Marcus Mecum - Blessed For The Battle
I'm gonna read one verse to kick the message off, but I'm going to go through the entire chapter. So, what that means is if you have your Bibles, you wanna stay in judges 5 as I set the message up. But verse 23, let's look at it together. "Curse Meroz,'" everybody say, "Meroz.... Said the angel of the Lord. 'curse its people bitterly". My Lord, the angels are upset. "Because they did not come to help the Lord, to help the Lord against the mighty'". I want you to get the picture here, the picture is one of a battle, and Deborah is painting the picture of this battle by singing a song. And as you go through the verses of the song, she's helping us catch a glimpse of how when God goes in a battle, how creation is to respond.
How the people of God are to respond. And so, I wanna talk to you on that final verse, "Curse Meroz". But really, I wanna talk to you about how you have been blessed for the battle. You've been blessed to be involved. You've been blessed to participate. You've not been blessed in the way that you have for ease. You've not been blessed in the way that you have for your comfort. You have been blessed for the battle. God anticipates his people's involvement. He anticipates our ready response when he wants to do something. He expects us, according to verse 2 of that chapter to willingly offer ourselves.
The Bible goes on to say that not only did people say they wanted to be involved, but you find here that even the earth begin to tremble. It was as if the earth had ears and listened down to God saying, "I'm going into a battle". And even the earth begin to say to itself, I can't grab a spear and I can't grab a sword. I can't shoot an arrow. Somehow, someway, I wanna get involved. And so, maybe I could shake and that would help God in his battle. The night sky began to cover the sun. It was as it the sun would say in the same way that the earth did, "I don't have any military ability, but what I can do is I can turn myself off, and if God's enemy needs light, I can make sure that the lights are off and his enemy has to fight in the dark".
The clouds watch the sun go dark, they watch the earth begin to tremble and the clouds begin to say, "Surely, there's something I can do to help God in the battle. Surely, there's something I can do to play a part. I'm just a cloud, but what I can do is, I can begin to drop water onto the earth. And it could be that if enough water drops, there will be pools of mud and when the enemy tries to find its footing, maybe it will be unable to do so, and I can help God in the battle". The Bible says the mountains begin to melt. I don't know if this was an earthquake or a mudslide or maybe a rock or boulder crashing down. I don't know exactly what it is, but even the mountain begin to take note of how all of God's creation wanted to get involved.
So, even the mountain said, "I'm not going to allow there to be a place for the enemy of God to hide in these mountains". The governors of Israel willingly offered themselves. Deborah begins to sing a song. It was as if Deborah would say, "God's in a battle and because of who I am, I'm not trained to be a soldier, I'm not violent in nature, but maybe I can sing a song and that song would help God in his battle". Zebulun, who had the pen of a writer begins to say, "Maybe I can take notes". Zebulun was a tribe that was clerical, they weren't a military tribe, but they could take notes and they said, "That's what we'll do to get involved in the battle".
Barak was sent on foot. Naphtali jeopardized their lives unto death because God was in a battle. They said, "We're going to get involved in the battle". Kings from the earth began to gather around and took no gain for themselves, they just wanted to be involved in the battle. The stars in heaven begin to move so if the enemy needed direction, needed to know where to go, the stars even begin to move in their places to confuse the enemy, so the enemy could not have direction. All of this begins to happen because the creation as we know it, was wanting to help God in the battle.
The river Kishon watches the sun, and watches the mountains melt, and watches the tremble, and watches the sun go dark, and says, "Surely, I can do something, and maybe what I could do is when the enemies walk down to my shores and the banks to drink water, what I'll do is I'll swell and the swell of the banks will wash the enemy down the river, and they'll be unable to be in the battle because of my desire to participate in the battle". It then says that the horses begin to prance. It was like even horses knew, "I can't get a spear and I can't lift a shield, there's nothing I can do in that way, but what I can do is I can get the enemy beneath my feet and I could begin to stomp on the enemy, and help God in his battles".
You see what we learn is it's not that God needs the horse, it's not that he needs the mountains, it's not that he needs the sun, he doesn't need any of that to assist him in his battle, but he involves us because through involving us, he blesses us, and we have to learn that we've not been blessed to sit back, and watch, and sit back, and spectate, we've been blessed to be involved. We've been blessed to participate, we've been blessed for the battle.
