Faith is a gift from God (1 Cor 12:9; Eph 2:8-9; 2 Pet 1:1, 5), yet the Bible identifies qualities to a believer’s daily faith; it may be little (Mt 14:31), doubting (Jas 1:6-8), or great (Mt 15:22-28). In this last example, Jesus didn’t heal because of the woman’s great faith but by grace. He just noted her faith was unlike the faith of those He encountered in Israel. The greatness of one’s faith doesn’t matter, but the greatness of the One in whom your faith rests!

I. The Man (Judg 4:4-7). Deborah is introduced as a prophetess judging the disputes of Israelites, not as a judge/deliverer. Women leaders are an evidence of God’s judgment on a nation (Is 3:12). This doesn’t mean women are inferior to men, but that God’s design in creation is not for women to lead men. Deborah relayed God’s word to His people through settling personal disputes, but she wasn’t their deliverer! For all her fame among feminists today, Deborah isn’t found again outside Judges 4 and 5.
Barak, Israel’s general, is introduced by a summons to the prophetess. God chose and sent Barak to deliver Israel — not Deborah (1 Sam 12:11). He is named as a hero of faith (Heb 11:32). Yet like each of Israel’s judges, Barak was flawed. Each flawed deliverer pointed to Jesus, the perfect Deliverer.
Barak was to deploy his troops, while God would deploy Sisera and his troops, destroying them (Judg 4:6-7).

II. The Faith (Judg 4:8-16). Barak was a man of faith, but a hesitant faith. His weakness was his hesitation to believe God (Judg 4:6). He was no different from Moses (Ex 3:7-14; 4:1-17), the man whose son was demon possessed (Mk 9:14-26), or you and me.
Barak needed re-assurance that God was a faithful and strong Deliverer (Deut 31:6; Ps 91:4; 1 Cor 10:13; 2 Cor 12:9; 2 Thess 3:3). That was Deborah’s ministry. Barak’s hesitance to believe God came at a price: the honor of victory would go to a woman.
Barak assembled his army on Mt Tabor, 10 miles west of the Sea of Galilee; but there was a traitor. Heber the Kenite, betrayed Barak’s plans to Sisera. The Kenites were related to Israel through Moses (Judg 1:16). From Heber’s intelligence, Sisera arranged his troops in a dry riverbed allowing easy, fast, and direct access to Mt Tabor for his army and 900 heavy, iron chariots (Judg 4:3).
Before Heber’s betrayal, God told Barak what Sisera would do (Judg 4:6-7). God didn’t look through time to see what Sisera’s free-will would do; God sovereignly moved Sisera to do His will (Judg 4:6-7; Ps 115:3; 135:6; Prov 16:9; 19:21; 21:1; Rev 17:17)!
Deborah didn’t go into battle, but reminded Barak that God would deliver Sisera into his hand. Barak did as God spoke through Deborah. As he charged down Tabor, a rain storm hit, sending a flash flood down the dry Kishon River bed (Judg 5:4-5, 23" class="scriptRef">19-23). Water and mud made moving the iron chariots impossible, and Sisera’s army was routed (to cause confusion and panic), as God did to pharaoh’s army (Ex 14:25-29). It’s interesting that Barak’s name means lightning and the Canaanite god Baal was depicted as a man riding a storm cloud with thunder in one hand and lightning in the other. The Canaanites were routed in a thunder and lightening storm. The same God who sold them into the hand of Jabin also subdued Jabin … in the presence of the children of Israel (Judg 4:2, 23).

III. The Glory (Judg 4:17-24). Mighty Sisera hurried to the handiest safe haven, the home of Heber, Israel’s traitor. He was welcomed by Heber’s wife, Jael, who gave him a warm blanket and drink of milk. Sisera fell asleep in peace and safety. Then Jael drove a tent peg through Sisera’s temple nailing him to the ground (Judg 4:21). Barak won the victory, but the glory went to another.
All Barak did was through faith (Heb 11:33), hesitant though it was at the first. His victory was wholly by the grace, power, and will of God rather than his own strength, cunning, or effort. God’s power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor 12:9).