‘Mediocre’ is a word that we use a lot without knowing what it means and mediocre means ‘half way up between the valley and the peak. It doesn’t mean half-way between earth and Heaven, it means half way between where we used to be and where we ought to be. Now that’s where I would describe the average Christian – A.W. Tozer
If we look at some of the definitions of the word “mediocre”, we begin to understand that
mediocrity has no place in the Christian life. Hopefully, words like of moderate or low quality,
passable, or second-rate don’t describe your spiritual life. Comfortable and complacent Christianity knocks at our door continually and seeks to threaten the abundant and victorious life that Christ offers. True spiritual leaders however, understand the truth of Theodore Roosevelt’s words:
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
Israel, at the time of Deborah, was living in that place of gray twilight, mediocrity. In Ann Spangler’s book, Women of the Bible, she presents an accurate picture of Israel.
Jericho, gateway to Canaan, had lain in ruin for two hundred years. From there, the Israelites had swept across the country like a storm of locusts, devouring everything in their path. But the native peoples had somehow managed to survive, and like well-rooted weeds, their idolatry spread until it began to strangle Israel’s faith. Rahab and Joshua were the palest of memories now, and the slaves-turned-warriors were once again underdogs, oppressed for twenty years by a coalition of Canaanite rulers, whose chief warrior was Sisera. His nine hundred iron-plated chariots terrified the ill-armed Israelite people, threatening to sweep over them with invincible force. Small wonderno one challenged him. Sisera must have felt smugly secure, especially since Israel was now led by a woman…
Sisera couldn’t have been more wrong in his assessment. He failed to take into consideration a woman whose vision of the world was not shaped by the political situation of her day, but by her relationship with God. Though her people had sunk into despair because of their idolatry, Deborah did not allow their condition to stop her from rising up and leading the way to victory!
Oh how we need to be women that rise up in the midst of a church that has fallen asleep, fallen into mediocrity. May we be encouraged, exhorted and equipped as we study Deborah and lead those in our sphere of influence back to God!
Discover more about Deborah’s victory over mediocrity…