God Blesses Women who Stand                                                       Jun/19

As a woman, it is so very encouraging  that God includes many in His Word who learned to stand! With us, there are a number who are the first in their family to come to faith in Christ.  This is often so discouraging and overwhelming.  (I remember the same experience in my teens; feeling so very alone.)

Consider Rahab to whom we are introduced in Joshua chapters 2 and 6, then in Matt. 1:5   Because she, a former prostitute,  had a vision of  Who God was, and because she chose to support and join His people, she and her whole household were saved when the city of Jericho fell! But that’s not all, for she married a man of God, and she gave birth to Boaz who was a great grandparent to King David!  Not only that, Rahab is among the people recorded in the ancestral line who brought forth Christ Himself! What a blessing to one woman who took a risky stand, repented and began a new life with God’s people.

Ruth also believed and chose to leave her familiar Moab background, to live with the people of God. If you think your background is nasty, consider that she was a descendent of incest between a father and his daughter. (Gen. 20:30)  She however, was faithful to the vision God gave her, and He blessed her also with a Godly husband –none other than Rahab’s son!  Have you ever considered these two ladies would have visited over the years; likely encouraging each other?  We do need to seek out other believing women who will motivate us to stand, to press through when trials come. Both of these women were included in the ancestry of the long awaited Saviour of the world.

In the New Testament we meet Lydia, “whose heart the Lord opened…” She believed, then received God’s men into her home, and her whole household was blessed with faith.  (Acts16) 

                                                                                                                              

  In Mark 7 we are told of a Gentile woman who cried out desperately to the Lord because her daughter was tormented by a demon. (Now there was a woman with a problem!) Even when at first the Lord seemed to ignore her, she kept crying out.  When His disciples rejected her pleas, that did not stop her.  When He finally answered somewhat roughly, she continued so humbly in her response.  “Even the dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs Lord.” And…He delivered her daughter!

Mary Magdalene was another woman with a dark past. When she met Jesus in Luke 8, He cast out seven demons from her. She responded by giving herself to follow Him, together with other ladies who were doing the same. In the early morning of His resurrection, she was one who went to the tomb, and she didn’t leave with the others, but continued there weeping.  Seeing someone whom she thought to be the gardener, she asked, “Where have you taken Him?” The risen Saviour spoke her name, “Mary” and instantly she recognized His voice. Jesus then gave her - a woman- His first message for the brothers!    (Jn. 20)

 Precious sisters, we can be strong in Him! But we do need each other- we need other believers in our lives. This is crucial for our descendants, and for others who watch us.  We must not quit! In these days  we cannot afford the false luxury of remaining in some selfish offense or distraction which will take us away from this vision of seeking Him.  We must keep on.  Even when all seems desperate and we feel so alone in our struggles; in the same manner of these women: “we will reap if we do not faint!”