In judges 5:23, we read it, the angel of the Lord is looking down and seeing all that's happening, and he sees the city of Meroz and the people and the inhabitants of that city, and he says, "Curse Meroz, curse its people bitterly, because they did not come to help the Lord, to help the Lord against the mighty". In other words, while the women were singing, and the horses are stomping, and the mountains are melting, and the rivers are washing people away, and the stars are moving, as people are walking to the battle, as other people were putting their very lives on the line, the people there in this tribe called Meroz seemed to sit back and were unwilling to participate. They had their hands in their pockets saying, "We don't desire to get involved".
And the angel of the Lord spotted these people, watched these people, and he said, "Curse Meroz, curse these people. There's something about the blessing that they don't understand, there's something about what I've done for them that they don't understand". Commentaries would say that this city was located next to the battlefield. They were very close to the battle. So if the battle was won, these people would benefit the most from it. If the battle was lost, these people would suffer the most. But yet, even though they were the ones who were really in the heart of the battle, they seemed disinterested to get involved, they seemed like there was no reason or purpose for them to get involved.
These same people, according to the Hebrew, this place Meroz means a place of costliness. The Greek means anointed with costly oil. So, this is not an ordinary place. Meroz is a costly place, this is an anointed place, this is the place that a great price was paid for them to have the blessing that they have, yet the people that occupied this place, their attitude was, "Someone else can pay the price, someone else can fight the battle. Someone else can put the effort in. Someone else can do their part, we could care less about doing anything ourselves". And the angel of the Lord said that kinda mindset is cursed.
The anointing you've received, Meroz, is for service, the blessing you've received is for service, everything I've done for you is for service, and a curse is not some form of black magic, a curse means to make small, to make insignificant. And what happens to so many people, is they believe the lie that they don't matter, they believe the lie that they're insignificant, they believe the lie that they can't do something great for God. And the truth of the matter is, you've been blessed for the battle, you've been blessed to be involved. And you cannot misuse the blessing. You can't abuse the blessing.
How do you misuse it? Through inactivity. Through your hands being in your pocket. No one in this room should ever be under the curse of Meroz. We're in a battle, we're in a spiritual battle. Our families are under attack. If your family has not been under attack in some way, you are the rare exception. This next generation is under attack. And what I'm here to try to tell you is no one should be standing by with their hands in their pockets because God is in a battle, and you've been blessed to be involved in the battle. Matthew 12:30, Jesus said, "He who is not with me is against me". Pretty strong, isn't it? Jesus said that. Then he goes on to say, "He who does not gather with me scatters".
Matthew 25, the parable of the talent, Jesus looks at this servant and he calls him wicked, unprofitable, and slothful. He says to this wicked servant, you're going to be thrown into outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is Jesus speaking, and it's pretty dramatic, don't you think? And he's not thrown into outer darkness because he doesn't have ten talents. And he's not thrown into where there's gnashing of teeth because he doesn't have five talents. And he's not in this place of complete and total darkness because he doesn't have two talents. He's in this place because the talent that he has, he does nothing with it. He did nothing with what he was given.
And the point is, the curse of Meroz is not an Old Testament principle. We see Jesus speaking about it over and over. You've been blessed to be involved. You've been blessed to be a blessing. You been blessed to participate. You've been blessed for the battle. And you cannot tell me that God did not shed his sinless, sacred, precious blood to save your soul, for you to do nothing. You cannot tell me that God fills you with the power of his Holy Spirit for you to remain inactive. You cannot tell me there's not something that God wants you to do, that there's nothing you can do, that there's not some ability, some gift, some talent, some anointing, some blessing that you can do to use that for the work of God. You've been blessed for the battle.
Ephesians 6 talks about the armor of God, not so you can look at it, it's not an aesthetic. It says, you put it on with anticipation that God is in a battle and I wanna be on the Lord's side. Perhaps one of the most confusing scriptures you can read is in Gethsemane. The Bible says there was a group of people in chapter 27:36, that were sitting down, and it says, "They watched him there". So, Jesus is bleeding, he's burdened, he's collapsed under the weight of the cross that he's about to carry. And there's a group of people that are there, and they've not nailed his hands or his feet, they've not pierced his side, they've not beat him, they've not used that jagged whip to rip his back open, they've done none of that. They sat down and they watched him there.
That's the curse of Meroz, sitting, watching, inactivity. David came to a battlefield, his oldest brother Eliab looks at him and says, "I know the wickedness in your heart, that you've come only to watch". In other words, his brother says, it's wicked if all you do is come to watch. If all you do is believe that your appearance of support is enough. No, there's something more that God was looking for, and of course we know that he was wrong about David, that David did not come to watch the battle, David came to win the battle. David did not come to see the battle, he came to stop the battle. And if you are in the house of God, if you are a child of God, you are also engaged in a battle.
