As I listen to the sounds of my day,
my mind fills up with all the noise telling me
who I am. Then I find you, my God, and You remind
me I am Yours and You are enough.
Focus of the Month: Ordinary Women with Extraordinary Hope
Unless you have been living on a remote island, we cannot avoid all the hype about women in our culture. Everywhere we turn there is a story about women empowerment. I remember when I was in my twenties that topic was something that occupied a lot of my thought. I listened to so many voices on this subject. All kinds of voices – except the Lord’s. Now as a Christ follower thirty years later, I approach this topic differently. Since I have surrendered my life to Jesus Christ and truly want to follow Him, it is God’s voice through which I try and filter all the messages coming my way.
Enter Deborah, a profound example in the Bible of someone who had to filter the messaging about women in her culture with God’s voice. We find Deborah in the Old Testament in Genesis and Judges, during a time when women were considered nothing more than property. They were an invisible figure in the room and certainly had no voice in the world of governance. Yet Deborah was appointed to the highest post in government as a Judge, for 40 years, and led the military leaders, who were all men. Deborah bravely delivered God’s message at a time of crisis, which results in a historical victory for the Israelites:
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. (Judges 4:14)
Notice there is no hesitation here nor did Deborah inject nice language or be condescending. She simply says “Go!” and reminds them that God is in charge. She points them forward to the Lord who is with them. Despite all the noise around her, Deborah was obedient and spoke up for God – delivering His message to a resistant audience.
Deborah’s mind was clear and her focus was sharp. She clearly sought God’s voice through all the noise and listened to what He told her to do. She knew that her identity was first as an obedient daughter of the true King. She was a worshipper of the Lord and He was her ruler. And she chose to follow Him no matter what her culture was telling her about herself.
Deborah reminds us that before we consider who we are as women, we must honor who we are in Christ. And as Christ followers, we are to be obedient to His voice. To who He wants us to be and to what He wants us to do wherever He positions us.
Can we discipline ourselves to filter all the messages in our culture through God’s Word, rather than blindly following the “voices” on our screen. My prayer for us is to follow Deborah’s lead to be true and loyal to God our Father first and foremost. That we run all thoughts about our identity first through Him and are empowered because we are His. That is enough. He is sufficient. And when He calls us to take action, we are obedient and embrace the task set before us.
Whether it’s in our home, on campus, in our workplace, in a group chat or in our community. Whether it’s biting our tongue, speaking out, standing up or sitting down. May we allow God to truly reign in our lives and as Deborah experienced, may we experience the blessing of victory in Him.
Holding Fast to Hope,
Kim
(Guest Writer)
Scripture References: Genesis 24:59; Genesis 35:8; Judges 4; Judges 5; Matthew 6:43, 2 Corinthians 12:9; Colossians 2:8-10; Hebrews 10:14