Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?

 Judges 4:1-16

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.

 “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.

Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him. At Barak’s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.

Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left.

Deborah is a judge in the judicial sense, a woman of authority. Not only does she send for the military leader, Barak, and give him God's instruction, she is also perfectly ready to make an 80km journey north to go with him into battle. Barak gets no glory from the action, for it is another woman, the resourceful Jael, who slays the mighty Sisera with a handy tent peg and mallet.

Why?

God's word and God's way always correct. Listen to the word of God would be a blessing man.

Barak did not get the honor of the battle for he did not fully follow the word of the Lord. The victor of the battle is the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword. God has destroyed the enemy before Barak. 

Victory belongs to the Lord! We are cooperate working with the Lord!

How?

Be encourage and do the right things, God is with us when we obey his commands.