“For we can only inspect ourselves as we are reflected in the Word. Not as reflected in our concepts. For although the Word will automatically reveal our defilement, it will not automatically remove it.” Judson Cornwall
My family believes wholeheartedly in the right to bear arms. Weapons were a part of our home growing up and even still today. I used to sit and watch my dad clean his guns and sharpen knives. He would always tell us, girls, that all the weapons in the house, be it pistols, rifles, shot-guns, BB guns, or knives; even his bullwhip were not toys. We were never to touch them without supervision. We learned to use them as we grew, so we would always know how to handle weapons when we were older.
Many of my family members have proudly served in the armed forces. I remember when my cousin, Gary, came back from overseas after several tours. We were all eating supper one evening at my grandpa and grandma’s house. Dad asked what he would be doing next now that he was back in civilian life. He responded, “Well, I haven’t found a spot on my resume where the fact that I can assemble and disassemble an M-16 in less than thirty seconds, in the dark, proves meaningful to most employers.” We all laughed at the wittiness hidden in the truth of his statement.
Over Christmas, the grandkids got BB guns from Pa and Grammy. Outside learning how to shoot, my sister, Aunt B, who was nine months pregnant, sat down in a chair on the porch and said, “Let me see if I can still shoot with any accuracy.” She held it up with only her left hand, looked down the barrel at a can about forty feet away, and blew it off the stand. She looked back at us and quoted a line from “The Princess Bride,” saying, “I know something you don’t know. I am not left-handed.” It took quite a bit for us all to regain composure.
Some of my favorite Bible stories are tucked in well-known stories that get overlooked. My mom and dad have always taught me to read with conviction, not with speed. One such golden nugget my dad shared with me a few years back. It happens in Judges 4:15-17. It reads, “At Barak’s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot. Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man survived. Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite….”
There are many details I could address here but I want to focus on the tent of Jael, where Sisera fled. While Sisera was fleeing for his life, he came upon the tents of Heber the Kenite. The Kenites were descendants of Jethro, the father-in-law to Moses. Who could have known but God the importance of that relationship Moses forged 175 years earlier? Heber, Jael’s husband, was away when Sisera arrived among his tents, but Jael, his wife, knew who Sisera was. However, she did not let on. Sisera sought shelter. Ever heard the saying, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” She bid him stay the night within her tent.
Her job as a woman was to set up and pull down her husband’s tents when they moved. Our current tasks seem so mundane at times, even perhaps, useless. But it was in her skill as a stake driver that would land her in Biblical history. She was remembered as the woman who killed Sisera. Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. While he slept, she slipped under the tent in the dark and drove a tent spike through the temple of Sisera. He was looking for the enemy to come from the outside while all the time his enemy was on the inside.
God didn’t use a warrior with an M-16. He used a woman with a hammer. Although she wasn’t skilled in war, she was a capable stake driver.
As sure as there is a God in Heaven, there is a devil in hell who would like nothing better than to destroy you, your family, your health, your business, your finances, and the list goes on. The weapons of protection for everyday life are within the pages of the Bible. Without it, we are powerless to stop hell.
“As Jael reached for and felt the smooth wooden handle of her hammer, it must have felt familiar to her from years of use. The tent spike was heavy, sharp on one end, and flattened from use on the other. In anyone else’s hands, they would have just been a hammer and spike but remember, “The tools in your hand are the weapons of choice for God.” As she knelt beside her sleeping enemy, it was with skill and confidence, not timidity and uncertainty, that she swung the heavy hammer. She was a longtime friend and associate of Israel. She came from a long line of Israel patriots, yet she was not Jewish. God will use anyone who will avail themselves to Him.” Jim Stockdale
Keep your hammer handy and your tent stake sharp. Know your weapon, and don’t be afraid to use it.
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“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds.” 2 Corinthians 10:4
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