Random Obscure Women of the Bible

I wrote an earlier post about women at different stages of life being used by God. One of those women was Jael, who was used to kill Sisera, an enemy of the Israelites. She was simply at her home, doing the work of her stage of life, who was given the opportunity to aid in defeating the enemy. In addition to Jael, The Lord has been revealing to me other unnamed obscure women of the Bible that He used for His purposes.

In 2 Samuel 17, a woman was at her home, where two servants of David sought refuge. They hid in the well. She spread a cloth over the well and then the grain over the cloth. This is a task she likely would have been doing anyway, such that the pursuers would have thought nothing of it. Once the pursuers were gone, she helped them out and they returned to David. She was faithfully administering her duties while keeping her eyes open for opportunities to be used by The Lord.

In 2 Samuel 20, Joab was pursuing the enemies of David. The enemies had fled into a city. A woman in the city called to Joab that was about to overtake the city. She asked for what reason Joab was there. After Joab told her, she vowed to throw the enemy head over the wall. She went to the other citizens. They worked together to kill the enemy. They threw the head over and the town was saved. A woman just doing what she would have been doing had the awareness and boldness to seize the opportunity amidst going about her daily work.

Though no one may ever know my name, maybe I will be faithful to serve The Lord in the every day activities of caring for my family and home.

Thank you Lord that I am not God!

I recently found myself very tired of repeating myself. I had been telling my children every day that I needed their attention to our school activities. We were trying to get school work done and get ready for our crate to come. It was a lot of distractions, and they are just kids. It was taking everything I had to not lose focus and get off schedule. I was tired of begging them to stay focused. As I went to the bathroom to find what solitude I could, I realized how little I was getting frustrated about.

I was getting tired of reminding two children of one thing for a few days. God has to repeat Himself on a daily basis to billions of people, some who say they want to follow but do not stay on task and some who have no interest in listening. Thank you Lord for not yet getting exasperated with me like I was with my children. Help me to show that same patience with my children.

So a week later I was dealing with my dramatic child. Mariama had been disobeying me in small ways all morning. I would say something to correct her and then she would immediately apologize. A few minutes later I would be correcting her for something else and hearing the same apology. I exploded when she tried to apologize the fourth time. I just could not hear that same, seemingly fake apology one more time. I found myself in the shower crying because I had gotten so tired of forgiving to have her do it again. Once again I heard those same words from The Lord. If you Lord can be patient with billions of people, you can give me the patience I need to continue to instruct my children. Thank you Lord that I am not You because I would not make it one minute without running out of patience.

"Train up a child I the way he should go...." has so many more applications than we generally realize. Children need training, which is why we are commanded to do it. Training is not a one time task, but it requires purposeful daily repetition. It is not a lecture. It is not even teaching, generally considered to be telling and then letting the listener do. It is a walking alongside hand in hand. The Lord is daily training me to be a trainer of my children, taking me daily by the hand to know how to take them by the hand as well.

Husbands, Love Your Wives

Recently, I shared a post from another blog about Opposite World, which reminded women to respect their husbands. Women are commanded by God to respect their husbands in Ephesians 5.  It occurred to me that the instructions in the Bible are given because it involves our true needs or addresses struggles we all have.
For instance, it tells us 365 times in one way or another, "do not fear."  Why would it need to say it for every day of the year if we were not prone to fear? It is an area in which we all struggle at one time or another, to some degree.
Parents are instructed to train their children in the way they should go and when they are old, they will not depart from it. Parents are instructed in Deuteronomy to teach and train them in the every day activities of life. Why does it say that? Children need instruction and training. We are not to let them go and discover on their own and expect them to just figure it out. They need instruction and it is the job of the parents to give it.

Men need to feel respected, and the man's wife is responsible for giving that respect. When a man feels the respect of his wife, he can soar to heights even he never believed he could. When she respects her husband, it is easier for their children to respect and obey their father.

Conversely, the Bible instructs men to love their wives as their own bodies, as Christ loved the church. What did Christ do for the church? Jesus gave Himself up for the church, dying on the cross that they might be made holy. Men are instructed to love their wives because love is what women need. They need to feel loved.  When they feel loved, they feel more capable to do all that they need to do as well.  In thinking about loving of wives in "opposite world," I wanted to share some really great single-moment example.
At first, the big example that came to mind was that of a friend of mine. My friend is a physician and her husband is a pilot in the Air Force. They have three precious little boys. Recently they came to a point of decision about the next step in their future.  Being ranked among the top ten of pilots in the Air Force, he was pursued for a very promising career which would  have been the envy of many, especially any that might have political ambitions. However, this new position would have meant a lot of traveling away from his wife and three boys. My friend's husband realized that he alone was charged with being the spiritual head of his home to raise his boys, and he alone is given the task of loving my friend. He has been quoted publicly as saying of her, "You make me want to come home." So instead of pursuing this career advancement, my friend's husband gave his notice and will be retiring from the Air Force early next year.  That is loving his wife in "opposite world."

As I continued thinking about this topic though, it occurred to me that most men may never have such a dramatic story to tell. However, most men have the opportunity to love their wives like my husband loves me. Rich cooks often, and not just his amazing pizza, because he likes to cook and because it is a way to help care for me.  He helps sweep the house and mop the floor when things have gotten crazy busy. He helps finish the laundry when I am out doing ministry. To some in America, this may not seem like a big deal. However, where we live most of the time, a husband who watches the kids so his wife can go out and helps around the house is very much so opposite to the rest of the culture.

Husbands, love your wives. I have often said, long before I was married, that if a man loved me like the Bible commanded, then I would have zero problem in respecting him.  To be honest though, I do not have that luxury. I am commanded to respect my husband, whether he loves me not. Thankfully he does love me very much, but even he has gone through periods of struggle like job loss and been discouraged.