The devil is not neutral, the devil is not gonna sit back, take the day off. He doesn't sleep. He doesn't take vacations. He doesn't take a day off. He never ceases, never stop to accomplish his mission, and that is to do anything he can to steal, kill, and destroy. And there's only one thing standing in between the enemy and his desire to destroy this planet, destroy the human race, destroy everything that we're about, and that is the people of God saying, "Not while we're here, not on our watch, not on our hour, we will get in the battle". Someone shout, "I'm on the Lord's side". I've been blessed to be in the battle.
Mark 14:8, a woman breaks open this box of expensive ointment perfume. She immediately met criticism and Jesus stood up himself and defended her. And these were his astounding words, "Because she had done what she could, this woman's moment will be told as a memorial to her, to future generations". Not because what she did was spectacular, or gigantic, or impressive. No, she did what she could. And the Lord said, "I am pleased because she did what she could". I don't believe this city would be ever be the same if we could break the stereotype of 80% of the people sitting back and letting 20% of the people do the work.
If we would just say, "Not here, this is not Meroz, we've been anointed, God's blessed us, and he's blessed us with a purpose. And not them and not they, and not those over there, me, I am here and I want to be involved. Put me in the battle, put me to work. Give me something I can do". We would change this city, we would shake our world if we would simply say, "I wanna help, I wanna do something". So, the curse came on inactivity and unwillingness to be involved.
So, the blessing comes on an attitude that says, "I'll do it, I'll help, I'll go. Why not? Of course. Sure. Why would I not do something. I mean, I see that the sun could play its part, and I see the mountains can play their part, I see the river do its part. I see the oceans, I see all that. Surely, my answer is going to be I'll find something to do. If a cloud, a soft, little floaty cloud can find something to do, I can find something of weight to do".
One of the greatest ways to see the blessing come into your life is to stop the cursing, stop the inactivity, stop the negative reasons on why you can't and just say, "There's something I can do". There is a gift, there is something I can bring to the table. 1 Peter 3:10 says, "You're called to inherit a blessing". In other words, we are called to people that bring blessing everywhere we go. That's what we we're called to do. We bless people. The Bible even says, "We bless our enemies". Even our enemies we bless them. That's what we're gifted to do, we're just gifted to be a blessing.
We blessed children, we bless the next generation, we bless situations, futures, marriages, time, by the way we use it, by the way we use other people's time. We bless stuff that's land, that's home, that's our finances. It's just stuff, but it's different when they blessing of God is on it. We bless God through our obedience, through our worship, through our praise, we join with the angels of heaven and do what? We give blessing, and honor, and glory to him who lives forever and ever, amen. We're called to people of blessing wherever we go. And the lie is that when you become a Christian that Jesus took on the curse. That's the lie.
When you become a Christian, you receive salvation through receiving forgiveness, right? Not because he died, that's the part that he's done, you just received what he's done. You don't have to do anything, but you have to receive the forgiveness, that's called repentance. That's called turning from your old life turning towards the new life. He took on your shame, but a lot of Christians walk around in shame, do they not? Because they haven't learned that on the cross, Jesus not only took their sin, not only does he wanna give you forgiveness, but he wants to free you from any shame, any guilt from your old life. He wants to cleanse you and wash you and let you know that you're his beloved, that you're his sons, his daughter, that he's forgotten that, he does not hold that against you, he's got a brand new life and purpose and future for you.
But Christians walk around in shame. Jesus died for them so they don't carry the shame, but they still carry it. So, you always have to come to the cross, and you have to receive the benefit of what Jesus paid for you to have. You have to receive it. And Jesus did not die on the cross so you and I could walk around cursed. The Bible says, "Cursed us any man who hangs on the tree". So, Jesus took on our curses, that's what iniquity means, generational curses. You're not to walk around with the curse of Meroz, the curse of inactivity, the curse of helplessness, the curse of idleness, the curse of apathy and complacency, that's not, as a child of God, that curse has to be broken.
And the same way that you receive forgiveness of sins, you have to ask God to break the curse off of your life. And you have to be honest with God about the curse like to are the sin. "I need to forgive me of my sin, free me from my shame, and I also need you to break every curse off of my life. You didn't die for me to be small, you didn't die for me to be insignificant, you didn't die for me to spectate and watch, you died so I could be blessed to be in the battle. Whatever you're doing, God, I want to be a part of it. I've been blessed to be a part of it".