My Devotionals

Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. …She sent for Barak…and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’” Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.” “Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. (Judges 4:4-9)

Deborah is one of the greatest leaders in all of Scripture, a prophet and judge whose governance led to a rare period of “rest for forty years” for the nation of Israel (Judges 5:31). Today's passage shows us three leadership lessons from her extraordinary life.

#1: Deborah offered c...

One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.” (2 Kings 4:8-10)

The Shunammite woman in today’s passage shows us a model of hospitality that is both unreasonable and unexpectant. 

First, let’s look at how unreasonable her act was. This woman built a room in her house for Elisha, the traveling prophet, which is extraordinary on its own. But then she filled the room with a bed, table, chair, and lamp—everything Elisha would need to do his work on the road. The woman essentially built Elisha an ancient home office. That is unreasonable.

But her hospitality was also unexpectant. She did it expecting nothing in return. Picking up in 2 Kings 4:13, Elisha ...

His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings. (1 Samuel 25:3)

After being introduced to Nabal and Abigail, we learn that David, God’s anointed future king, came to Nabal with a request for compensation after his men had faithfully protected Nabal and Abigail’s sheep and servants. But Nabal refused. So David took 400 of his men armed with swords to confront the “surly” man.

One of the servants came directly to Abigail saying, “Disaster is hanging over our master [Nabal] and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him” (1 Samuel 25:17).

Nabal built a culture in which his team could not talk to him. But Abigail created her own culture with the team that welcomed news—even news of doom—which allowed her to masterfully deescalate the conflict with David (see 1 Samuel 25:18-42).

There’s a lesson embedded in there for you today: Great, godly leaders create cul...

Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah….When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.” (Genesis 29:30-32)

With Mother's Day right around the corner, I want to spend the next few weeks studying some of the working women of the Bible and what they can teach women and men about our own work today.

Before we look at the women in this series who built businesses, led armies, and negotiated with kings, I want to start with Leah: a woman whose primary work was raising children. Because if we're going to truly talk about faith and work, we can’t ignore the fact that some of our hardest, most consequential work is the work of parenting. And Leah has something to teach every worker—paid or unpaid—about the most dangerous trap in...