Text: "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: ...a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance..." (Eccles. 3:1,4)

This is not the time for laughter and for dancing: it is rather

the time for weeping and for mourning. Meditating upon the substitutionary death of Christ should result in tears running down our cheeks. Considerations of the depravity of the human heart; of the presence of evil; and, as Tertullian wrote, of the continuing need to repent-- ought to produce a spirit that is grave.

Contemplating a world that is dying in its sin, and of people whose lives are ruined, and who are yet unreachable, should alone justify the fact that this is a time for mourning and a time for weeping. Benjamin Beddome wrote,

Did Christ o’er sinners weep, And shall our cheeks be dry?                Let floods of penitential grief Burst forth from every eye.             The Son of God in tears, The wondering angels see;                       Be thou astonished, O my soul: He shed those, tears for thee.            He wept that we might weep; Each sin demands a tear:                     In Heaven alone no sin is found, And there’s no weeping there.           But this earth is not Heaven: it is a vale of tears. What, then,         is the reason we no longer weep? What has become of our tears?

The Son of God exhorted men to weep: He said "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matt: 5:4). And again, "Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.... Woe unto you that laugh now! For ye shall mourn and weep" (Lk. 6:21b, 25b). Many in our day have the mistaken notion that the Christian life is "a rose bordered pathway covered with ease," or that Christians should carry a smile at all times. But this cannot be reconciled with Scripture which says that Ezra prayed, and confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God (Ezra 10:1). Surely, he must have reason to do so.

Job declared, "Mine eye poureth out tears unto God. (Job 16:20).

David prayed, "I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears." (Ps. 6:6)

The Psalmist wrote, "My tears have been my meat day and night" and declared, "I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping" (Ps. 42:3; 102:9).

Jeremiah was known as ’1he weeping prophet." He wrote that the Lord called for "mourning women," women that were "cunning" in their ability to mourn, that they might wail for the people, that "our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters" (Jer. 9:18). The prophet himself mourns, "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people" (9:1). Again, he wrote, "Mine eyes do fail with tears" (Lam. 2:11).

Isaiah describes the Son of God as "a man of sorrows" who was "acquainted with grief" (Is. 53:3b). No doubt it was for this reason he was "despised and rejected of men" then, and doubtless for this reason men despise him in our day. Nevertheless, in the days of his flesh, he offered up "prayers, and supplications with strong crying and tears" (Heb. 5:7a).

The Apostle Paul declares that from the first day he came into the coasts of Asia, he served the Lord ’with many tears" and testifies that by the space of three years he "ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears" (Acts 20:19,31).

He wrote to the Corinthians, "For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears" (II Cor. 2:4a).

Have the people of God nothing for which they ought to weep? The saints of God in our day can become angry over sinful deeds committed by wicked men, and they can become politically active by attending groups of concerned citizens, and they can write their congressmen, and they can give money to defeat unholy legislation, and they can publicly demonstrate against moral wickedness; but who is moved to weep, to wail, and to howl?

David, who is described in the New Testament as a "man after God’s own heart," tells us the Lord does not desire offerings, but that the sacrifices of God are "a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Ps. 51:17). Yet, contrition, or godly sorrow, has no place in modern-day evangelism or worship.

Jesus warned, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Lk. 13:5). Repentance is not merely the reformation of manners: it entails godly sorrow. Contrition is an essential element of repentance, and where there is no godly sorrow for sin, there is no repentance.

The Apostle Paul wrote, "Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death" (II Cor. 7:9,10). Where there is no godly sorrow, there is no repentance.

What has become of our tears? Why is it that the goodness of God evidenced by his providential care, and by his gracious mercy in the forgiveness of our sins -why is it that such things do not fill our hearts until our eyes overflow?

Should we not weep for ourselves? for our families? for our churches? for our schools? for our nation? Laws cannot change the hearts of men, but the Lord can. 0h that the fathers in our land had hearts of flesh! Oh that the hearts of fathers were turned to their children!

When King Ahasuerus had letters sent into all Persian provinces "to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish all Jews both old and young, little children and women, in one day" (Esther 3:13), "in every province whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and walling; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes" (4:3). It may not be until a similar proclamation is made to destroy all Christians that present-day believers will turn to the Lord with weeping and lamentation.

Consider the plague of our own heart! It is easier for us to open our purse than it is to bend our knees. It is easier to bow the head than it is to bow the heart.

The prophet implored, "Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, ‘Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among thy people, Where is their God’" (Joel 2:17)?

James counsels, "Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness" (Jas. 4:9).

"Blessed are they that mourn," Jesus said, "for they shall be comforted" (Matt. 5:4). "Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh;" but "Woe unto you that laugh now: for ye shall mourn and weep" (Lk. 6:21b, 25b).

The great indictment leveled against this generation is that we no longer weep. We have lost our tears, and we don’t know where to find them.

Text: "And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, "Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun’" (Judges 4:6)?

The northern Canaanites had been soundly trounced by Ehud, the Judge in Israel. On account of their sins, God had given the land of Canaan to the children of Israel. With the passing of time, however, the Canaanites again waxed strong. Under King Jabin and general Sisera, they had amassed 900 Ironclad Chariots --the tanks of ancient warfare. With these, the Canaanites were able to grievously oppress the northern tribes of Israel, and to place them under tribute.

