Read: Judges 5

Are you a willing volunteer? Most of the time I am, though volunteering for a fight would make me think a bit longer. Here Deborah and Barak praise God for volunteers – those willing to fight. And again later, here.

When I was a boy I loved to read the stories of God’s people fighting their enemies and how God helped them to win – the book of Judges was a favourite of mine, with all those heroes. Now I’m older, I struggle with all the violence and killing, and even more with the graphic descriptions and delight in the destruction of the enemy, in parts of the Bible like this chapter. I don’t have any easy answers, just as I don’t have easy answers when God’s people are down-trodden and defeated. Today we speak of the battle being spiritual, but it’s still hard, and God still wants volunteers.

I was thrilled to be part of the team at Lagger Camps this summer, with lots of wonderful volunteers. There were times when they had to battle through. Living in a field with lots of children, even during this past sunny summer, involves all sort of challenges.

Lagger Camps couldn’t happen without volunteers. Many are previous campers so they understand how it feels to be a child at camp. We need volunteers to be tent leaders, cooks and nurses; to lead games and crafts; to lead worship and share from the Bible, so that children can have a great time and discover more of Jesus for themselves. The photos show team members supervising pyrography craft with campers, and performing a drama at Clubtime, when we sing and explore the Bible all together.

Volunteering can be costly. At Lagger Camps the team give their time and energy freely, even paying to come on the team. Some are students with long holidays, but they give up the chance to work and earn to keep them going in term-time. Others give up a week of their hard-earned holiday from work to be on the team. We praise the Lord for volunteers!

And finally, did you notice that it said ‘the people gladly volunteered’? Not merely doing it to please God, nor doing it out of a sense of duty, with gritted teeth – they volunteered gladly.

What might God be calling us to volunteer for? Will we volunteer gladly and do it for God?