Bare foot!
Judges 4:17”However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.”
When humpty-dumpty had a great fall, none of his horse men were able to put humpty dumpty back to shape! I have a lot to talk on the subject of ‘pride’ today, because this attitude is the reason for the downfall of many! Friend, there are many teachings offered today on the art of being calm and controlled, through techniques like yoga etc., but only Jesus can give you true peace and humility, many homes are shattered because of pride. The aftermath of success, education, knowledge and fame is pride. Curb it!
Let me share an incident we read in the Bible about a man called ‘Sisera’ who had a plum job as the commander of 900 chariots of King Jabin. Not many would know SISERA, he was a rude, brash guy who threw his weight around the scared, and already beleaguered Israelites. The Israelites were terrified of him and his iron chariots; however, it was God who had delivered the Israelites into the hands of those wicked enemies because of the evil that they did in His sight. God picked prophetess Deborah to deliver the people from the hands of such brutal enemies. Imagine a woman being selected for such a challenging project! Ladies! Are you there? Put up your hands! I know there are many out there who duck when they see lizards! But Deborah teams up with Barak and they make their enemies flee. If God be with you who can be against you?
Finally, I want to talk about Sisera, during the battle, Sisera was thrown down from his horse and he had to run for his life on bare foot. The above scripture states: “Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael!” Sisera who sizzled with the iron chariots now ran on bare foot to a woman’s tent for protection. Such would be the condition of wicked people! The story is not over, though, Jael drives a tent peg on the forehead of Sisera and kills him in one shot. Phew! Remarkable feat! There is something spectacular in this chapter, did you notice? God does not need ‘Alexander the Great’ or Hitler to accomplish His job, two ordinary women: Deborah and Jael were enough to dethrone Sisera and make him flee on bare foot.
Psalm 31:23“…The Lord fully repays the proud person.”
As I talk about ‘bare foot’, I reminded of the testimony of an elderly woman which I would share with you, she was a highly educated woman who held a high position in a big Organization, she had a huge collection of fashionable, colorful footwear because of her fetish for footwear. Puffed up with pride because of her success and achievements, she downright ignored God and the Bible. At the age of 60, she was struck by a rare disease that paralyzed her hands, body and she had also partially lost her speech, the woman who had several pairs of footwear had to walk around bare foot. It is now that she met good believers who led her in the path of salvation. I met her when she was 70 and she would tearfully narrate her testimony, one day she said, “ I deserve to go on bare foot now, because it has humbled me to go to His feet.” Amen. Along with my husband we would visit her once a month and give her holy communion, she would insist on kneeling down with me and take the communion, her lovely voice calling me, ‘sister Bala’ still echoes in my ears!