Villages and private property was without the benefit of walls for protection. The Israelites were at the mercy of the merciless. All who were able fled from the pillaging Canaanites to the few towns that had the protection of walls and of numbers.

Travel came largely to a standstill. Those who had to journey frequented paths in hopes of eluding highwaymen, but if they found it necessary to stop at a watering hole, they were robbed, and either wounded or slain. To make matters worse, the Israelites were disarmed. Among forty thousand in Israel, a shield or spear was not to be found (5:8).

For 20 years, Jabin, king of Canaan, oppressed Israel because when Ehud was dead, the people "again did evil in the sight of the Lord" (4:1), "and the Lord sold them into the hand Jabin king of Canaan..." (2). Trouble is the punishment for sin. It required the space of 20 years before Israel would turn to the Lord.

Meet Deborah. There was a pious woman in the land by the name of "Deborah." It is the same name as "Melissa," and means "a bee." She dwelt under a palm tree in the southern part of Ephraim. Her purity and piety was recognized in Israel. So Singular was this woman for her godliness and wisdom that the people sought her counsel and judgment. It was on account of her piety that she was called a "prophetess" (4), and it was on account of her wisdom that she became a judge (5). How did she gain the respect of men?

When God was pleased to hear the groanings of the Israelites, and to acknowledge their tears, and to grant them repentance, he made his plan for their deliverance known to Deborah. Yet, she must not lead the people to battle because she was a woman. She therefore sent to Barak, who was of the tribe of Naphtali, and Said to him, "Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, ’Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun’" (6)?

Deborah is one of the most remarkable Christians in all of Scripture. The very thing that made her so notable was that as a woman she clothed herself with "a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price" (I Pet. 3:4). Here was a woman who accepted her place as a woman, and exhorted Barak. She was too pious a woman to command him. Far from being a domineering fishwife, she "studied to be quiet’’ (I Thess. 4:11). She was no man-hater. This is the reason men turned to her for godly wisdom.

Without a doubt, Deborah was largely Instrumental in Israel’s repentance. We have no doubt she adorned herself in modest apparel, not with gold or diamonds. Her beauty lay in good works, not in teaching men and usurping authority over them (I Tim. 2:9-12), for as there is no office of "deaconess" found in the New Testament, so there was no office of "prophetess" found in the Old Testament. She was a godly woman renown for her piety and wisdom.

Deborah was no false accuser or drunkard: she was a teacher of good things. She taught young women to love their husbands and to love their children. She taught them to be discreet, to be chaste, and to obey their husbands. She taught them that if they did not do this, the Word of God would be blasphemed (Titus 2:3-5). The secret of the greatness of this woman was her goodness.

Barak halted. His heart vacillated. The magnitude of the decision to meet Jabin’s forces in battle caused him serious reflection. "Had the Lord truly ordered the battle?" "Would the Lord of the armies of heaven defend Israel and fight against her foes?" He could find out whether Deborah was indeed certain the message was from the Lord: he would tell her that he would agree to lead the people of Israel if she would go with him to the battle.

"I will surely go with thee," she replied, "notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honor; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman" (9).

Barak did not wait for Sisera’s assault, but he led his men from the mountain to the plain below where they fell upon their oppressors. A bloody carnage ensued. Those who escaped the sword of Barak, and those who were not swept away by the river Kishon (5:21), fell upon their swords (4:16).

Scripture tells us, "The stars in their courses fought against Sisera" (5:20). It was the Lord who frustrated Jabin’s plans. It was he who routed the Canaanites, and then destroyed them until "there was not a man left" (4:16).

But Sisera thought to escape on foot, and fled to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. She went forth to invite him to turn in to her tent. Now, the Kenites were Midianites, who were Ethiopians. At this point in time, "there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor, and the house of Heber the Kenite" (4:t7).

"Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not" (18). When he entered the tent, show covered him. Fear possessed him. "Give me, I pray thee a little water to drink," "...and she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him" (19). He told her to watch, and if any man asked whether a man was there, she should answer, "No."

Shortly thereafter, Jael, Heber’s wife, quietly approached the general as he lay sleeping, and with a hammer, she drove a tent nail through his head "and fastened it into the ground" (21).

God delivered Israel that day because the people had repented account of her wisdom that she became a judge (5). How did of their sins. "Then sang Deborah and Barak" a hymn of praise unto the Lord. Judges chapter 5 records the song for succeeding generations. "And the land had rest forty years" (5:31).

It is significant to note that God used Jael to destroy the head of the Canaanite army, and that the Lord records how the meek and mild Deborah had been used to marshal the men of Israel to battle. Yet, in Hebrews chapter 11, the Faith chapter, it is Barak and not Deborah who is named as the deliverer of Israel (Heb. 11:32). Undoubtedly, the Holy Spirit did not want Deborah to be magnified above the propriety of her sex; and certainly she would have concurred.

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* Michael Fumento (The American Spectator, February, 1992) declares that the New York City Health Department can verify only 12 cases of AIDS (out of a total of 30,000) in men that has been acquired through contact with a woman.