Beware Whom You Allow into Your Tent
Judges 4:18-20:
Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him,”Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Don’t be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a rug. He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty.” She opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again. Then he said to her, “Stand at the entrance to the tent. If a man comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’
Jael went out to greet the enemy and invited him into her tent. It would have been inappropriate for Sisera to enter Jael’s tent uninvited, but she gave him the perfect place to hide. Many times, we do the same thing. While the enemy may be threatened and on the run, we just open the door and invite him in. He never has to even knock. Sisera wasn’t afraid of Jael because there were friendly relations between Jael’s husband and himself. When we make friends with the enemy, he isn’t afraid of us. He sees us as an ally, and he expects us to protect him, which is exactly what Jael did at first.
Seeing he was in danger of being exposed, Jael covered Sisera with a rug. When we fear our own sins are in danger of being exposed, we often try to cover them in some manner. We try to keep them out of sight or redirect attention to something else. We make intentional attempts to protect the sin we have befriended.
Once safely inside, Sisera began to make demands upon Jael. He asked for water to quench his thirst and ordered her to stand at the entrance to her tent and lie about his presence in her tent if confronted. Anytime we invite the enemy into our lives, he will quench his thirst on our resources and begin to make demands upon us. He will order us to deny his existence in our lives in order to protect his presence.
Why do we voluntarily protect the enemy in our own lives? For most of us, we protect him because we have befriended him, and we don’t want him to leave. We’ve become dependent upon him in some regard, and we are afraid of losing the false security he give us. As long as we want him there, he will stay and continue to deplete our resources and order us around. While we won’t take anything off of another individual, we often allow the enemy to give us a daily beating! It is time we become tired of his lies, his manipulation, his intimidation, and his domination, and order him out of our tent! Once you have invited the enemy into your house, you will never get rid of him unless you hate him enough to be violent with him!
Where have you voluntarily invited the enemy into your life? Where have you been hiding him? Where is he making demands of you? It is time you take a close look at him and recognize him for who he truly is – your enemy and not your friend! He holds no real security for you, and he will completely deplete your resources. He is dependent upon you for survival, and you have the power to extinguish him. However, you must come to the point where you hate him enough to get rid of him. Take an attitude against the devil in your life, and watch what real power rises up in you! Tomorrow we will see what Jael did when she finally recognized the enemy for who he was.
Have a blessed day!