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Text and Thought of Encouragement:                   

“Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song.”

Judges 5: 12

King James Version

 “God’s Spokeswomen”

“There are three things I was born with in this world, and there are three things I will have until the day I die: hope, determination, and song.”

Miriam Makeba

What has God called me to be the “spokeswoman” for to those I meet each day?

“The really great (woman) is the (woman) who makes every (person) feel great.”

G. K. Chesterton

INSPIRATION           

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

Edith Wharton

            It was a time of despair and trauma.  For hundreds of years, God’s children had been the slaves of Egyptian taskmasters.  Under the dominion of Egypt’s Pharaohs, they toiled.  However, when things looked the darkest, God was at work.  He used two midwives to save the lives of countless babies.  He used the Pharaoh’s gentle-hearted daughter.  He used a mother filled with hope that her child would be the long-awaited deliverer.  And He used a prophetess, Miriam, who continuously had a song of praise on her lips.  Yes, God was at work – and if you notice, it was through the hope, determination and praise-filled utterances of women that the light of deliverance was kept burning.

            Over the last few months, as we have studied the lives of Biblical women, from Genesis to Judges, what we find is that the candleholders of hopefulness have nearly always been women.  The spokespeople for joy and courage have been God’s daughters.

            Again in Judges, we find the trumpet-call from heaven given to a woman – Deborah.  She was called to awaken God’s children.  Hers was a rallying call to victory.

            In our text for today, we find Deborah was called upon to “awake and utter a song.”  The Hebrew translation of this phrase reads like this: “Raise up and lift up others.  Stir up those around you as you declare, pronounce, and become a spokeswoman for the joy and song of the Lord.”

            I don’t know about you but these words inspire me to the core of my being.  And for just a moment, I want to direct my words specifically to all God’s daughters who come to Transformation Garden each day.

            We, as women, have such powerful ability within our lives to inspire or expire the hope in those around us.  We can light a fire of rejoicing or just as quickly extinguish it.  And we must never forget this fact.

            When I met my husband, Jim, over 30 years ago, he told me that I was the most joyful person he knew.  “You find happiness everywhere,” he commented.  But like most of us, there are times I’ve let the candle of joy in my life nearly burn out.  Life can do this to you with its problems and pain.  What I’ve noticed is that when I allow the fog of gloom to find a haven around me, I spread my negativity to everyone I touch.  It is as though I am a carrier of a virus that instead of providing encouragement and inspiration leaves only a trail of desolation.

            One author notes that “inspiring people are vitamins for our spirit,” and I say, “Amen!”  but I want to go one step further.  I believe our Father in heaven planted within His daughters such a power to bring hope to others that is why, especially during times of great despair, He calls on His girls, whether in Egypt or in Canaan, or anywhere else in the world, to be the wells of hopefulness.  He shouts loudly to us, “Awake and be my spokeswoman for rejoicing and song.”

            Sara Maitland, a noted English writer and theologian, penned these words of inspiration. “Still in the enormous silence of the desert, we sing like birds.”  This is what we find God’s daughters in Egypt and Canaan doing – for in the darkness of the desert, whether it was Miriam the prophet of praise or Deborah, the judge of praise, God’s daughters became His spokeswomen for hope, determination, and song.

            In the 1700’s, a young man, Robert Robinson, who faced severe personal trauma as a young child, finally gave himself to the service of God.  After entering the ministry at the age of 23, he penned the words to the now famous and often sung hymn, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” As daughters of God, may you and I live the power of these words every day as we, too, become God’s spokeswomen of praise and hope in a world filled with gloom and despair.

“Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount!  I’m fixed upon it,

Mount of God’s unchanging love.”

Robert Robinson

AFFIRMATION

Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above

“All my toilsome way along

I sing aloud His praises;

That all may hear the grateful song.

My voice unwearied raises,

Be joyful in the Lord my heart;

Both soul and body bear your part,

To God all praise and glory.”

Johann J. Schütz

Your friend

Dorothy Valcárcel, Author

When A Woman Meets Jesus

Dorothy@TransformationGarden.com