Sing of Our Strength: Deborah’s Song of God’s Deliverance

Scripture Reading: Judges 4:1-24, Judges 5:1-31, Psalm 68:2-3

God’s people have always been singing people.

In the best of times, this looks like flinging our arms wildly and pushing our vocal chords to the max with the words, “Father Abraham had many sons. Many sons had Father Abraham…”

Or hearing our voice harmonize with fellow believers wearing pastel dresses and bright new ties as we declare the triumphal resurrection of our Savior “bursting forth in glorious day.”

But what sets us apart, beyond the unmatched beauty and power of the object of our worship, is the fact that we sing in the daylight and the dark.

Exhibit A: Deborah’s and Barak’s song found in Judges 5. Sure, there are moments that call for a back-up choir and tambourine accompaniment… “I will sing to the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel” (Judges 5:3). “Let them tell the righteous acts of the LORD, The righteous deeds of his villagers in Israel” (v.11). “March on, my soul, in strength!” (v.21).

But there are also lyrics better suited for the minor keys. Deborah and Barak were a duo that didn’t just sing about their triumph. Theirs is a song about joy and sorrow, redemption and rebellion, faith and fear. As they led Israel’s choir in song, they sang about natural disasters (vv.4–5), deserted towns (vv.6–7), trauma (v.13), war (v.19), flash floods (v.21), violence (vv.24–27), and a mother’s grief (v.28).

Not to mention the reason this song needed to be sung in the first place: “The Israelites again did what was evil in sight of the LORD after Ehud had died. So the LORD sold them to King Jabin of Canaan” (Judges 4:1–2).

One of the lessons Deborah and Barak can teach us is that in God’s economy true and powerful songs can be sung in the midst of messy lives and difficult days. Consider this:

It was when Horatio Spafford lost his wife and daughters in a shipwreck, that he sang, “it is well with my soul.”

It was after Joseph Scriven’s wife-to-be died before their wedding, that he wrote “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

Fanny Crosby lost her eyesight as a baby, resulting in a lifetime of challenges. Still, she sang: “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine! / O, what a foretaste of glory divine!”

We don’t sing because we’re blind to the darkness all around us. We don’t blast happy songs as a means to anesthetize our sorrow. We sing for the same reasons Deborah did; God is with us in the valleys. Like Barak we face intense struggles, but we know the battle belongs to the Lord.

And there is one more reason to keep singing: Every time we gather to sing about our Savior, we’re having choir rehearsal for heaven.

Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying, Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty, Reigns!

—Revelation 19:6

Being people of faith means adding our voices to the song of all those who know Him. We sing on the mountain and the valley. We sing with joy and grief. We sing about despair and triumph. Because our God is victorious and heaven is near, we never, ever stop singing.

Written by Erin Davis