Jael - My Daily Sanctuary

Something I felt should be shared from My Daily Sanctuary...

Most blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. May she be blessed above all women who live in tents. -- Judges 5:24, page 278

Jael
Sometimes all it takes is a simple act of courage to bring about a big change. After the Israelites had lived twenty years under the oppression of Jabin and Sisera, God decided it was time to set them free. When Israel's leader, Barak, attacked Sisera with thousands of Israelite warriors, Sisera escaped and hid among the tents of the Kenite tribe. Though the Kenites had been longtime allies of Israel, the family of Heber had sided with Jabin, the Canaanite king. So Sisera felt safe hiding among them.
When Sisera, exhausted from the battle, came looking for a hiding place, Jael invited him into her tent. She lulled him to sleep and then killed him by driving a tent peg through his temple. She wasn't a warrior. She didn't even know how to use a sword. But as a member of a seminomadic tribe, she did know how to drive a tent peg. Given the opportunity, she used what she had to act on behalf of God's people.
The prophet Deborah remembered Jael as "blessed among women" because she helped to deliver the Israelites from a terrible enemy. She acted along with God to bring about God's result. It doesn't matter who you are--with God, anything is possible.

Lessons:
The courage of a woman can change the course of an entire nation.
God uses ordinary people with ordinary skills to carry out seemingly impossible purposes.

Jael's story is told in Judges 4:17-22. She is also mentioned in Deborah's son of praise (Judges 5:6. 24-31).

Taken from: Sanctuary, a devotional Bible for women, NLT, TYNDALE. 2004.