Scripture
"But Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent peg and seized a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to [Sisera] and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died." (Judges 4:21)
Observation
Ouch!! Here is what was probably one of the earliest recordings of a "splitting headache." But note who was tagged as the victim – it was Sisera, who we discovered from earlier verses, as the commander of the great and formidable Canaanite army. It was an army equipped with 900 iron chariots, compared to Israel's simple army of men. Sisera had probably gained victories in hundreds of hand-to-hand combat battles and earned the respect to command such a large army.
Yet, even with all his military expertise, coupled with his extensive war experience, he was no match against the hands of a woman. Culturally, women were indeed considered as the weaker vessel. But, Sisera made one critical error that ended up costing him his life - he allowed exhaustion to get the best of him. He was so concerned about running away from the Israelites that he failed to realize how quickly exhaustion caught up with him.
Sisera's greatest foe wasn't necessarily the Israelites; it wasn't even Jael, although she packed a pretty mean punch. Sisera's public enemy #1 was a self-inflicted wound simply called "exhaustion." The danger with being prone to this wound is the distraction it creates. Blind spots become enlarged and shades one's perspective of the true picture, wherein settling for second best becomes good enough. Exhaustion, quite frankly, kills, not just the body, but also the spirit.
Yet, even with all his military expertise, coupled with his extensive war experience, he was no match against the hands of a woman. Culturally, women were indeed considered as the weaker vessel. But, Sisera made one critical error that ended up costing him his life - he allowed exhaustion to get the best of him. He was so concerned about running away from the Israelites that he failed to realize how quickly exhaustion caught up with him.
Sisera's greatest foe wasn't necessarily the Israelites; it wasn't even Jael, although she packed a pretty mean punch. Sisera's public enemy #1 was a self-inflicted wound simply called "exhaustion." The danger with being prone to this wound is the distraction it creates. Blind spots become enlarged and shades one's perspective of the true picture, wherein settling for second best becomes good enough. Exhaustion, quite frankly, kills, not just the body, but also the spirit.
Application
I need to take proactive steps to guard against inflicting myself with exhaustion. The key lies in balancing my time and how I choose to apply myself in my ministry, with my family, and even in regards to my own personal time. There will always seem to be more to do than what the hours in a day will allow. But included in that time must be periods reserved for refreshing, for a Sabbath rest. For if I don't, I will have no one else to blame for the wound that I've inflicted upon myself.
Prayer
Father, thank you for the reminder of how important it is to guard my times of rest. Help me to balance my time wisely, to keep myself fresh for the duration of the time that You've given me, in order that I might run this race with endurance to the very end.
