permanently stored in the memories of those who listened to the radio that summer; just a few bars into the recording and we can instantly identify it. Music has that kind of power to send us back to simpler days and recreate visually the scene of them singing the song on their television show.
When Deborah and Barak wrote a song to memorialize God’s great deliverance of Israel from the dominating power of the Canaanites, it would have been learned and sung in the homes and around the campfires of the Hebrews. For decades to follow, God’s people could transport their memories back to the stunning victory and the fresh air of freedom they had experienced on that unforgettable day when God sent a powerful storm to neutralize nine hundred chariots of iron and scatter the thousands of enemy troops across a landscape which had been turned into a muddy and deadly trap.
In recounting the people and events of that day, the singing duo began with the reason God moved in – “When leaders lead in Israel, When the people willingly offer themselves, Bless the Lord!” (Judges 5:2, NKJV)
As the leadership team of Israel, Deborah and Barak had listened carefully to the LORD’s instructions and obeyed them exactly. When they turned to the ten thousand unarmed (see Judges 5:8) men and told them to charge down Mount Tabor against an undefeatable foe, the men “willingly offered themselves” and God showed up!
How wonderful it is to belong to a congregation where the leaders lead by listening to God and, when a need arises for help, the people willingly offer themselves to accomplish God’s purposes for the church!
Dr. Lynn Hardaway
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